Text: Dagmar Kempná
During January, the purchasing department participated in a half-day working meeting to evaluate the functioning of the purchasing process and suggest changes to improve it.
In the first half of the workshop we focused on addressing the strengths and weaknesses of the purchasing department and the purchasing process, not only from our own perspective, but also from the perspective of other
departments in the company or suppliers. We were able to describe the current state of the purchasing process and define the areas we want to strengthen. We have also found bottlenecks that we want to work on for even better functioning and networking within the company. For example, we want to focus on fine-tuning substitutability or setting up regular meetings with the warehouse.
In the second half of the meeting, we focused on purchasing strategy with a link to the overall company strategy. We listed specific areas that support the strategy in one sentence: We pride ourselves on responsibility, quality and timeliness. We were also able to assign key indicators to each area to help us measure the success of their implementation. We have many tasks and challenges ahead of us, as each of us has listed specific actions that we want to develop and deliver this year. Worthy of note are, for example, setting optimal inventory levels, automating purchase orders, and creating a strategic purchasing concept.
This morning was very intensive in terms of work. At the same time, everything took place in a very pleasant and relaxed atmosphere. The time together helped us to clarify our goals and agree on a direction.
