"Strategic procurement" was first proposed by the famous consulting firm Kearney in the 1980s. Kearney is committed to strategic procurement research and promotion, and has provided strategic procurement consulting services to two-thirds of the Fortune 500 companies.

The implementation of strategic procurement not only brings 20%-30% of the total cost of material ownership (TCO) to the enterprise, but more importantly, the construction of a new type of supply chain cooperation relationship has laid a solid and long-term vitality foundation for the formation of the overall competitiveness of the supply chain.

In this era of "market competition is no longer the competition of a single enterprise as the main body of competition, but the competition between the entire supply chain", strategic procurement is particularly important.

What is "strategic procurement"? Many people think: strategic procurement is the need to do some strategic inventory of strategic materials procurement. This is wrong. Strategic materials refer to the materials whose market prices of some raw materials of an enterprise fluctuate greatly, or whose prices are expected to increase significantly in the future and are expected to be in short supply in the future.

Strategic stocks are strategic reserves purchased in advance to meet this challenge and meet future production operations, such as: strategic reserves of petroleum in the country, strategic reserves of grain, iron ore reserves of some steel mills, etc.

So what is really "strategic sourcing"? Strategic procurement is "a series of planning, implementing and controlling strategic and operational procurement decisions for the purpose of reducing the total cost of ownership of purchased materials and improving the competitiveness of the supply chain. The purpose is to guide all activities of the procurement department to improve the ability of the enterprise to realize the enterprise vision plan."

From the perspective of the implementation of corporate strategy, strategic procurement is an important measure to support the implementation of corporate strategy and supply chain strategy, including the entire PDCA process of planning, formulation, implementation and control of procurement strategy, which not only involves strategic materials, but also involves all purchased materials.

There are usually four principles of strategic purchasing. First, the total cost of ownership throughout the supply chain is the lowest. The total cost of ownership is not only a simple price, but also assumes the responsibility of elevating the role of procurement to comprehensive cost management. It is the actual total price paid by the enterprise for the purchase of raw materials and services, including installation costs, taxes, inventory costs, transportation costs, inspection fees, repair or adjustment costs.

Low price may lead to high total cost of ownership, but it is easier to be ignored. The optimal total cost of ownership is misunderstood by the managers of many enterprises as the lowest price. As long as the purchase price is low, the use cost, management cost and other intangible costs are rarely considered.

Purchasing decisions affect subsequent transportation, deployment, maintenance, replacement and even product replacement, so it is important to have a vision of overall cost considerations and to evaluate the key costs involved throughout the procurement process and other associated long-term potential costs. The second is to establish a win-win strategic partnership on the external supply chain.

Strategic procurement requires enterprises to establish cooperative partnerships with suppliers. The strategic procurement process is not a zero-sum game, where one party gains and the other loses. The negotiation of strategic procurement should be a process of commercial negotiation, instead of using procurement leverage to suppress suppliers to make price compromises, it should be a win-win communication based on a full understanding of the raw material market and the enterprise's own long-term planning. Only in this way can supply chain competition be established in a real sense.

The third is to establish cooperative relations along the internal value chain. The strategic decision of strategic procurement aims at the lowest total cost of ownership in the supply chain, and its decision will inevitably involve the interests of various departments in the enterprise's internal value chain, namely product research and development, process, procurement, manufacturing, sales and service, cost and other departments. At the same time, in order to achieve the lowest total cost of ownership, it also needs the cooperation of various departments involved to implement effectively.

Therefore, strategic purchasing is not only a matter for the purchasing department, but usually the establishment of commodity teams for various purchasing categories. Fourth, the principle of sustained implementation. Strategic procurement is not just a "storm" of consulting projects or an internal "management improvement storm," but an ongoing, day-to-day corporate function.

Of course, the "storm" type consulting project and the internal "management improvement storm" are necessary to introduce and establish a strategic procurement management system, change ideas, and achieve outstanding results in a short time.

However, after the "movement", enterprises also need to establish strategy-related functional departments or mechanisms to continuously improve and enhance the supply chain, suppliers, procurement and supplier management systems, and the focus of strategic procurement departments has also changed from daily transactional operational procurement to supplier relationship maintenance and development.

The concept of strategic procurement is not difficult to understand, but it is more difficult to implement, the so-called "easy to know but difficult to do" is so. After reviewing all kinds of domestic articles and training courses related to strategic procurement, most of them are about the introduction of strategic procurement knowledge. After learning, students' brains are filled with various popular concepts, but there is no clear, logical and operable guide to guide how to practice.

The author feels so, on the basis of systematic research on strategic procurement knowledge and the successful practice of domestic benchmarking enterprises, combined with their own strategic procurement practice in multinational enterprises, after a long time of summary and research, to create a step by step operable, learning, learning and use of "strategic procurement 14-step method". The following is a step-by-step introduction to the "fourteen steps of strategic procurement".

"Fourteen steps of Strategic Procurement" introduction:

The first step: organizational establishment of strategic procurement implementation. The organization of strategic procurement implementation includes the project management team, the commodity team for each project, and the permanent department of strategic procurement (responsible for supplier development and management). The preliminary work also includes: clarifying the responsibilities of each team, the work rules of cross-departmental teams, developing the overall implementation plan, developing the work plan of each project team, developing the training plan and implementing the training.

Step 2: Classify materials according to their physical properties. Materials are classified into material family according to their processing technology and materials.

Step 3: Statistics of total procurement expenditure. Procurement expenditure refers to the actual amount paid and total cost of ownership. The general status quo of enterprises is to have the data statistics of procurement expenditure, but in many cases, the data is missing, the data is incomplete and the data is inaccurate, which cannot provide a scientific basis for the formulation of procurement strategy.

