In this article series, we are featuring one of many careers within Supply Chain Logistics, Technology & Warehouse.

 
Procurement Officer 

A procurement officer is primarily in charge of overseeing the procurement of supplies and equipment for an organization, prioritizing cost-efficiency and quality. 

“Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process.[1] When a government agency buys goods or services through this practice, it is referred to as public procurement.[2]”  

BridgePort offers a Unique 8-10 Week Certification in Supply Chain Logistics, Technology & Warehouse.

What roles are available in procurement and supply chain? 

Procurement and supply chain cover a range of functions relating to a company’s purchasing and supplier policies. It is the function’s job to ensure an organisation is compliant, sustainable and spending efficiently.   

What are the areas covered by procurement and supply chain? 

Procurement and supply chain are part of a broad function occupied with procuring the necessary services and products to ensure the smooth running of a company’s product production and delivery. 

Procurement and supply chain are becoming more aligned with one role often covering the delivery of both aspects from purchasing to manufacturing and distribution. 

Here are some of the areas that a career in procurement and supply chain could entail: 

• Buying products or services 
  Purchasing is a key component of any procurement role. The task of buying products or services and ensuring that suppliers comply with legal and company policies.  

• Managing procurement processes 
  Procurement may involve the management of internal processes such as adding new suppliers and ensuring they are compliant. 

• Supplier relations 
  A key aspect of a role within supply chain and procurement is supplier relations. It’s important to ensure that suppliers are happy but also delivering on their promises and price.  

• Understand business goals and objectives 
  Naturally as a function with its hands around the purse strings, procurement professionals need to have good business acumen to be able to understand the main goals and objectives of their organization, and how their role fits into that. 

• Policy management 
  Policy management is important for procurement professionals as they need to ensure that their policies are being implemented and adhered to, whilst also updated as business priorities and legislation changes. 

• Sustainability & Ethics 
  As a function concerned with the production, buying, selling and transportation of products and services, sustainability and ethics fall under supply chain and procurement professional’s remit. Ensuring that supply chains are sustainable and ethical is essential to ensure a company does not break the law as well as maintaining company image. 

• Manufacturing 
  Some supply chain roles may be directly involved in the manufacturing of products. A supply chain professional needs to be aware of the products being sold ensuring quality, quantity and price. 

• Merchandising 
  Supply chain professionals may also be involved in the merchandising of a product such as the packaging, design and product description. Working closely with marketing teams, supply chain professionals will work on a go to market plan to ensure the success of their product. 

• Operations & Logistics 
  Operations and logistics are important for supply chain professionals who need to ensure the efficient transportation of goods, especially in a global market, and project manage the systems, structures and processes to plan and execute the flow of goods and services from supplier to customer. 

Who is a Procurement Officer (PO)? 

Also known as a purchasing manager or procurement manager, a procurement officer is someone who is accountable for procuring goods and services for their organization. 

Honestly, being a procurement officer isn’t an easy job. Because it is the procurement officer’s responsibility to ensure the enterprise spends wisely both money and resources. There is no doubt that this role needs a certain kind of skill set and often goes unrecognized and unrewarded. 

In enterprises, the procurement officer usually leads a team of procurement experts or agents and often reports to a chief procurement offer (CPO). On the other hand, in small and medium-sized, the procurement officer doesn’t have any team and is often a department of one. In such scenarios, the procurement officer reports either to the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) or Chief Operations Officer (COO), depending on who takes the responsibility. Regardless of the size of the business, procurement teams should work closely with the finance, legal, and operations teams. 

What are the Duties of a Procurement Officer? 

Now that we have seen who a procurement officer is, let’s take a look at the duties of a procurement officer. 

A procurement officer ensures that the enterprise makes wise decisions in matters related to purchasing goods and/or services to resell or use. Lately, the demand for the services of procurement officers has increased. A report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the job opportunities for procurement officers are witnessing little to no change at least until 2024. Working as a procurement officer comes with many responsibilities that are vital to the organization’s success.  

Staff supervision 

A procurement officer is responsible for overseeing the activities of the department that deals with purchases and sourcing. As a part of their job role, a procurement officer assigns duties to each staff member and reviews their work. In addition, they make plans for the purchase of new equipment, services, and other supplies. Thanks to their knowledge of procurement procedures, procurement officers can hire the right people for their department and provide them proper training in line with the procurement policies of the organization. Procurement officers can manage their team members effectively when they have thorough knowledge and expertise in relevant practices, procedures, and policies. 

Purchasing goods and/or services 

Activities related to the purchase of goods and/or services are completely managed by the procurement officer. They are responsible for checking the best products and services that have low prices within the options available. Along with the price, quality is also an essential factor that procurement officers consider while purchasing or approving a purchase. They ensure that the products and/or services are of high quality regardless of their price. For most enterprises, the procurement policies of the business are the foundation principles to approve such purchases.  

Data handling 

Regardless of the type of purchase or what goods or services are being purchased, the procurement officer is responsible for accurately maintaining the records of all purchases. It also entails the responsibility of managing the inventories of the purchased goods and services in the organization. They need to maintain all the documents or data related to the organization’s vendors or suppliers. It is the responsibility of the procurement officer to make sure that their department has all the essential information such as which supplier is responsible for what goods, delivery times, etc.   

