CIPS L4M8 - Procurement and Supply in Practice

In the decision to not run out of supplies, organizations can anticipate a peak were by it products will be in a high demand or a period of scarcity of raw materials and may want to increase the in-ventory. However, if this forecast is not accurate, it may lead the organization to holding excess inventory. This can expose the organization to some negative factors.

Acquisition Cost: The organization will incur an acquisition cost for the excess inventory which is inclusive of the cost of placing the order and the cost of purchasing the goods.

Holding Cost: The organization will spend more money holding the stock, trying to keep it in good condition by providing the required light, temperature, skilled handlers and so on.

Working Capital not adding value: This will off shoot the holding cost. Also valuable working capital in excess stock which in the time not adding value, can affect the liquidity of the business. This is also an opportunity cost and increase solvency.

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When organization has made the decision about which option is best for sourcing the asset, it can then begin to work on the whole life asset management strategy.

Whole life asset management is the process of evaluating the total price and all associated costs of a product to make an informed decision as to which option will provide the organization with the best value for money. This strategy is only under taken for large-value procurements because; 1) It takes considerable time (2) It involves many stakeholders and require numerous resources; If whole life asset management were conducted on every purchase it would not create value for the organization and that may tie up valuable resources.

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Modern slavery is against ethical and responsible sourcing. Modern slavery is one of the areas to understudy for procurement professionals to carry out ethical and responsible sourcing and this is recognized in five ways.

1. Human trafficking: The process of seeking, recruiting, transporting and exploiting individuals to work against their will. Often human trafficking includes violence, deception, and coercion.

2. Bonded labour (debt bondage): This is an individual’s promise to provide service through ex-ploitation as repayment, or part thereof, of a dept or other obligation.

3. Forced labour: Work that people are forced to do with the treat of punishment if it is not carried out.

4. Children labour: The exploitative and illegal employment of children.

5. Domestic slavery: Individuals exploited through working in private households for little or no money in return for living accommodation

Condition performance monitoring is a surveillance system that is designed to get the maximum production uptime and availability out of an asset. And this can be achieved by timely monitoring and measuring of temperature, vibration, output, speed, noise, emissions and quality. With this, decision has to be made as to what, if any, action needs to be taken. The five approaches to condition performance monitoring are as follows:

1. Do nothing: Use like a commodity. This will bring worries later.

2. Reactive: Fix it when it breaks. This will run to failure.

3. Preventive: Scheduled maintenance.

4. Predictive: Fix it before it breaks. Predict faults.

5. Proactive: Continuous improvement defect elimination.

The most cost-effective approach is ‘Proactive’, because is the only approach that has continuous improvement in the process, people and policies to minimize downtime. Being proactive takes defect out f the system and continuously harness opportunity that will optimize the system

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Factors that contribute towards value for clothe gum in a fashion firm;

1) How much money does the gum cost?

2) How much is the benefits of using the clothe gum?

3) Does customers prefer clothe gum at the bottom of their garment?

4) Is the clothe gum difficult to use?

5) Does the clothe gum beautifies the fabric when placed properly?

6) Does it give a better finishing?

7) Is it ethical to use?

8) Is it from a sustainable source?

9) is it environmental friendly?

10) Does using clothe gum suggest innovation in fashion?

When reviewing supplier’s response the procurement professional should consider the right quantity of product or service that has to be ordered at anytime as against the price to decide how to gain the best cost.

Factors to consider include the following

(1)Cost of inventory

(2) cost of insurance

(3) cost of transportation.

These three should be considered against price.

Note: Incoterms are versatile and procurement professionals should understand how they are ap-plied and what point the risk transfers from being the supplier’s responsibility to being the buyer’s responsibility. It is important to consult the ICC for the most recent definitions, but in the following questions (101-111) you can understand the rules.

Note: sharpen your knowledge on INCOTERMS. Please consider the following Objective Re-sponse questions

Modern slavery is against ethical and responsible sourcing. Modern slavery is one of the areas to understudy for procurement professionals to carry out ethical and responsible sourcing and this is recognized in five ways.

1. Human trafficking: The process of seeking, recruiting, transporting and exploiting individuals to work against their will. Often human trafficking includes violence, deception, and coercion.

2. Bonded labour (debt bondage): This is an individual’s promise to provide service through ex-ploitation as repayment, or part thereof, of a dept or other obligation.

3. Forced labour: Work that people are forced to do with the treat of punishment if it is not carried out.

4. Children labour: The exploitative and illegal employment of children.

5. Domestic slavery: Individuals exploited through working in private households for little or no money in return for living accommodation.

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A contract is written or verbal agreement, made between two or more parties that is legally enforceable. For a contract to be legally binding it must include intention of parties entering into the contracts. All parties must have the capacity to contract or be contracted. They must be of a sound mind, there should be a promise (offer) for performance from the other party and an exchange (consideration) of one thing for another within an agreement for contract to be binding, and there must be an acceptance of the offeror’s offer by the offeree.

Contract terms are the right and duties agreed between parties with which are then documented in contract. Terms can be either implied or expression.

Implied terms are always present in a contract and are set by national laws; like the sales of goods act, whereas express terms are negotiated and created, for example; time is of the essence. When the procurement professional is setting key performance indicators, where which the supplier’s performance will be monitored and managed, the KPI is expected to be SMART. The SMART is an acronym that is used to set KPI and specification. It means:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time bound

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