What does a purchasing/buyer person do?

[belledechocolatefluffybunny]

Apart from buy stuff?
There's a job at a huge company here, I want to apply for it but there's no details and no list of experience/qualifications. All info is greatly recieved.

You pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Generally a buyer will get given control of a range. The range will usually be a subset so for example Tesco will have a buyer who looks after bedding.

They will decide they range (i.e. what to sell). Will usually decide the supplier (if Tesco own the pattern/rights to the item). Negotiate the terms and the contracts with help from legal but generally work on costs of what to sell for and what to buy for. How much to order and when, phasing of deliveries.

Also they are responsible for maintaining stock. They are not allowed to hold to much so may discount products to make them sell - but this affects the profit they make.

It's for a aerospace company so I imagine it's going to be buying rubber bands and bits of metal
Well, there's no harm in trying, I spend most of my life buying things.

Thankyou

maintaining a workable stock level is the most difficult part - ensuring that you don't go over your allocated stock value, but without being out of stock of anything.. bloody nightmare

It often depends on the kind of place you work for, some buyers determine the range, decide what to buy, what cost is acceptable etc. In another place I worked (distribution) the demand was determined by customers, so I was handed a list of things to get and the max price I could pay for them - then the skill is in your sourcing and negotiation skills.

I can do negotiations, I've done this as part of the law degree that I have. I am a bit that they are not specifying the qualifications and experience they want.

There is a specific qualification body but I don't think it is necessarily often requested. Essentially sourcing, effectively managing costs and supply chain, possibly quality control too. In industry it could be anything from components, machinery and raw materials to stationery, office equipment and travel.

Is it possible to go into it with no experience?

Thankyou for answering my dumb questions.

I work in procurement for an aerospace company (well used to, I work in automotive now).

I am an engineer so worked on new product introduction and outsorucing.

What is the job title exactly? There are generally two elements of buying, there will be strategic (which will be establishing contracts, pricing, technical info, long term procurement policy etc) or material control (which will be the day to day supplier management, material control, invoice queries etc).

What company is it out of interest? It is quite a niche area.

Am surprised that they haven't asked fotr your qualifications, aerospace companies ususally (not always) require CIPS status.

If you have any specific questions please ask - I worked for aerospace companies for over 10 years so hopefully will be able to help

My friend used to work as a buyer for an aerospace company early in her career.

At that point, she didn't choose suppliers, but managed the relationship with the ones in her area, managed stock control for those, dealt with them over any issues, and acted as a go between the manufacturing engineers and the suppliers.

Why not phone and ask for an informal chat about the role ?

It's for RollsRoyce, it just says procurement/buyer. There's no other details at all apart from the salary. I was going to call them and ask but I can't google their number. I'm not bad with technical stuff and I pick things up really quickly. I'm training as a radiographer at the moment but it's not working out very well with the MS so I need a job that's alot less physically demanding.

My husband's a buyer and he doesn't actually manage stock control. For him it's more about managing supplier relationships and cutting deals.

He's also supposed to have CIPS but has managed to weasel out of this for now.

I'm really good at people skills and negotiating, I did a law degree aswell. I seem to spend the whole of my life negotiating. I don't mind doing some study, I'd quite like to do some accountancy training, it will be really helpful.

OOh, Rolls Royce. I would jump at it, tbh. A very prestigious company and also (as they are a large company) a lot of purchasing power. As a buyer it is often the best thing to work for a large multinational.

Are you in bristol then OP? Or Derby.

Rolls Royce make aircraft engines for Airbus and Boeing. Depending on whether you are strategic or material control, you will be assigned (presumably) a product group, or a list of suppliers. If you have no experience I imagine you will be on teh material control side, which I would say would be more of an expediting role (so chasing parts in, placing orders, mainting the suppleir score card etc).

Rolls Royce have a fantastic reputation in the industry, one of the top aerospace companies to work for in the country. Treat their staff well. BUT I would imagine it would be rather difficult to get a job as a buyer there with no previous procurement experience at all.

I'm in Derby. It does say na for the experience/qualifications so it's worth a shot. The bloke next door has a pal that works there, one of the parents at ds's old school is one of the managers aswell and they both say how great they are to work for, how supportive they are if the staff want to learn a new skill. Fingers crossed hey!

