Instead of the Purchasing Agent doing the expediting of parts, the buyer/planner does this work, to free up the Purchasing Agent to look for cost reduction ideas and find alternate suppliers.
When Material Requirement Planning (MRP) runs, the planner/scheduler reviews the MRP output to see what parts are urgently needed or past due. Not having the right parts at the nighttime can shut down the production line and cost the company a lot of money in production and customers who need their parts.
The MRP output affects inventory. The Inventory Manager works hand-in-hand with the buyer/planner to ensure that the inventory turnover meets the companies goals and objectives.
Attends Purchasing and Supply Chain meetings and reports on any major issues.
Buyer planners determine what goods their organizations need for use or resale and then buy those products. Initially, they must evaluate potential suppliers based on their product quality, cost, delivery times, and customer service. This may require visits to manufacturing plants for the first-hand examination of production processes. They then negotiate contracts that specify a price, payment terms, and delivery schedules. Those who buy for organizational use can base their decisions on previous purchases, accounting for any increases and decreases in workloads. However, those purchasing items for resale may need to study consumer trends to determine what will sell.
As a buyer planner, a working knowledge of costing is essential and a constant monitoring of quality is essential. If a vendor substitutes an inferior product during a time when prices are going up, but certain quality was negotiated at a set price, somebody has to make sure that standards are adhered to. This responsibility falls on the buyer planner and it is an important part of [removed] .
As a buyer planner, it is important to have good communication and negotiation skills. Since you will be contacting vendors and negotiating the best prices, this is a skill that is essential. Understanding production needs and inventory needs are important. A buyer planner will need to manage the amount of inventory need to produce a company's product and need to make sure that quality and pricing is adhered to for profitability and customer satisfaction.In other words, a buyer planner needs to find the best product for the price. This doesn't always mean finding the cheapest product because the quality could be inferior. Finding the best quality at the lowest cost is the goal and this can be negotiated based on the volume of product you are buying, in most cases. While a college degree isn't necessary, a good working knowledge of these factors is the most desirable in [removed] like a buyer planner.