What Are the Differences Between Purchasing and Parts Procurement?
The terms ‘purchasing’ and ‘procurement’ are commonly interchanged. However, they hold different meanings. Purchasing is the act of obtaining and paying for goods and services, whereas procurement encompasses purchasing processes and is greater in scope. Parts procurement includes identifying a need, contract negotiation, strategic vetting, and vendor selection in addition to buying components.
Purchasing is functional, while procurement is strategic. Purchasing is the ‘how’ a good or service is ordered while procurement is more involved with ‘why’ and ‘from where’ electronics parts are ordered.
Parts procurement managers have a responsibility to ensure that goods and services are of high quality at an affordable price. They rely on the decisions made by procurement departments, as to which items meet requirements and which vendors they should use.
Instead of worrying about the quality of items ordered, purchasing teams for electronic component purchasing have a responsibility to ensure that the correct parts are ordered as needed and that they remain within established budgetary limits.
Parts Procurement vs. Purchasing Tasks
For electronics manufacturing and distribution, procurement tasks are focused on identifying requirements and potential suppliers, selecting vendors and negotiating contracts, and analysis. These tasks can be broken down into discrete steps:
- Identify part requirements
- Authorize and approve the purchase request
- Identify suppliers / RFQ intake
- Select vendor
- Negotiate contract
Purchasing tasks, on the other hand, are focused on ordering and receiving goods, and making correct budget allocations and reconciliations. Purchasing steps include:
- Purchase order processing
- Goods receipt
- Invoicing
- Vendor payments
- Budget allocation
- Reconciliation
Purchasing and parts procurement reflect on the company, and the ways it does business. Although, procurement serves more as a function that shapes corporate identity and can reinforce or alter the perception of your company within an industry.
Parts Procurement Automation
Because corporate identity, as well as overall success, is tied to the accuracy and efficiency of procurement activities, many organization look toward e-procurement software to automate the parts procurement process.
Automating legacy policies can improve efficiency, transparency, and accuracy throughout the supply chain. The right e-procurement solution allows a company to securely transfer data across systems, helping to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve customer service and vendor relationships.
The standardization of forms, reduction of errors, and improved business processing cycles are some additional benefits of e-procurement, helping to improve cost controls within the company and communications with vendors and customers externally.
Finding an e-procurement solution partner with a platform-agnostic system that easily integrates to partner systems, like Orbweaver, can improve purchasing and parts procurement processes throughout the supply chain.
Orbweaver is an all-in-one integration and automation solution that simplifies procurement specifically for the electronics industry. Our e-procurement solution automates procurement cycles to enable electronics manufacturers to improve internal processes while cutting costs and providing real-time analytics for accurate decision-making.
