Common tools for sourcing/purchasing field. Everyday tools you don’t find in textbooks?
I got a “promotion” which I don’t like the pay nor the role…although it was quite a huge jump in title, but company lacks tools & resources to make the role interesting. No budget to travel anywhere…no supplier visits…no training allocation…no advance softwares….simply lots of guess work and follow what the senior does..any new idea, unless it’s free, NO GO. see my point?
From global planning into global sourcing…..What should I do to moltivate myself to excel in the new role like I did for my prior role. Also, any global sourcing advise from supply chain gurus out there regarding the most common and “can’t live without” tools to get through everyday’s sourcing chores liked; price comparison, material composition of various alloy and how to conduct simple yet effective commodity analysis whenever supplier ask for increase in price per market index.
Ensure that you have excellent specs – and that all suppliers bid to the exact specs – anything that isn’t to spec gets thrown away.
Case in point (real life) – purchasing agent makes error, buys .65 gauge steel instead of .70 – hey, price is better, small margin or error, big price reduction.
uh, oh, the specs call for .70 steel, the CAE engineers bust their ***** to figure out if they can use the softer steel, if not they shut the plant down – because a roll of steel lasts a LONG time at a factory.
Nope, analysis comes back, no can do, so they pay to expedite the “right” steel from 800 miles away – hhmm, how much did that purchasing agent save?
Let the SME’s do their job – don’t try to second guess their specs –
For commodity pricing, lock in longer term contracts – although you may pay a premium if the price goes down, magnesium is going through the roof right now, so if you’re buying mag you’re paying through the nose, unless you’ve got a long term fixed price contract -