Purchasing Manager: How To Set Targets For Yourself And Your Team

Purchasing manager has significant responsibilities in the procurement process of the business and thus the overall product development. Being a purchasing head you need to have clear goals and a better understanding of your business insights to make favorable decisions for the organization. From selecting a supplier to cost optimization and following business policies, purchasing managers should have acceptable procurement strategies for proper guidance and handling the team well. 

As a purchasing manager, it is essential to set certain realistic goals and targets for self and the procurement team for a stable supply chain flow and business growth. With achievable short-term and long-term targets and goals, management can smoothly run the procurement operations. Goal setting in the procurement process is also significant to maintain the brand reputation and provide quality products to the customers. 

Step 1: Understand your company's overall goal.

To set efficient goals and targets for the procurement process, a purchasing manager must understand the company's overall goal to serve better. The manager can learn the company's goals and objectives by meeting with the boss or company owner and discussing the expectations of the business. 

Previous data and analytics can play a huge role in understanding the company's current position and setting future goals and targets accordingly. You can analyze the procurement team and overall business performance to understand the strengths and weaknesses. In addition, through previous data and performance figures, you can evaluate the mistakes and bad decisions made for the business in the past. 

While understanding your company's overall goal it is equally important to know the budget for future procurement and product development. With a better understanding of capital and funds available, you can optimize the cost and make the buying decision accordingly. 

To set successful targets and goals for the company, a purchasing manager also needs to understand the market and its competitors. Knowing your target market and the demands of your customers will provide a better idea of your company's overall targets. You can benefit from the competitor research done by the marketing team to set a relevant target and know the numbers your company needs to achieve. 

Step 2: Understand how you tie into your company's goals and targets. 

After knowing your company's overall goal, the next step is to understand how you assign yourself to certain goals and targets. Assessment of a company's goals can indicate several objectives and action plans needed for business growth. As a purchasing head, you need to stick with procurement targets and build strategies for better buying decisions. 

You can manage the procurement process by adopting different target achievement techniques and methods that suit the business. Focus on both long-term targets and short-term targets of the company by making a list and highlighting the action needed. You can also break up the long-term targets of the company into short tasks to elevate productivity and make it look more achievable. 

You can utilize the target-setting tools and reminders to notify you of upcoming events and daily action plans. Moreover, digital tools can help you make a to-do list with the reminder function that will enable you to achieve your target efficiently without missing any crucial procurement task or decision. 

Step 3: Come up with your own goals for purchasing department

The next big step is to come up with unique ideas and strategies for the purchasing department and team with a strong action plan. As a purchasing manager, you are responsible to make the procurement process efficient and successful, and thus, you need an extraordinary plan to achieve your targets. 

To come up with different beneficial strategies and ideas, you can think like a business owner to set goals to level up the entire procurement process and accomplish massive success. With the change in the mindset, you can think in the favor of the company and how you can create a positive impact on the overall purchasing process. 

You can also reanalyze the services and equipment essential for product development. To strengthen the purchasing team, it is vital to know the strength of each individual and the roles to assign them. 

You can arrange strategy meetings with the team to discuss the goals and targets and gather more ideas. However, it is also important to avoid needless meetings and discussions with the team to improve time management and productivity.   

Get in touch with the R&D department more frequently to add or discard the purchasing materials and equipment to have a clear target and further optimize the cost.  

Step 4: Come up with goals for your role in the purchasing department

Once you have assigned tasks and set goals for your team, it is time to set goals for yourself. As a manager of the procurement department, you have the authority to assign tasks for yourself that don't require approval from heads. 

You can expand your primary role of handling the team and managing individuals and consider additional roles for enhancing the profit and success rate. Be sure, however, that you don't overlook the importance of motivating and guiding the procurement team frequently to ensure that they reach their goals.  

Highlighting and revisiting your goals and targets will help you be a good leader of the procurement department and eventually increase the business profit. Learn from the performance insights and previous decisions to improve the efficiency of your work and the procurement team. 

Purchasing department goals and objectives

Understanding the expectations of the company from the procurement department is vital to provide positive performance and boost the supply chain. Learn how to organize the entire purchasing process, from making the budget to getting the service of raw materials delivered. 

Timely evaluate the requirements and needs of the products manufacturing to prioritize crucial factors and order accordingly. Strategize selection of the suppliers to enhance the budgeting and increase the profit ratio of the business. Organizing, evaluating, and budgeting should be done rigorously for more positive outcomes and to elevate the performance of the procurement department. 

Build effective strategies for procurement 

In addition to understanding the goals and objectives of the purchasing department, it is also crucial to develop strategies with the procurement team and implement these strategies effectively. 

• Consider uplifting the supply chain management by focusing on cost, quality, and delivery of the procurement. Ensuring the purchase of quality raw materials and equipment required for product development is vital for the business reputation and increasing the customer base. 

• Work on the weakness of the purchasing team to avoid the inconvenience and negative impact on the supply chain. Ensure the regular order of the inventory and essential raw materials for smooth business operation. 

• Focus on maintaining a supplier relationship with the preferred suppliers by making a timely payment and a professional approach for procurement. Evaluate several significant aspects before selecting the label of suppliers based on the market research and business requirements. 

• Give priority to competitive research to set quality standards for the target market. Purchase raw materials and equipment suitable to manufacture relevant products for your target audience. 

• Try including innovation in the procurement strategies to experience different modern techniques. Discuss innovative ideas and methods with business owners to reform the procurement department and have long-term success. 

• Follow the corporate social responsibilities while procurement to maintain the reputation of the company and make the workplace well organized. 

Things to avoid by the procurement department 

With setting goals and having strategies, a purchasing manager should be aware of things to avoid while procurement of raw materials and equipment. 

• Choosing price over value

Avoid choosing price over value and approving suppliers that offer cheap and low-quality raw materials. Cost optimization is the primary part of the procurement team, but prioritizing price over value can negatively affect product development and brand image. 

• Buying without checking the inventory

The purchasing department should examine the inventory delivered by the supplier to avoid business loss and protect the company from unnecessary expenditures. If you buy without checking inventory, you could potentially be undermining one of the primary roles of the procurement department, which is to increase profit and evaluate quality.

• Buying without a plan

Procurement without a practical plan can lead to purchasing of unnecessary raw materials and equipment. Purchasing manager should have a complete list of essential materials required for product development. Furthermore, it is useful to know the current trends in the market to buy relevant raw materials according to customer demand.

Conclusion

Purchasing managers play a key role in the company's procurement process, and the above-mentioned information will certainly help managers increase the effectiveness of the procurement. Building a dedicated procurement team is another crucial role of a purchasing manager that benefits the company and the overall supply chain. 

Since a purchasing manager approves the supplier and service providers, finding a suitable supplier is also a key part of their role. Fashinza is a prominent b2b apparel manufacturing platform where you can find potential suppliers if you own a clothing business or work as a purchasing manager in a textile company. 
At Fashinza, you can conveniently order clothing collections and get them delivered effortlessly, just like an e-commerce purchase. Find numerous trusted suppliers at Fashinza and make your procurement process productive and more efficient.