Is Your Purchasing Department Rewarded for Being Bean Counters Or for Delivering Quality?

Abstract

Once a Purchasing department has built up a full head of steam, there’s usually no stopping it. Prices are haggled down to an absolute minimum, vendors shortchanged, pie-in-the-sky promises are made for the future, and ties are made with dubious alternative vendors. And why? Because Purchasing is the department that can make or break your company.

Wrong. Sales is and will remain the most essential department. Of course it’s important to make sensible purchases. But it’s more important to have a reliable network of vendors and long-term partners, regardless of whether we’re talking about suppliers or service providers.

In Chap. 6 you will learn more about the difference between high quality purchasing and merely penny pinching. You will get valuable ideas how to measure Purchasing by not only using the amount of money Purchasing saved but also qualitative aspects of the purchasing process. You will end this chapter with an idea in mind how a growth-supporting Purchasing department in your firm needs to look like.