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High Point — When sourcing furniture in Latin America, communication is a key ingredient to building relationships and —- quite simply — getting the job done right.
In that respect, it is no less important a skill than what is necessary to be successful sourcing in Asia.
Making things a little easier in Latin America are several factors, not the least of which is distance.
With time zones in Latin America just several hours apart, U.S. companies find they are able to communicate as easily as they would between the East and West Coasts. Whether by phone, e-mail or fax, a company can reach a business partner and even get a question answered that same business day.
Few language barriers
The fact that many plant owners and some managers speak English also helps. Even if they don't, Americans' grasp of Spanish — as opposed to, say, Mandarin or Vietnamese — helps them communicate in the native tongue of their business counterparts.
Brazil is an exception; most Americans don't speak Portuguese. But importers say enough Brazilian plant owners and officials speak English well enough to communicate with their American business partners.
"There is no language barrier," said Joe Elmore, director of sales and marketing for Hom-Elegance. He noted that most Brazilian — and Chinese — factory owners that Hom-Elegance deals with speak English. "Communication is very easy in Brazil."
"In the factories, almost all the owners speak English, and somebody in the office also speaks English," added Larry Geller, president of case goods importer Brazil Furniture. "All of this gives Americans a (high) comfort level."
Geller said that having clear communication is particularly important when it comes to negotiations.
"There are means of communications in South America that are far easier than in other parts of the world," Geller said, noting that a translator can often leave both sides wondering if something is missing or ignored in the translation. "Negotiation is always possible, and it is always open."
It is also important from a quality control and logistics standpoint. If something is lost in translation, it can easily diminish quality and even delay shipments.
Styling challenges
More often than not, the biggest challenge for Latin American manufacturers has been to adapt styles to the U.S. market. That has been a challenge for Brazil in particular, which for years has supplied local and European markets.
Saddle Creek Leather has worked with a factory in Brazil over the past two years to produce its leather upholstery.
"This is a new ball game for them, because they are used to making product from a European standpoint," said President David Sisk, noting that typical design elements include hard seating and chrome legs found in European contemporary sofas and chairs.
Sisk and his associates have helped the factory adapt to the U.S. tastes by communicating specifics on measurements, design and even the type of leather. From those instructions, the factory makes a fully assembled product. The process has taken a while, but Sisk said he is satisfied with the end result.
"We are finally getting the product to where it needs to be from a competitive standpoint in look, style and price," Sisk said.
Often, officials use technology such as e-mail, fax machines and digital imagery to help convey design specifics to the source factories.
But more often than not, it's also important to have a quality control network in place —and staff who can communicate with those personnel.
"You need to have someone who understands the culture and the language," said John Foster, chairman of Rockford Furniture, which has a joint venture with Coupihue, a Chilean-based maker of wood furniture components and bedroom furniture for Rockford and its sister company, American Woodcrafters.
Hands-on approaches
American Woodcrafters President Lao Labra is a native of Chile, and he often travels with Foster to the plant. German Castellanos, the company's director of imports, was born in Brazil and lived in Chile for 15 years. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese and English. That helps him communicate directly with the plant on a daily basis, particularly on issues involving logistics.
The handling of quality control varies from importer to importer. Some, such as case goods importer Linon Home Décor Products, have their own employees on the ground. Linon has a 28-member team of English-speaking professionals in Brazil that works directly with the company's 14 source plants. Those plants also have internal quality control staff that help monitor production.
Case goods importer Gonzalez & Associates has a team of Spanish-speaking quality control personnel that report directly to Gonzalez versus source plants in Mexico. From the company's standpoint, that helps avoid potential conflicts with plant management.
"We establish people who are independent," said CEO Gus Gonzalez. "They don't report to anyone at the plant. They report to us in order to keep that independence. We hire them and give them their job description and have trained them over the years."
Case goods and upholstery importer Olde World Imports also has a team of Spanish-speaking expatriates on the ground in Mexico. They largely help oversee quality control. In addition, their knowledge and input helps improve productivity and performance.
"Even though we don't own the factory, we become a consultant to the factory by implementing American manufacturing techniques," said President Rodney Brown.
"They are not just pleased with the steady business. We can help increase their efficiency...We are able to take some of the risk out of their business, and it helps secure loyalty with us."
Chain of command
For more complex negotiations, however, Brown is more directly involved.
"Chain of command is everything in Latin America," he said.
Many plants have their own quality control specialists. In those situations, importers may visit the plants during the course of the year and communicate quality issues at those times. Otherwise, they let the on-staff specialists handle the job.
In either case, the quality control personnel often are native to the countries where they work. That, in turn, facilitates communications from both a cultural and linguistic standpoint.
Like American Woodcrafters, case goods importer Kemp Enterprises tends to rely on its source plants in Mexico and Brazil to oversee quality control. But company officials make frequent trips to the factories to iron out problems involving samples. President Bill Kemp makes four trips to Mexico a year and at least two trips to Brazil.
The critical issue, he said, is to match up the right factory with the right product. That, in turn, helps reduce any major communications problems.
"Wherever you are in the world, there are communications issues," he said. "You need to make sure you have a business plan in place so the plant can execute and have good lead time and be able to perform what you ask them to do. You can't produce more than what a plant is capable of. If you put too much pressure on them, quality is impacted."
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