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| Purchasing |
| A Co-ordinated Approach |
| Drafting the Spec |
| Finding Suppliers |
| Negotiating a Purchase |
| Managing Stock |
| Supplier Relations |
| Reviewing Performance |
Page 6 of 8
Purchasing
5. Managing Stock
5.1 Order at the right time.
- Monitor your stock turnover. Identify seasonal peaks and prepare forecasts.
- Plan when to re-order regular supplies.
- Avoid surprises. Develop a clear reporting system, so you know what is needed and when, from your employees.
5.2 Introduce systematic ordering.
- Set budget limits and make it clear who can authorise purchases.
- To reduce administration, give individual managers purchasing limits, rather than centralising all purchasing.
- Copy ordering information to the person placing the order, accounts people and goods inwards staff, as well as suppliers.
- Get suppliers and employees to fit in with your ordering systems and quote your order reference codes.
- Put one person in charge of petty cash, to cover small, one-off items.
5.3 Decide how you want to store your stock.
- Balance the advantages of discounted bulk orders with the benefits and risks of just-in-time ordering.
- Investigate the possibility of getting your supplier to hold stocks for you.
5.4 Avoid problems on delivery.
- Set up a reminder system for late goods.
- Note when goods arrive and store them in a known place.
- Make sure delivery notes are not signed until deliveries have been checked. If you must sign, note any reservations (eg 'goods not checked') and tell the seller.
- Make sure all relevant people are told when goods arrive.
- Ask for money off for minor faults at goods inwards inspections. Discuss recurring quality problems with the supplier.
- Check invoices to avoid incorrect charges, double billing and missing discounts.
5.5 Find out if e-procurement can help you.
- Group buying sites may provide opportunities to keep costs down.
- You can find bargains in online auctions eg www.goindustry.com for obsolete stock and secondhand machine tools
Labels: Purchasing, Reduce Costs
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