Communication with vendors 

A procurement officer acts as a bridge between the organization and vendors. They have to look for efficient vendors who can deliver high-quality products and services at low or best prices and negotiate the deal for the organization. An extremely crucial part of a procurement offer’s job responsibilities is to maintain a good relationship with the vendors as it can provide the organization excellent opportunities and get the best deals from the vendors’ side.   

Ensure legal compliance 

Another important responsibility of the procurement officers is to ensure every step or activity of the purchasing process follows the organizational policies and government regulations. For instance, a procurement officer who is working in a government institution complies with the State or Federal Procurement Policy Act. 

For More about BridgePort’s Certification: Supply Chain Logistics Technology & Warehouse 

Contact MHammer@BridgePortGroup.Solutions 

Sources: 

Procurement - Wikipedia 

What roles are available in procurement and supply chain? | Supply Management Jobs (cips.org) 

what is a procurement officer? Duties and Responsibilities of PO (iquantum.ai) 

We’ve been talking about the strength of the American workforce this week and the resiliency we’ve seen from people around the country in various industries as they respond to recent events — Laurie’s hotel, Patti’s PPE manufacturing, Peter’s pipeline. Each one has had to retool or rethink their career plan and skills in some way over the last year.

Another industry that has felt the pandemic strain is supply chain and logistics. We were forced to confront the fact that our global supply chain wasn’t as strong as we may have thought. Domestically, we’re now seeing many supply chains being disrupted by factories and warehouses low on workers.

Today, we want to share some perspective from a company in Cleveland, Ohio that started a workforce training program in the middle of last year — at the height of the pandemic — in supply chain and warehouse logistics.

In 2015, Andre Bryan launched BridgePort Group, an African-American, veteran-owned small business that specializes in global supply chain consulting, warehouse distribution, logistics technology, and related certification training programs. He has been training for years at the corporate level — larger corporations and companies would send their project managers and other employees to Andre for training and various certifications.

In the middle of 2020, BridgePort Group partnered with a local community college and developed their Supply Chain Logistics Technology and Warehouse (SCLT&W) pre-apprenticeship course designed to develop a qualified workforce to attract higher entry level wages, and to put students on the path to advancement within the growing supply chain industry. Initially, it was created to ensure BridgePort Group had a pipeline of qualified workers in their warehouse, but they quickly saw where their training could fill a need in urban and rural parts of Northeast Ohio. Those who complete the SCLT&W program receive four in-demand certifications that are transferable to multiple positions throughout the supply chain and related industries.

Andre knows personally the frustration of going through a job training program and there being no job at the end, which he says is an issue he’s found with many other similar programs in the area. “What we do is try to get sponsors for the program upfront, so that when we train the students, we can customize them for the workplace they’ll probably end up going to,” Andre told us. The current training is specifically geared toward the Cleveland Clinic, which is seeing a need for more warehouse and logistics workers for their PPE supply chain.

“We have one participant who is 18 and never finished high school but just recently got his GED. He’s excited because he can see a pathway forward that’s not a McDonald’s job or hanging out on the streets. He can say ‘Hey, there’s a major hospital system right around the corner from my house called the Cleveland Clinic that is interested in hiring me because of all these certifications that I have.’”

Another program participant is a college-educated man in his late 40’s who was recently laid off from his job of 20 years as a transportation manager and is now seeking this new education and these certifications to make him more employable as he re-enters the workforce.

“Our vision is to give people the opportunity to walk into a job with more tools in their toolbox. It allows them to ask for higher entry jobs and better wages,” said Alex Harper, a project manager at BridgePort Group. “Economic development doesn’t come overnight. Low-income communities remain that way due to a number of factors including lack of education and training opportunities, non-promotion or dead end jobs with non-livable wages, no realistic career path, and few sustainable job opportunities.”

But given a chance at these opportunities, Alex continued, people can then support and grow their communities by investing there, or it allows them to get out of situations or communities not serving them.

The pandemic reminded us that everything runs on our supply chains — from DoorDash to Amazon to our grocery stores. These are industries where lower income communities aren’t moving up to higher levels of the job, Alex and Andre explained. “They’re at the entry level warehouse position, but they’re not able to get to that management, corporate level, because they don’t have a lot of the necessary formal training.” BridgePort Group’s certification training and workforce development gives them the opportunity to advance within their organization, or the opportunity to leverage their skills elsewhere.

“Historically the problem in urban communities, disadvantaged communities, and rural communities is that in those areas, there’s a limitation on the types of jobs you can get and the skills that you get after high school, that is if you finish high school,” Andre said. “It is typically limited to a small industry. If you can gain some skills in the supply chain field, it just opens up a huge opportunity, because supply chain entry level jobs are 20-25% higher paying than other entry level jobs. The wages are sustainable wages with promotion paths.” Participants of the SCLT&W program are exposed firsthand to over 50 careers of the nearly 300 or so related to supply chain logistic technology and warehouse management — and they’re all high paying.

BridgePort Group plans to expand the program with more students and some specialized training designed to anticipate future trends in needed skills for the 21st century workforce. Look no further than Andre, Alex, and their program trainees to find Americans providing and taking advantage of opportunities to better their communities, and the country.

Additionally, Andre Bryan is the Small Biz representative of the Infrastructure bill subcommittee on Capital Hill and has presented the program to Congressman Donald Payne who heads up the subcommittee. “I plan to get an endorsement from him or his staff in the near future and expand the program to the NY/NJ area as well as west coast with the help of Congressman McCarthy.”

Source: Opportunity in Ohio - House Republican Leader