Find suppliers and manufacturers you can verify

Your battery supplier has just pushed the lead time out by two months, and engineering wants two alternates sampled before the next build. A web search gives you distributor listings, directory pages and ads. A chatbot gives you a neat list of names with nothing to show which ones make the part, which ones only resell it, and which ones exist at all. This page shows how to build a supplier shortlist where each company comes with a source showing why it fits, what "confirmed", "likely" and "ruled out" mean, and what you still have to check yourself.

Why sourcing lists are being rebuilt

Procurement teams are bringing AI into this kind of work. The Hackett Group's 2026 Procurement Key Issues study found that deploying AI-enabled technology has entered procurement's top three priorities for the first time, and that 43% of organizations are actively pursuing AI deployment, nearly double the year before. Most are still early: only 12% report large-scale implementation.

Policy is also changing where parts can come from. On December 22, 2025, the FCC added drones and drone critical components made outside the US to its Covered List, naming batteries and smart batteries among those components. Equipment on the list is barred from new FCC equipment authorizations, though models the FCC authorized earlier can still be sold and used. If you build drones for the US market, where a battery is made now matters as much as its price.

The faster a list gets built, the more it matters that each name on it can be checked.

How CiteJury finds and checks suppliers

Choose Find companies and describe what you need and where, in plain words. From there the work happens in three rounds.

First, Claude, ChatGPT and Grok each search the web for candidates. Every candidate then gets its own search, and its own website is read. Second, each AI proposes the companies it thinks fit. Third, every AI checks every proposed company against the same sources. A company counts as confirmed only when most of the AIs find a source that names it and shows it fits.

You get the confirmed companies with what they make, where they are, why they fit and which AIs confirmed them. Below that come a "likely" list of companies that were put forward but not confirmed by enough of the AIs, and a "ruled out" list with the reason for each. You can download the list as Excel, or as CSV for a CRM or sourcing tracker. A Standard search takes about 10 minutes and costs about 48 credits, more than a single check because it reads many company pages.

Here are rows from a real search, numbered by their place in the list.

A real search: batteries for drones

The request was one line: "Companies that supply batteries for drones." It ran on Standard and took 11 minutes. From 53 sources, it confirmed 17 companies, listed 12 more as likely and ruled out 13. Fifteen of the 17 were confirmed by all three AIs, including every row shown here.

Read what those rows say, because a buyer would split them straight away. Grepow, in Shenzhen, offers LiPo packs and smart UAV batteries under the Tattu brand. MaxAmps, in Spokane, Washington, offers LiPo and Li-ion packs for UAVs and robotics. Beijing KNS New Energy covers solid-state Li-ion, LiPo and LiFePO4 drone batteries, and Chengdu Heltec Energy is a wholesale maker of 3.7 V drone batteries. EVE Energy is different again: its row is about 21700 lithium cells used in drones and UAVs. Sion Power's is about lithium-metal cells for defense drones. That's pack suppliers and cell makers in one list, which fits the request as written. Most RFQs need one or the other.

Two rows say "Location not stated". The sources the AIs read didn't give a location for Sion Power or EVE Energy, so the field is left blank instead of filled from memory. After the FCC decision, that blank is the first thing a US buyer should fill in. Three of the six rows are in China, which may or may not matter for your program, but now you know to ask.

The other two lists earn their place too. The 12 likely companies were put forward but not confirmed by enough of the AIs, which makes them a second-round list for your own checking. The 13 ruled out each carry a reason, so you can see why a familiar name isn't on the shortlist before someone asks.

How to run a supplier search

1. Describe the part the way your spec does. Give the chemistry, cell or pack, voltage and capacity range, and the application. "LiPo packs for heavy-lift multirotor drones" gets a tighter list than "drone batteries".
2. Say where, and what "where" means. "Manufactured in the USA" is a different request from "suppliers that ship to the USA".
3. Say what rules a company out. For example "manufacturers only, no distributors" or "not hobby-grade".
4. Pick a tier by list size. Quick returns up to 10 companies, Standard up to 25 and Deep up to 50. Use Quick to test your wording, Standard for a shortlist and Deep for a wide scan of a market.
5. Open "Why it fits" for every company you'll contact. Each one links to the passages that show the fit.
6. Work the likely list. Some of your best alternates will be there, one source short of confirmed.
7. Download and keep the sources. The Excel and CSV files carry a Sources column with the URLs, so each row stands on its own in your tracker.

A sourcing checklist for the shortlist

• Manufacturer, assembler or reseller. Check the About page and the factory address. A trading company can be a fine supplier, but you should know you're buying from one.
• Ask pack makers which cells they use. A pack is only as available as its cells, and your qualification depends on both.
• Separate headquarters from production. A US address can be a sales office. Ask where cells and packs are made, and get the answer in writing.
• Get the paperwork for lithium. Ask for the UN 38.3 test summary and any certificates your program needs, and confirm certificates with the body that issued them.
• Treat capacity and lead times as unknown until quoted. Websites rarely state real capacity. Put it in the RFI.
• Keep the reason with the row. When someone asks why a supplier made the list, the source answers for you.

What it won't do

A company list reflects what the search found. It isn't a complete census of a market, and small makers with a thin web presence can be missed. Many companies are confirmed only by their own website, which is good evidence of what they say they make and weak evidence of anything else.

It doesn't check capacity, quality, certifications, pricing or financial health. Those need samples, audits, references and quotes. It can't read directories or marketplaces behind a login, some sites block automated access, and social media and video pages are skipped. It lists companies, not people, so there are no contact names or email addresses. And it isn't legal advice on the FCC rules or any other trade rule.

A sourced list gets you to the first call faster and with better questions. The verification that matters most, samples in hand and a factory you've seen, is still yours. When a name on the list becomes a supplier you might sign, vet their claims before you sign. For a market map or a prospect list, see building a company list where every row has a source, and to weigh two finalists, compare them side by side.

Questions people ask