Systems Support
Too often the purchasing department receives informationon the company’s business plans and objectives that is incomplete or improperly geared to the tasks and time horizons of strategic supply management. Purchasing executives are usually informed of major expansion and investment projects as well as month-to-month production requirements but often lack adequate operating information with a three- to six-month time horizon, which would provide early warning of short- to medium-term demand fluctuations. The purchasing department needs these data for negotiating prices, rescheduling supply quantities, and balancing raw material inventories in response to cyclical demand swings