Purchasing and inventory management is characterized by being one of the points that deserve the most attention within companies.
The correct choice of suppliers and good price negotiation are essential to differentiate yourself from the competition and generate market value.
However, it is a challenge to maintain a balance between inventory management and purchasing management.
Purchases will be defined based on the identification of what is in stock, seeking to obtain the best cost-benefit ratio when purchasing products or raw materials.
If you want to understand why this process is so important and how technology can help, read on to find out!
What is purchasing and inventory management?
Purchasing and inventory management is the set of processes that involve the acquisition, storage, movement and distribution of the products that the company sells or uses in its production.
The aim is to ensure that the company always has the thailand whatsapp data right products, in the right quantity, at the right time and at the lowest possible cost, avoiding waste, losses, delays, shortages and customer dissatisfaction.
It is directly related to two fundamental areas of the company: the purchasing sector and the inventory sector.
The purchasing sector is responsible for negotiating, contracting and purchasing the products that the company needs, whether to resell or use in its production.
While inventory is responsible for receiving, storing, controlling and sending the products that the company has, whether to sell or consume.
They need to work synchronously to avoid unnecessary costs.
Let's imagine that the purchasing department places an order for 20 boxes from the supplier, but the warehouse does not have enough space because there were few sales during the month.
Therefore, both sectors must be in constant communication to ensure maximum efficiency.
How important is inventory and purchasing management in a company?
Inventory and purchasing management is of vital importance for the performance and competitiveness of a company, as it directly impacts its profitability, productivity, quality and customer satisfaction.
When done efficiently, it adds benefits such as:
Reduction of operating and product acquisition costs;
Optimizing working capital and cash flow;
Improve the use of physical space and human resources;
Increased product quality and availability;
Reduce the risk of product loss, obsolescence, theft and damage;
Greater agility and flexibility in delivering products to customers;
Greater control and visibility over processes and performance indicators;
Greater alignment between company areas and suppliers;
Greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Purchasing and inventory management: how do they relate?
Maintaining harmony in the operations of these two sectors allows the acquisition of products focused on business needs, according to priority and stock capacity.
In this dynamic, the two fronts are interdependent, since if the purchasing team does not guarantee inputs or products, production or sales will be affected.
Following this logic, if inventory management fails, there may not be physical space for the materials.
All of this can cause huge losses to the company. Therefore, management needs to unify the two areas, optimizing the company's resources and ensuring delivery to customers and the expected results for the organization's internal objectives.
With this in mind, we have separated two examples that require the proper merger of the purchasing and inventory areas.
Variations in orders
It's difficult to accurately measure orders each month as numbers often fluctuate, so be prepared for surprises.
In this way, purchasing and inventory management provides consolidated data analysis to prevent items from being replaced in a timely manner.
Duplicate purchases
Strategic management of inventory and purchasing areas helps avoid duplication of items.
When a new product comes into stock, the system notifies the purchasing team in real time, reducing the chances of an unnecessary new purchase.
What are the steps to efficiently manage purchasing and inventory?
To manage purchases and inventory efficiently, it is necessary to follow some basic steps, which are:
Discover the company's products
First of all, it is important to know the products that the company works with, their characteristics, specifications, categories, suppliers, costs, prices, deadlines, demands and seasonality.