China needs a standardized parts catalogue

A lot of business is lost, a lot of time is wasted without one.

I am working on a big contract for a big private label customer in Europe. They visited China. They were impressed by what they saw. They gave me an order for several million Euros worth of parts. Hundreds of parts positions.

In Europe, or in America, this job would be easy: I would run the parts numbers through any of the available databases. The database would spit out all the suppliers that have the part.

The rest would be a matter of some phone calls. Several million Euros worth of parts orders would be placed in due course. A few months, or even weeks later, my customer would have his order. He would be happy. He would place a new order, even bigger than the first.

What a different world China is. A common database? Forget it. Mei you. We have to go through piles of catalogues which we have amassed at tradeshows, we have to work the phone. We have to send precious samples around which may or may not come back.

Filling this order will take a long time. There might be manufacturers who have just what we need. But they remain a secret. In the meantime, another manufacturer laboriously makes expensive molds, runs lengthy, complicated and expensive tests. Many months later, my customer may get the product.

The manufacturer who could deliver the product tomorrow never even heard of the business opportunity.

Why? Because there is no common database in China.

The need for such a database is no secret. There have been attempts to come up with such a database, notably by Gasgoo and its parts number search. It’s a herculean effort. But the results are far from perfect.

What the Chinese industry needs, is a standardized parts catalog, a system, on which everybody agrees. Such a system exists in Europe. It is called TecDoc. It is the tool nobody can be without. I can search the system by vehicle, year and engine. Or by vehicle identification number. Or by OEM parts number. Or by any parts number of any other manufacturer.

Within seconds, I get answers: Who makes the part? What are the technical specifications? What vehicles does it fit? I get a drawing. In most cases, I even get a price.

Most importantly, the system is reliable. If I put in an OEM parts number, and the system does not provide an answer, then I know: This part exists from the OEM only. There is no other manufacturer for that part. If I need a part, and the system finds it, the manufacturer is practically guaranteed the sale.

Why is the product so reliable? In Europe, a parts manufacturer who doesn’t have his parts listed in this system would be out of business.

This system is known worldwide, even in China. In China, parts manufacturers use it as a reference tool. Why don’t they use such a system to sell their parts? After the five years I have spent in China in the parts business, this remains one of the great Chinese mysteries to me.

China is the world’s largest auto market. China has tens of thousands of parts manufacturers making millions of parts. In more or less total secrecy.

This column will be very short this time. I have no time to write more. I have to leaf through catalogs. I need to look at CD-ROMs with lots of Flash and little info. I need to work the phones, scan through Excel lists. With a standardized parts catalogue, my work would be long done and many manufacturers would already be manufacturing.

Without that system, I have to stop now. There is a lot of work to be done!
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About the author: Bertel Schmitt, Gasgoo's columnist, is CEO of Hong Kong based parts sourcing company Sinamotive. Before founding Sinamotive, with the assistance of U.S. venture capital, Mr. Schmitt was a marketing consultant to Volkswagen AG.