Purchasing department

Protocol problems may exist for market researchers in a company. Often company poHcy dictates that any call on a customer requires the agreement of the sales department and the presence of a sales representative at the actual meeting. Similarly, if calls are to be made on suppHers, purchasing department approval and attendance are often necessary. These rules can delay or lessen opportunities for a useful dialogue but their existence must be recognized and coped with in the field. 

Company practices differ in who does purchasing research and how it is done. Several patterns are evident. The chemical buyer is responsible for preparing the purchase profiles, possibly with in-house Hbrary assistance. Market research analysts are assigned to the purchasing department and prepare some or all of the profiles needed. Outside consultants are used to prepare some of the purchase profiles or as a check on internal procedures and conclusions. 

Competitive uses exist for almost every chemical a purchasing department buys. Often the demands of other uses and users are larger and influence supply and prices. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor these uses and especially to determine whether alternative materials might come into use. 

Raw material costs should be estimated by direct computation from flow rates and material prices. The flow rates are deterrnined from flow sheet material balances. The unit prices are obtained from vendors, company purchasing departments, or the Chemical Marketing Reporter. For captive raw materials produced internally, a suitable transfer price must be estabHshed. Initial catalyst charges can be treated as a start-up expense, working capital component, or depreciable capital, depending on the expected catalyst life and cost. Makeup catalyst is frequendy treated as a raw material. 

However, just asking the purchasing department for a list of companies previously used for tolling is not enough. Prior successful use of a given firm is not adequate qualification for future tolls, especially if the new toll involves a different product. At this point in the selection process the five facets mentioned in the previous chapter come into play ... 

The regional contract administrators (purchasing department or others, depending on the structure of the organization) will provide the prime contractor flow-down provisions for incorporation into solicitation and subcontractors purchase orders. 

All exceptions must have the prior approval of the purchasing department. 

The invoice was sent as usual to the purchasing department for payment. The young clerk who dealt with it realized that oxygen had been delivered to a unit that had never received it before. She told her supervisor, who telephoned the plant, and the eiTor came to light. 

Prepare detailed process and mechanical specifications for developing proposals for purchase by the purchasing department. 

The manner in which orders are placed varies from one laboratory to another. In a large organization, the laboratory operator wall prepare a requisition, which goes to the purchasing department, often via a department head for approval. Copies of the requisitions should be kept in the laboratory, which should also receive copies of actual purchase orders. In a small laboratory the operator may do the ordering himself. 

Every item is checked off on the packing list, which will become an authorization for payment, and also on the master list. Usually, the packing list is sent to the purchasing department after an authorized person has signed it. 

The contractor may be in charge of procuring all the equipment, or the contracting company s purchasing department may have ordered all the major equipment. The latter may be necessary when the equipment delivery times are long, if the plant is to be completed on schedule. In November 1973, a buyer would have faced a wait of 78 weeks after he placed a firm order for a compressor before he received... 

Maintenance engineers on the team write similar manuals discussing the repair, cleaning, lubrication, and operation of all the equipment. They will also decide what spare parts and tools must be available for startup, and make certain these are ordered by the purchasing department. 

It determines acceptance or rejection of raw materials and feedstocks and/or assesses their market value for the purchasing department. It... 

Solution Discuss this result with the packaging material supplier and with your purchasing department. Monitor new lots of the packaging... 

This observation is however not restricted to supposedly conservative factory owners, who at best fear liability problems or financial risks. It applies to workers and technicians alike, to purchasing department and management, to associations and scientific branch institutes as well as to sub-contractors of machinery, components and anxiliary eqnipment, in which the chemicals are nsed. This conservative stance applies not only with regard to enviromnent and health-related iimovation, bnt also to innovation in general and it is amplified (and also repeatedly npset) by the stress of globalisation and social uncertainty. 

The behaviour of the individual actors in the chain is in turn affected by both internal and external structures and factors. For example employers, employees, purchasing departments for substance input and waste management for output as well as the various specialised divisions in companies using chemical products thus pursue entirely different interests and strategies. A central concern of the SubChem project was how the interaction of all actors inside and outside the supply chain can accelerate or hamper innovations. 

Since the QA/QC laboratory is concerned with the quality of the firm s products, it can influence product costs and revenues (the cash flow associated with the products). It determines acceptance or rejection of raw materials and feedstocks and assesses their market value for the purchasing department. It frequently initiates the processing of claims against vendors providing raw materials which are below grade specification but are nevertheless used. The lab also may be responsible for process monitoring to determine process parameters which minimize the production of scrap or off-grade product. 

Training for the staff of the companies on the concept of ChL. It is recommended to include staff from the environment and quality control department, the purchasing department, the legal department (if any), technical and operational staff, and others. 

KEMI s list of toxics is one of the most important sources of information for retailers in deciding on their purchases. Recent versions of the KEMI list carry an explanatory section that encourages the user to make some sort of risk assessment of the listed substances rather than automatically deciding against a product because it contains one or more of the listed chemicals. However, according to information from the Swedish Chemicals Manufacturers Association, retailers purchasing departments... 

It is necessary for all suppliers to arrange their visits through the purchasing department. The purchasing department will assist in directing suppliers to the engineers involved in the various aspects of... 

The purchasing department generally gives consideration to any supplier who makes a contribution towards improving our products. However, the buyer has an obligation to obtain competitive quotations except under unusual and justifiable circumstances. This cannot be accomplished without the aid of competitive bidding. This is not to say that the lowest bidder is always awarded the business, it is dependent on total economics. 

Note that two of the four possible critical failures are human. The operator fails to check the level indicator before unloading, or the purchasing department orders a new supply before the reorder level is reached, reached. 

The group of people at the client company who are involved in the decision on which of the several (often very many) fragrances submitted for a product launch or relaunch should be finally adopted is even more varied. It may include the purchasing department, development chemists, evaluation panels attached to the development laboratories, marketing, in-house evaluation panels, the market researchers who design and interpret consumer tests, even top management—or, as the rumor often goes, the president s wife or secretary. 

---