Supplier Evaluation Guide
How to Evaluate a Commercial Lantern Festival Manufacturer
A strong shortlist compares more than portfolios and broad service labels. Review who will contract, what each supplier can prove, which responsibilities are included, and which evidence gaps must close before commercial discussion.
Start with a decision rule
Decide what each answer should allow your team to do
Before you collect brochures or arrange calls, define the decision that each answer needs to support. This prevents a polished gallery, a familiar certificate term or a broad service label from carrying more weight than it should. It also gives every supplier the same decision standard.
Proceed
The supplier, scope and evidence are clear enough for the next stage.
Request evidence
A claim may be relevant, but a file, project record or scope detail is missing.
Route the question
The answer depends on your venue, route, local professionals or procurement process.
Hold or stop
Identity, responsibility or evidence cannot be reconciled.
Identity and fit
Verify the contracting party before comparing scope
Confirm legal accountability
Ask for the legal name, registered business details appropriate to your jurisdiction, authorized commercial contact, invoicing entity and the entity that would sign the contract.
Brand names and legal names can differ. Record both, then confirm which entity is responsible for the proposed scope. Keep registry, sanctions, insurance or financial checks under the control of your procurement or legal team.
Run a compact fit screen
Confirm the venue type, visitor route and sensitive interfaces, product families or scene types, target season and working window, and the expected division between design, production, transport, installation and local responsibilities.
The goal is not to finalize a design. It is to avoid comparing suppliers against different assumptions.
For context on our company and project-scope entry point, review Ocean Art Lantern’s manufacturer overview. For discrete questions about commercial fit and local roles, review commercial lantern festival buyer questions.
Proof quality
Use a five-level evidence-strength ladder
Different evidence supports different decisions. Category and visual evidence shows the general product or scene type. Process and file evidence shows how information is developed and controlled. Certificate or test evidence must identify the holder, subject, scope, version or standard, validity and relevant market. Project-attribution evidence connects a supplier to a named project, date, role and deliverables. Result evidence needs an identified source and a supported link to the claim.
No single level answers every question
A photo can help confirm visual relevance, but it does not prove contract scope. A certificate title does not establish that it applies to the exact entity, product, configuration or market being evaluated.
Comparable projects
Check what the supplier actually did
A project reference is useful only when its relationship to the supplier is clear. Record the venue or event, date or season, supplier role, deliverables and media permission. Then compare venue type, route conditions, product role, delivery interfaces and local responsibilities—not just visual style.
| Venue or event | The named location or event identity |
|---|---|
| Date or season | When the referenced work took place |
| Supplier role | What the supplier was responsible for |
| Deliverables | Which products, files or services were included |
| Media permission | Whether the images can be used for that stated purpose |
A venue image or public event page can establish that an event existed. It does not, by itself, establish which supplier designed, manufactured, shipped or installed the displays.
Stage-appropriate review
Increase the evidence depth as the project becomes specific
Initial screen
Confirm identity, relevant product fit, attributable project examples and a bounded outline of the proposed delivery chain. Keep unresolved site information visible.
Technical evaluation
Ask for the assumptions, drawings or file index needed to understand the proposed configuration, including route, power and structural interfaces where relevant.
Commercial evaluation
Compare the same frozen inclusions and exclusions. Record logistics, installation, acceptance and change-control responsibilities.
What a catalogue cannot prove
A visual catalogue can start a product conversation. It is not engineering, configuration or site-readiness evidence.
Scope interfaces
Compare responsibility ownership, not service labels
Terms such as “full service” or “turnkey” are not precise enough for supplier comparison. Ask who develops the design, supplies site inputs, approves revisions, controls the production file, prepares shipping documents, manages import requirements, supplies installation labor and equipment, completes local professional reviews, and authorizes public opening and operations.
| Design | Who develops the design, supplies site inputs and approves revisions? |
|---|---|
| Manufacturing | What approved configuration or file controls production? |
| Shipping | Who prepares packing and shipping documents, and where does responsibility transfer? |
| Importing and customs | Who is importer of record and who manages local customs requirements? |
| Installation | Who supplies labor, lifting, access equipment, power connections and supervision? |
| Local professional review | Which engineer, electrician or authority reviews project-specific requirements? |
| Opening and operations | Who authorizes opening and manages inspections, incidents and reopening decisions? |
Documents and assumptions
Check applicability before treating files as proof
When a certificate, declaration or test record matters, verify the holder, subject, scope, standard or version, validity dates, applicable product or configuration, and intended market. If any field is unclear, keep it as an open document question.
- Confirmed inclusions
- Exclusions
- Venue-supplied inputs
- Allowances and provisional assumptions
- Interfaces owned by local parties
- Items that trigger review or change control
For a fuller commercial-input baseline, prepare comparable cost and RFP inputs. This evaluation guide normalizes supplier responses; it does not replace a project-specific commercial scope.
Gap register
Record the next action for every unresolved item
For each gap, record the claim, evidence requested, responsible owner, due stage and decision consequence. Use the same four dispositions across your shortlist so that missing evidence does not disappear during commercial review.
Your next step
Discuss the evidence and responsibility questions behind your shortlist
Share the venue type, country or city, target season, route context, product interests, procurement stage and the evidence or responsibility questions your team is trying to close.