A METHODOLOGY FOR THE PROCUREMENT OF ENGINEERED EQUIPMENT FROM CHINA

THE ENGINEERING METHODOLOGY required in the procurement process for equipment required in a sugar mill, is presented in this paper. It is contended that all manufactured equipment is imperfect to some extent and that industry is responsible for setting the quality requirements to ensure that a specific item of equipment with its inherent defects is serviceable. High quality industrial equipment can be sourced from China with particular attention required to the engineering principles of Production Methods. In a global context, Australian manufactured equipment is typified by high quality and is well suited to ‘one-offs’ and specialised equipment, though poor quality is always a possibility. However, for quantity production and for a diverse range of materials and products, it is currently difficult to compete with China. This paper describes a process developed by Shanghai Technology Services (STS) and Sucrogen for the successful procurement of fit for purpose, engineered equipment from any country in the world including Australia. Specifically, the case of sourcing engineered equipment for Australian sugar factories from China is considered. An outline of the process required for successful procurement, from the inquiry stage through to delivery to the factory in Australia is presented. The underlying process is always the same; however the application needs to consider the context of the country in which the goods are sourced. This procurement process for delivering high quality goods to Australian industry, including sugar factories, has been developed since 2006, with improvements being made to this process through much iteration. Because the quality range of industrial products is wide, functional quality systems are required throughout the process to ensure that the goods received are the goods specified. Without a robust system for effective quality control there are many opportunities for poor quality to be delivered outside the required timeline. This also applies for equipment purchased from within Australia. To date this process has delivered more than 500 ’40 ft High Cube’ containers (valued at more than US$50 m) of high quality goods in compliance with many international standards to various industries. Around 170 containers have been for Sucrogen sugar mills in Australia.