Procurement Services Associates

Month: April, 2010

What does “Procurement Clerk” do?

We often get asked, “What are typical job responsibilities for Procurement Clerk ? ”

Here you go:

Procurement Clerk’s Job Responsibilities:

Prepare purchase orders and send copies to suppliers and to departments originating requests.
Determine if inventory quantities are sufficient for needs, ordering more materials when necessary.
Respond to customer and supplier inquiries about order status, changes, or cancellations.
Perform buying duties when necessary. Contact suppliers in order to schedule or expedite deliveries and to resolve shortages, missed or late deliveries, and other problems.
Review requisition orders in order to verify accuracy, terminology, and specifications.
Prepare, maintain, and review purchasing files, reports and price lists.
Compare prices, specifications, and delivery dates in order to determine the best bid among potential suppliers.
Track the status of requisitions, contracts, and orders.
Calculate costs of orders, and charge or forward invoices to appropriate accounts.
Check shipments when they arrive to ensure that orders have been filled correctly and that goods meet specifications.
Compare suppliers’ bills with bids and purchase orders in order to verify accuracy.
Approve bills for payment.
Locate suppliers, using sources such as catalogs and the internet, and interview them to gather information about products to be ordered.
Maintain knowledge of all organizational and governmental rules affecting purchases, and provide information about these rules to organization staff members and to vendors.
Monitor in-house inventory movement and complete inventory transfer forms for bookkeeping purposes.
Monitor contractor performance, recommending contract modifications when necessary.
Prepare invitation-of-bid forms, and mail forms to supplier firms or distribute forms for public posting.

A Renewed Interest in Strategic Procurement Consulting Services

Here’s something surprising I’m finding in my 2009 inquiries – a renewed interest in procurement strategy consulting services. It comes as a bit of surprise to me because of the tight economic conditions. Expensive consultants are among the first things that businesses slash from their budget, right?

What is driving this round of interest appears to the later adopters of technology – those companies that have yet to invest in e-sourcing, e-procurement, category management or spend analysis – either because they are very conservative and just haven’t taken the leap, or because they are smaller organizations and haven’t been sure what applies to them.

Read More here

Supply Chain: Three Answers

Three Answers Every Supply Chain Executive Should Give Themselves This Year
A recent post over on the Harvard Business Review Blogs pointed out Three Questions Executives Should Ask for the New Year

based upon eight characteristics of top performers and four characteristics of under-achievers identified by Melissa Raffoni of Raffoni Ceo Consulting and author of Managing Time in the HBR Pocket Mentor Series.

According to Raffoni, who identified the following eight characteristics of top performers:

they set clear measurable goals
they seek feedback
they communicate thoughtfully
they act thoughtfully
they are decisive
they have integrity
they have ego-less confidence
they study to make themselves smarter
and the following four characteristics of underachievers:

they don’t set goals with leverage in mind
they don’t get enough out of the people around them
they don’t listen well
they lack the energy and boldness to try new things
Executives should ask themselves the following three questions before setting their goals for 2010:

If there was only one thing I could do to improve my business, what would it be and how would I make it happen?

If there was only one thing I could focus on to improve my personal performance, what would that be and how would I make it happen?
What messages am I not listening to or refusing to confront in my business and personal performance and how am I going to overcome that this year?
I agree. But even more importantly, I think supply chain executives (CPOs, CSCOs, etc.) should start with these three answers:

I’m going to improve my organization’s technology platform.
Supply management is too complex, and the opportunity costs associated with continuing to use antiquated spreadsheet technology (which never fit in the first place), are too great not to have the right tools. I’m going to get the right platform for the job, make my people more productive, and watch the savings go Straight to the Bottom Line as efficiency soars and my people are able to strategically source more categories than they were able to in the past.
I’m going to get training.
I’m going to learn what I’m missing, fill the holes in my vision, understand what my team needs to be the best they can be, and then get them the right training.
I’m going to say “uncertainty be damned”.
“I’m not one of the lemmings”. “If my brethren want to jump off the cliff into the ocean, that’s their choice”. “I’m going to forge ahead and be successful, economy be damned”. “I’ll make the tough choices”. “And I’ll win”.

Press Release

The news media continues its projections for a gloomy 2009 for employment and for business profits. According to most projections profits in most segments will be lower than 2008. In many cases profit margins will be negative. Unemployment rates continue to raise with most projections the unemployment rate inCalifornia will exceed 10 percent in 2009.
Read [...]