What is the role of the purchasing department?
The main objectives of the purchasing department are to contribute to increasing the company's financial results, to ensure the rationalization of expenses, their improvement and to protect the company against the risks inherent in production (e.g. stock shortage, failure of the components of a product).
Good purchasing management will limit litigation and legal proceedings which have a direct impact on the company's results but also on its reputation and credibility. The buyer's job consists of meeting internal needs, obtaining the best conditions from suppliers while optimizing costs.
How is an efficient purchasing department constituted?
The constitution of the purchasing department will depend on the objectives of the company, its sector of activity, its modes of production, its size.
There is no course on purchasing management, so the following elements will have to be adapted to each structure and deserve the implementation of a personalized strategic reflection, inscribed in the global strategy of the company.
In general, a purchasing department consists of the following items:
A purchasing manager
The purchasing manager will participate in the definition of the company's strategy and will be responsible for managing their team, reporting and communicating the department's actions.
They will also ensure that the department has the tools necessary for the performance of its actions, such as the installation of purchasing management software, which is essential for steering actions, automating non-value-added tasks and guiding skills towards missions that have an impact in financial and human terms. If purchasing management can be done via Excel, specialized software will be more efficient.
Buyers or purchasers
These can belong to three distinct families:
- A family buyer: this person will work on the entire purchasing process for a family of products at a single site
- A project buyer: integrated into the project teams, they will have the goal of a traditional buyer plus the functions of monitoring and research in innovation
- A lead buyer: this is a family buyer but attached
A quality manager
A Quality Manager will report to either the purchasing department or the quality department. They will be in charge of controlling receptions and quality audits. Other positions may be necessary depending on the company, such as a management controller specific to the purchasing function, a methods manager, etc.
Of course, the above-mentioned positions can also have more complex and broader objectives. These different positions, when they do not exist completely, can be assigned to one or more buyers or managers.
It should be noted that the purchasing department must be able to benefit from legal support in the event of disputes. Access between the purchasing department and the legal department must be provide
