The lighting supply chain is not a country. It is a two-hour drive.
Europe buys "from China". In reality, almost every LED luminaire component is made inside one compact delta around Guangzhou — and our desk sits in the middle of it. This page is the map behind every gate visit, surprise audit and 48-hour alternative we offer.
Six clusters, one desk, no flights.
Solid dots are covered by car as a matter of routine. Hollow dots are reachable — we work there, but we don't pretend they are around the corner.
Guangzhou — our desk
Company seat of Steve Sourcing (Guangzhou) Limited. Every engagement, report and archive is run from here.
Zhongshan · Guzhen — the lighting capital
The densest luminaire manufacturing ecosystem on earth: finished-goods factories, hardware, packaging, everything within one town. Where most fixture orders we supervise are built.
Henglan — LED components
Module houses, SMT, engine assembly. The upstream of Guzhen, and the first place we look when a finished-goods factory claims a supply problem.
Foshan — metal and thermal
Die-casting, extrusion, CNC. Housings and heat sinks come from here — which is why wall-thickness verification at the gates is a drive, not a project.
Dongguan — drivers and electronics
Driver power supplies, control gear, electronics assembly. The layer your warranty lives on.
Shenzhen — optics and high-end electronics
Optical injection moulding, lenses, reflectors, smart modules and the better EMC test houses.
Jiangmen — hardware and finishing
Poles, brackets, surface treatment, general metalwork for outdoor and industrial ranges.
What the map converts into.
Proximity is not a slogan. It changes the physics of three things you will actually pay for.
Surprise audits become possible
An unannounced audit only works if the auditor can be there at short notice. Ours is a drive, not a flight — that is why unannounced audits are a listed option (+20–30%), not a marketing word.
A second supplier on the table within 48 hours
When a factory stalls, we don't negotiate from weakness. Within the same cluster there is almost always another qualified line — the shortlist we keep is within driving distance, not within a search engine.
A failed batch re-checked the same week
When the mid-line gate finds a problem, the re-check does not wait for a scheduling window. Someone drives out. The evidence is fresh; the conversation with the factory is immediate.
What is inside the ring — and what is not.
Buyers have been burned by "we cover all of China" claims. Here is our actual coverage discipline.
Routine coverage
The six clusters above, plus Guangzhou itself. Gate visits, audits and factory meetings happen here without logistics planning.
Occasional coverage
Huizhou and Xiamen (≈3.5 h). Real projects happen there; we simply quote the extra travel time honestly instead of hiding it in a day rate.
Not our terrain
Zhejiang / Jiangsu (Yangtze delta) and northern clusters. We can run desk work anywhere, but we will tell you plainly: for on-site work there, use us for the specification and judgement, and expect travel costs.