Purchase department roles and responsibilities | skills required for purchase engineer

Purchase

Purchase is the activity of buying something from someone. It is a process that is used in any organization to buy any goods or outsource services to manufacture their products or accomplish defined goals. 

Purchase Department

Purchase department takes care of all acivities related to purchase of goods, raw material , outsource services of any organization to manufacture products or complete their defined goals. As per quality management system, Purchase department shall purchase raw material , goods or services from approved suppliers only. If anything purchased from non-approved supplier, it will directly effects on quality of products or services.  

Roles and Responsibilities of Purchase department

• Vendor Selection :  Prime responsibility of purchase department is to select qualified supplier or vendor for particular item that need to be purchased or outsourced. There must be a proper selection criteria for Vendor / Supplier selection.

• Supplier Evaluation :  Supplier evaluation evaluates the supplier or vendor from where goods or services received by organization. It provide the current status of supplier from where goods supposed to buy i.e how that supplier fullfill quality requirement. It is based on scoring system upon which decision is taken wheather goods or services should be taken or not.

• Supplier Audit :  After Supplier evaluation, an audit is being carried out at supplier end by purchase department in assistance with quality department. An audit checklist is prepared which is based on quality management system and audit is carried out based on that checklist. It is again scoring / rating system based, if the supplier qualify minimum required criteria it gets approved and business starts. 

• Supplier Continuation or discontinuation  :  Approved Supplier's continuation and discontinuation depend upon the performance of supplier throughout the year. This performance is verified by Supplier re-evaluation process which is based on Quality & Delivery of goods. It is scoring based system upon which if the supplier lies within the required score of organization, it will continue to supply material otherwise the material from that supplier will be discontinued.  

• Type & Extent of control  :  Purchase department shall have Complete list of all Critical and non-critical items which need to be purchased or outsourced from approved supplier. There is different criteria for evaluation of critical items and non critical items. Type and extent of control for evaluation of critical and non-critical items shall be defined separately on the basis on which evaluation is carried out by purchase excecutive / engineer.

• All Technical & Supporting documents :  Purchase department is responsible to receive all technical and supporting documents along with the goods so that quality of goods received from approved supplier can be ensured. These documents are Test certificates, Material Test Certificate, Material chemical composition report etc. 

• Release of Purchase order :   Purchase department is responsible to ensure every single item shall be purchased through Purchase order only. All the parameters like Item name, quantity, material type, delivery date, payment terms, required documents etc. are mentioned on purchase order which reflects the clarity while purchasing.

Skills Required for Purchase Engineer/Executive

• Drawing Reading Capability :   Purchase engineer or executive must have drawing reading skills. He/She must understand all drawings symbols, tolerances , notes so that clarity for item to be purchased shall be cleared.

• Auditing Skills :   Audit of supplier is to be carried out by purchase executive / engineer along with quality engineer to approve supplier for particular item. So, purchase engineer or executive should have auditing skills so that effective or transparent audit can be done at suppler end.

• Technical Communication :   Technical knowlegde is important for purchase engineer or executive so that proper communication can be done with supplier or any doubt can be sorted out on the spot. 

• Negotiation :   Negotiation is the important part of purchase department. A good negotiation helps to grow business and relationship. So, Purchase engineer or executive shall have good command over negotiation.  

• Knowlegde of company product  :   Purchase engineer or executive shall have good knowledge of company product. So that proper communication and information regarding product can be shared with supplier. 

• Integrity  :  Integrity plays a vitol role in Purchase engineer or executive. Purchase engineer or executive having integrity can sustain the growth of company. He/She should be honest towards supplier or organization.

• Market Links - Relationship building  :   Market links or relations are important skill of purchase engineer or executive. He/She should have strong market links which can be used to grow more business of organization.

• Decision making capability  :   Purchase engineer or executive shall have decision making skills. It is very helpful during supplier selection, evaluation, audit or negotiation process. It also help to take quick decision during any deviation demand from supplier end.

• MS Office  :   MS Office skills i.e  Word, Excel, Powerpoint are very important for purchase engineer, executive to perform tasks effectively. Reports and presentation are prepared in MS Office during Supplier selection, Evaluation, Re-evaluation, Supplier Audit Process.