Our company is trying to find glass companies in China that
manufacturer crystal prisms for chandeliers.  We do not want to deal
with a middleman. We have tried putting requests out there to Alibaba
(sp?)and only seem to get "brokers".   We want to deal with the
factory or manufacturer only.  What is the best way to search for
these factories?

trimmings,

There are too many reasons which resulted in what made you felt
"difficult" to get in contact the "real manufacturer":

1) The crystal prisms makers do not have the resources to get your
inquiry, including the English-spoken people, Internet access, etc.

2) The factories/manufacturers do not have the authorization to export
independently, which means the factory/manufacturer or you have to get
the third-party involvement.

The potential solution/recommendation:

1) Get the support from the "neutral" third party, such as sourcing agent.

2) Contact the industry association, attend the trade show/expo, etc.

Hope the above info would be helpful to you.

It is very difficult to order directly from countries such as China
for a variety of reasons.

For instance, many companies find it difficult to 'get credit' with
manufacturers in China/SE Asia even though they may in fact be very
credit worthy and able to pay.

The 'middle-man' has functions other than taking your money and
providing you with a product. In my experience it is often essential
to have an agent in the manufacturing country in order to guide
fabrication and keep the order on target.

In summary, the only way to get your product out of China is for you
to deal with a Western company with representitives out there, or to
send a Chinese speaking employee of your own company out there on
contract to deal with the transaction and production him/herself.

If you are at all interested in "production management services"
please feel free to contact the company that I work for at
info@gidasproducts.com to see if they can help you out. Gidas is a
British company who operates a glass manufacturing outfit in SE Asia,
and also runs production to delivery management services for western
companies who want to buy in China.