About Source Rating
Engineering experience applied to supplier and procurement risk.
Source Rating is a buyer-side supplier-verification and engineering procurement practice led by James Cheng, based in Thailand. It supports overseas buyers evaluating factories and project suppliers across China, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia.
James spent more than 10 years with the CNBM group and has worked on industrial and construction projects across more than 10 countries. The focus is practical: understand the project, verify the supplier, surface the risks, and help the buyer make a better procurement decision.
10+ years
with the CNBM group
Project experience across 10+ countries
Thailand-based support across China, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia
Principles
Focused, practical, and transparent.
Buyer-side first
For buyer-paid Source Rating assignments, there is no undisclosed factory commission or supplier referral fee.
Engineering context
Drawings, specifications, QA/QC, materials, fabrication, commercial terms, and delivery constraints are reviewed together.
Conflict disclosure
If James has a commercial relationship with a candidate supplier, that relationship is disclosed before evaluation or recommendation.
Verification workflow
A clear path from supplier link to procurement decision.
The public promise is simple: collect the right facts, separate evidence from sales claims, disclose conflicts, and show you what to do next before money or goods move.
Read the buyer playbookInquiry triage
Reviews the supplier link, material category, order stage, destination market, and the decision you need to make.
Desk evidence review
Checks business signals, documents, certificates, project fit, traceability, and obvious supplier-risk gaps.
Factory verification
When needed, scopes factory visits, production checks, photo evidence, supplier interviews, and inspection hold points.
Risk report
Turns findings into a concise risk rating, supplier questions, evidence gaps, and recommended next steps.
Procurement support
Helps structure RFQs, clarify supplier answers, compare quotations, support negotiations, and decide whether to proceed, correct, or hold.
Specialist network
Adds local inspection, translation, travel coordination, or technical specialist support when the assignment requires it.