| | DECEMBER 20168Consultants ReviewHeadquartered in New Delhi, Moser Baer India Limited is a leading global tech-manufacturing company. Dev Arora is a complete Supply chain professional spanning the functions of Planning, Vendor development, Sourcing, Procurement, Receiving & Storage, In-Plant Logistics, Packaging, Warehousing, Despatches, Logistics and process automation.he Purchasing function has evolved a great deal since the days of Industrial Revolution. The earliest role assigned to a buyer was to buy inputs and consumables as per the Purchase Request ­PR given by the Production and User departments. This was in the days when computers were not commonly available. With the proliferation of computers in the form of desktops and laptops, came in a host of software applications in the form of ERP, Planning and SCM tools that made the whole process transparent for all of the stakeholders. The buyer could not only see what to buy, but also when to buy and also could estimate how much to buy. The `buyer' thus evolved into a `planner' who also happened to be a buyer.With these new tools, the buyer was able to optimize the buying decisions. He could play on the commodity prices, bulk quantity ordering, just to ensure the lowest possible prices.To be able to manage such `enabled' buyers, the Procurement Heads needed to have an all-around view of the company's strategy and policies. The CPO became an indispensable member of the management core team.Gradually, we have embarked into an era where the performance of the company depends on the performance of the CPO and the Procurement team to a great extent.Let us halt here and understand the difference between the terms "Purchasing" and "Procurement".Procurement function is a level above the pure Purchasing function. It involves a bit of Planning and what, why, when and how much to Purchase. Procurement function works in tandem with the Production and PPC teams.Today, a new kind of Procurement (non-manufacturing) organization has come into being. TIN MY OPINIONBy Dev Arora, AVP-Procurement, Moser Baer India LtdEMERGING ROLE OF THE PROCUREMENT FUNCTION
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