Make sure you are not losing valuable expertise. People who have been doing purchasing for a while know who to trust. Check with manufacturing, customers, etc and see how many problems purchasing is causing by buying the wrong stuff.
See how well purchasing is using their software. My guess is that software utilization is somewhere around 50%. You could eliminate half of them on routine tasks.
The real question is what you want purchasing to do.
We sell hardmetal tools and parts to build them. Think tungsten carbide tipped saws as well as saw tipped with cermets and ceramics. Our niche is the very top end in performance. In order to do purchasing here we need to know which company makes the best grade and which company can supply when. We know that company A has lousy customer service, beautiful custom parts but old grades. Company B has pretty good customer service if you call regularly, very good custom parts and a great high wear grade but not good for rough use. Company C has so-so customer service, good standard parts, poor quality custom parts and a really good advanced general purpose grade that it takes them forever to make. Company D has a lazy sales rep who only sells what is easy, great grades and custom parts but they steal our customers every time they get a chance. Company E has a unique material but everything else is really bad including billing that drives accounting crazy. And so on.
Purchasing here involves actively searching for superior products, service and price.
I received a call yesterday from an aerospace supplier whose carbide parts are breaking. All they knew was the grade number but no information on performance values. Turns out they were using a grade of carbide with an HRA of 90.8 , Transverse Rupture Strength of 400,000 psi and grain size of 1 – 6 microns. This is a very old grade. Good purchasing should be constantly looking for better materials. A modern grade would have a sub-micron grain size giving it a HRA of 92.2 and a TRS of 537,000. Other strengths would also be better. With a TRS 305 higher and a hardness 2.2 points higher this part would both wear much longer and be much harder to break.
They were using a single supplier, they didn’t know why they were using them, all they knew about the material was a grade number. When they called the supplier to find out why they were having problems the answer was that they were the only ones having problems and it was their fault. So no tech support.
See if purchasing is using specifications for what they buy or just grade references.
Find out how cozy purchasing is with vendors. Trips to inspect plants in Europe? Actual cash? Ask the suppliers? Ask their competition.
OR
Do what everyone else does. Lay off all but the cheapest person and buy the least expensive of everything from a single source.
tom
Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.