Step 4: purchase demand analysis. Each commodity group analyzes the demand for a particular type of material in order to identify opportunities for demand improvement, demand integration and concentration. The result of all commodity group analyses is the establishment of a procurement database. At the same time, the total cost of ownership of the material in the whole supply chain process is analyzed, the purpose is mainly to grasp the current situation and identify the opportunity for improvement. The result of the analysis of all commodity groups is the total cost of ownership database of all materials.

Step 5: Supply market analysis. Each commodity team analyses the current competitive situation and future competitive trends of the material to provide a basis for the formulation of purchasing strategies. SWOT analysis tool is further used to analyze opportunities, disadvantages, advantages and disadvantages in purchasing the material from potential suppliers, so as to provide more basis for the formulation of procurement strategy.

Step 6: Classify materials by purchasing management attributes. Materials are divided into four categories from the risk and complexity dimensions and the value dimension. The dimensions of risk and complexity include: the impact of the interruption of procurement on the enterprise, the maturity of the design of the purchased material and the complexity of manufacturing, service and supply, the proficiency of the enterprise in purchasing the material, the market supply capacity of the supply market, competition, entry barriers, the scope of the supply market, the complexity of the supply chain and other factors.

The value dimension reflects TCO and price elasticity. The four categories of materials include: strategic materials - high risk and complexity and high value materials; Bottleneck materials - high-risk and complex materials with low value; Leveraged materials - materials with low risk and complexity and high value; Conventional goods - low-risk, simple and low-value goods.

Step 7: Develop differentiated purchasing strategies based on classification. Among the six general purchasing strategies, different types of materials apply different purchasing strategies. According to the result of material classification and the conclusion of supply market analysis, differentiated purchasing strategies are formulated for each kind of material.

For strategic materials, it is necessary to form strategic cooperative relations with a few key suppliers to achieve the optimization of TCO. For bottleneck materials, either constantly develop new suppliers, or modify their own needs, the bottleneck materials into other materials; For lever materials, it is necessary to expand the sourcing range and reduce TCO through bidding. For conventional materials, the procurement process can be simplified and the procurement cost can be reduced through standardized and automated procurement processes.

Step 8: Supplier evaluation and selection. Systematic and standardized supplier evaluation and selection process is very important, which is an important link to ensure supplier quality. The potential suppliers will be included in the qualified supplier system after preliminary screening, second screening, third screening, supplier audit and certification.

Step 9: Negotiate a contract with a qualified supplier. All information related to the total cost of ownership, material cost composition data and the results of the supply market analysis should be prepared before the negotiation. During the negotiation, we should adhere to the thinking of strategic procurement, take total cost of ownership as the starting point and adhere to the strategy of win-win cooperation. Supplier negotiations result in the signing of a cooperation agreement.

Step 10: Supplier switching. Whether the supplier conversion is smooth directly affects the successful implementation of the procurement strategy, but also affects the production and operation of the enterprise, product quality and supplier management. It is important to establish a standardized supplier switching process and switching plan, and pay special attention to complying with the contracts and agreements with the original suppliers to avoid unnecessary legal disputes and adverse effects on the company's reputation.

Step 11: Categorize suppliers by management attributes. According to the degree of interdependence between suppliers and customers, suppliers are divided into three categories: strategic cooperation, long-term cooperation and transaction.

Step 12: Develop a differentiated supplier management strategy based on the results of the classification. Develop differentiated supplier management strategies from strategic, functional and operational levels for a certain supplier. Baojuo strategic procurement department, operational procurement department, quality, process, R & D, logistics, manufacturing, service and other departments implement this strategy

Step 13: Establish strategic alliances with strategic collaborative suppliers. For strategic cooperative suppliers, they should take the initiative to establish, develop and maintain strategic cooperative relations with suppliers, and establish cooperation strategies and procedures. The implementation subject of the strategy is not limited to the daily business operation department, but also includes the top management of the company and the middle level related to procurement.

Step 14: Supplier management. A formal supplier management process and system shall be established for suppliers, including supplier performance evaluation indicators and mechanisms. The index system of supplier performance evaluation should cover all aspects that affect total cost of ownership, but also reflect the relative importance of each aspect. The evaluation index system includes not only quantitative index, but also qualitative index.

For suppliers with excellent performance, corresponding incentive measures should be formulated; For suppliers with poor performance, appropriate incentive measures should be developed according to the type of materials and supply attributes. For suppliers with bottleneck materials, poor performance or suppliers with great development potential but poor performance at present, supplier development mechanism should be implemented as appropriate, that is, proactively provide relevant resources or assistance to support the improvement of suppliers.

All in all, strategic procurement is not only a concept, but also a mature and operational process, methods and tools. However, its implementation depends on the cooperation and full participation of various departments related to procurement, and it is unrealistic to expect the procurement department to complete it alone.

High-end courses recommended:

Registered professional Purchasing Manager CPPM training certification

The CPPM Certification program is an American Purchasing Association (APS) certification program designed to enhance the purchasing skills of individuals and groups. The project focuses on improving purchasing skills and increasing purchasing knowledge to reach international purchasing level. The CPPM certification of Registered Professional Purchasing Manager was approved by the Ministry of Labor of China in April 2005 (registration number: Luo Yin Zi [2005]001). The CPPM certificate has been incorporated into the national vocational qualification certificate unified management system, and is the only international procurement professional qualification certificate approved by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China (formerly the Ministry of Labor and Social Security).

To learn about the procurement supply chain training course, please add wechat: 15201681461 Teacher Tian (to get the course outline)