Buyer/Planner Management
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The Seventh Edition of The APICS Dictionary is a logical place to begin an analysis of the elements of a Buyer/ Planner skill set. It suggests that the prototypical Buyer/ Planner is:

"A Buyer Who Also Does Material Planning; Manages Inventory levels; Manages Material Schedules; Manages Material Availability—Either Purchased Or Manufactured. In An MRP/JIT System, [the Buyer/Planner] is Responsible For Reviewing And Acting Upon Order Releases/Pulls [and] Acting Upon Action And Exception Messages From The System."2 This definition suggests that the primary Buyer/Planner skills focus on activities characteristic of an MRP/MRPII environment, and that purchasing skills are already understood. Moreover, the emphasis in the APICS definition rests upon skills associated with material plan­ning as driven by a classic Master Production Schedule. Unquestionably, the Buyer/Planner must understand com­pletely all of the theories and applications of MRPII. However, the APICS Body of Knowledge increasingly rec­ognizes that planning skills have moved well past merely a grasp of MRPII. Much more than MRP II knowledge is required: a thorough knowledge of Just-in-Time approaches, Total Quality Management, and the foundation of the CIRM Body of Knowledge is critical to the effective execu­tion of supply management. Consider the knowledge skills required to frame Just-in-Time planning methodologies and the coordination necessary to execute a final assembly To be schedule, and one has some idea of the task. With addi­tional emphasis, now and in the future, placed upon the coordination and integration of a variety of planning mod­els used throughout the entire supply chain, a broader understanding of planning is now required. Planning becomes not merely a tactically-oriented set of activities, but strategic in scope as well. Thus, the recent tactical focus on such job distinctions as Vendor Scheduler (aka Planner/Buyer) seem increasingly misplaced.

From a purchasing perspective, little is obtained from a review of the National Association of Purchasing Management's (NAPM) publication outlining model pur­chasing job descriptions in various industrial and service settings. Indeed, NAPM's Job Descriptions For Purchasing And Materials Management does not even consider the title,

NAPM did, however, contribute to a broader appreciation of what the nature of the beast is, in March of 1994, with the publication of that organization's first glossary of key purchasing terms. It defines a Buyer/Planner as:

A functional title given to an individual whose duties combine the production planning and procurement func­tions into a single position, called the buyer/planner, who is in charge of a specific line of inventory. The concept is based on the idea that the same person should have the authority and the responsibility for both the production planning and the purchasing decisions for specified items.4

This NAPM definition does, in fact, reveal a dawning appreciation of the Buyer/Planner as someone more than a mere combination of a "releaser of planned order require­ments" and/or "mantainer of planned inventory levels" {material planning}. The real distinction lies in the refer­ence to production planning—the notion that not only is the individual who is a true Buyer/Planner skilled at supplier management and contract negotiation, but he or she is someone astute in the details of production planning of supplier's capacities as well! Why might this be so? To answer this, we must examine the APICS model of Cus­tomer-Manufacturer-Supplier relationships as noted in the Just-In-Time environment (see Figure 1).

This planning world suggests that there must be effective links at all levels in the relationships between the custom­ers of various manufacturing concerns, and the supplier network. It even implies that, if required (and it often is), supplier's suppliers, and even their suppliers are inte­grated into this planning paradigm. If we can accept this as the true perspective of planning and the contracting of materials and services, then we have achieved the proper foundation on which to build the practical and knowledge factors for the present-day and future Buyer/Planner.

This environment looks well beyond the traditional notions of buyers as purchasers of commodities in a price-competi­tive marketplace, and materials and production planners whose focus is on optimizing internal manufacturing plant schedules. An entirely new perspective on both the pur­chasing and planning processes is required.
If we examine the implications for purchasing and plan­ning by examining the effects on purchasing alone (see Figure 2), we can generate a "short list" of mandatory perspectives on job/work objectives: At last, we may view the purchasing and planning functions not as functions at all, but rather as integral skill sets in the same "seamless" process. The professional Buyer/Planner is thus seen to be an individual who:

(1) Plans Production As Well As Material Requirements for a network of suppliers
(2) Contracts For Capacity Versus Piece Parts
(3) Works on a Product-Project Versus Functional Depart­ment Basis

Continued

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