I'm a procurement manager in a Utilities company. I spend a lot of my time running tender processes to select suitable suppliers for whatever the company needs. At the moment, I'm trying to source solar panels from China (not easy!!). We start off with a long list of suppliers, reduce them to a short list, then ask them to provide a detailed tender response. We then run the evaluation with the internal team to decide on final supplier selection. We assess the commercial proposal i.e. how much does it cost and what are the implications long term? and the response to the contract. The final step is to negotiate and put in place the contract, detailing the final negotiated proposal. There are lots of ways you can approach this, of course, to give you the optimum deal. After this, we manage the ongoing supplier relationship to ensure they are meeting the commitments they have made in the contract.

If you have a law degree, that will stand you in very good stead for the last stages of this process. You would need to demonstrate how you could approach the first stages. CIPS material is very good reading for this. I have the CIPS diploma and it took me 5 years of study to get - so not to be taken lightly!

I did a HND in Environmental Monitoring many years ago, business studies was one of the modules, as well as maths.

Yes, all good. I would emphasise the law bit and the business studies/maths elements you have done.

Ultimately, it's about finding the best suppliers out there for the company you work for and putting in place the best possible deal through tender processes, negotiating and contractual deals. Did you do commercial law as part of your law degree, as I would read up on this if you have?

I did contracts. I know they will want a reference from the current course though and it's going to be dire because of all the sick time I have had this year, I will call in sick is I am unwell (mainly fatigue) as patient safety is paramount, the uni don't like this at all. I have medication to stop the fatigue now thank goodness, it's a bit too late for a good reference though

I would ask for a bit more info about the job tbh.

Liek I said in all teh aerospace manufacturing companies I have worked for, the procurement dept is split into strategic and operational. The jobs for the two areas are markedly different - what effjay refers to (the tendering activity at the very beginning of the procurement process) will definitely be part of the strategic dept, and will be a senior role, which will probably involve people round the world, as is a global company.

Supplier selection in aerospace is a hugely long and complex process, effectvely whatever you buy at the deve;opment stage of the aircraft has to be made available for the life of the aircraft, typical 25-30 years. Once a aircraft part has been qualified, there is very little you can do to change it, without costly and lenghthy retesting. So the suppliers chosen will need to be long standing, financially secure, needed to be vetted to the nth degree by the quality department etc.

If you are an operational buyer you won't see any of this - all you will see will be a forecast which you will need to shchedule orders against, ensuring that you don't run out, and also don't exceed inventory levels. You will just basically 'see' a list of part numbers.

Thankyou. I'll hunt down an email address and ask for some more information.

I called them, the recruitment lady said the page isn't supposto be like that and they will update it. They have my name now though and thanked me for being observant and pointing it out. Fingers crossed

Oh lord!

A degree in Business, Supply Chain Management or CIPS is preferred. Together with relevant experience in supply chain or procurement within an IT environment

A global outlook and exposure to different challenges, cultures and ways of working is required. You will need a good understanding and interest in IT and how IT services are delivered to the End User as well as a reasonable knowledge of the IT market.

Hmmm. Sounds like it is an IT procurement role. This would mean negotiating and buying hardware or software (licences,etc.). This is quite a specialist area of procurement and to be frank, not the most interesting of areas to work in! However, I'm of the opinion, that some things are always worth a try as you never know what may interest you in the future and where it may go! I certainly never planned a career in procurement when I left Uni, but I love the job now.

They have a post availiable in quality assurance, I've been doing this daily at the hospital with the x-ray machines and the law degree will come in very handy as it's also involves looking at regulations. I might give this a whirl! I'm just destroying my CV.

Hmm, I would avoid IT procurement with a bargepole. I did that when i worked in indirect procurement, and it was complex without being the least bit interesting, tbh. Lots of license renewal.

QA in aerospace will be incredibly difficult to get into without being an aeronautical engineer, unless it is at a very rudimentary role. It is effectively auditing suppliers, inspecting parts and ensuring that they fit the spec, assessing paperwork etc.

Degree qualified or equivalent experience, you will have significant working knowledge of operating within a technical or Programme environment.

You will have strong customer focus, and be able to effectively influence performance and manage customer expectations.

You must be IT literate with the ability to analyse and manipulate data and turn it into actionable information.

You will have the ability to lead and facilitate cross-functional teams. You will understand how organisations work and be able to use both formal channels and informal networks to get things done.

A proven problem solver and strong negotiator, you will be determined and be able to combat resistance or setbacks to achieve your aims.

Experience of regulatory compliance, particularly in a Nuclear environment would be highly desirable.

Six sigma training would also be desirable, as would experience in running problem solving activities or auditing.

Knowledge of the SAP would be ideal

I can do this, I've been doing the same things (more or less) but with an x-ray machine or 6.

There's some teaching assistant posts around here somewhere, there's some trainee accountants posts aswell. I can't go back to my course, I'm just not physically fit enough to do it.