The non-production purchasing function

The non-production purchasing function

Non-production purchases (or indirect purchases) are taking an increasing place in businesses, in particular because of their impact on cost reduction.
Non-production purchases represent between 10 and 20% of overall business spending.

How have non-production purchases become strategic?

We see that more and more specialist buyers Non-production purchases are hired by businesses.
Indeed, these purchases are a strategic lever for the company, for several reasons:

• Purchases represent approximately 50% of business expenses and Non-production purchases in some cases represent the majority of this burden, so the impact on results is very significant.
• Non-production purchases have the following characteristic: They are generally not very technical and the formulation of the need can be done functionally. As a result, the specifications written by buyers give suppliers the opportunity to use their creativity and therefore to Possible savings.

What levers of action do buyers have to optimize these product families?

Two main levers are available to buyers:

1. The functional specifications : the supplier must strive to be creative and thus optimize its proposal.
2. The benchmark of best practices used through the network/competition. Indeed, due to the recurring or identical characteristics of non-production purchases in different companies, the buyer can thus, through this approach, “duplicate” the best practices put in place by certain colleagues internally or externally.

Example: What are the particularities of telephone management in non-production purchases?

First of all, these purchases are technical mainly due to permanent developments and the solutions offered by suppliers.

Then, for major purchases, The supplier panel is restricted with, in addition, complex pricing proposals.

It is therefore important for the buyer to be able to rely on a telephony expert, as well as the close collaboration of internal customers to define the right need.

To discover: The outsourcing of non-production purchases

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