The procurement process aims to ensure the economic supply of the materials or commodities which are to be processed. In practice, the purchase with its market-oriented and contracting tasks is either subsumed under the term procurement (see Fig. 2.7) or is given its own business function. Manufacturing companies often refer to this phase in the flow of goods as materials management (see Fig. 2.6). However, materials management may also include production and distribution. Due to this ambiguity, we shall avoid the term materials management.