Notes from the sourcing desk

The Novalogisticsshop journal

Writing from the people who actually ring the factories, not from a marketing team. The Novalogisticsshop journal covers the paperwork, the revision checks and the parts that turn up when everyone else has given up, with the details that usually go unmentioned in a supplier's brochure.

Read the articles Ask the desk
2
Articles published so far
11
Years sourcing behind them
0
Pieces written by an agency
Ballarat
Where they are written
Latest writing

Two pieces worth ten minutes

Both started as internal notes explaining a recurring problem to a customer. They turned out to be useful enough to publish.

Automotive Rare car parts waiting in a warehouse for export

Why rare car parts take so long to land in Australia

Most people assume a rare part is slow because nobody has it. In our experience the wait usually starts somewhere else entirely: a factory warehouse that only answers distributor accounts, or a part number that has been superseded twice since 1997.

The article walks through the two real reasons a discontinued component sits in limbo for months, and what the buyer actually needs from you to get around them.

Read the full article
Industrial Nameplate showing a machine serial number

What a machine serial number tells a parts buyer

A part number alone cannot tell you which revision of a servo drive or bearing fits your machine. The serial pulls the factory build record, which is where the real answer lives.

This piece explains how the import desk checks the record before placing any order, and why a bearing that slides onto the shaft can still be the wrong component.

Read the full article

A note on how these are written

Everything published here comes from a shipment that actually happened. Names and part prices are changed where a customer asked us to, but the sequence and the problems are real. If a piece describes a mistake, it is one that was made and then fixed.

Have a part that will not turn up?

Send the OEM number or the machine serial and a buyer will check the factory catalogue directly. No fee until we find it, and the fee is credited if we do not.

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Ring the desk

We answer between 8:30am and 5:30pm AEST, Monday to Friday.

+61 3 8427 5196

novalogisticsshop@gmail.com

106-110 Creswick Road, Ballarat Central VIC 3350, Australia

The two desks

What we source

The journal covers both halves of the business. These pages explain each in full.

What it costs

Sourcing fees, freight and the packages available, laid out line by line with worked examples.

See the pricing
Topics we write about

The subjects that come up again and again

No content calendar. These are the questions customers actually ask, written up so the next person gets a faster answer.

Finding discontinued parts

How supersession works, why a dealer's "discontinued" answer is not the end of the story, and how to read a factory catalogue without an account.

Customs and paperwork

Dangerous goods declarations, import permits and the reason a consignment sometimes goes home again. Written by the broker who files the entries.

Revision and fitment

Why a serial number matters, what a supersession does to a mounting pattern, and how a part that fits the shaft can still be wrong.

Freight and timing

The difference between consolidation and next-flight, when paying for speed actually saves money, and how shutdown dates are planned backwards.

Buying from factories

What an audited supplier means in practice, why a minimum order quantity exists, and how a small buyer gets taken seriously.

Restoration notes

The practical side of putting a rare car back together, from trim clips that no longer exist to panels that need pressing tools found in another country.

Who writes here

Callum Radcliffe, and the buyers beside him

Eleven years of import brokerage, and a habit of asking the factory before telling the customer no.

The founder writes most of what appears here, usually on a Friday afternoon after a week of shipments. Aiko, Stefan and Meera contribute pieces when the subject falls into their patch: Japanese factory contacts, German and UK suppliers, and the customs side of the business.

If a piece needs updating because the rules or the factories have changed, it gets corrected rather than rewritten. There is no point pretending a two-year-old article is still accurate if it is not.

The story behind the business
3,700+
Components landed
31
Audited factories
68
Workshops on the books
97%
Cleared on time