Certified Purchasing & Procurement Professional (CPPP)

Companies hire purchasing managers, buyers, and purchasing agents to find the best merchandise at the lowest possible purchase cost. Purchasers typically buy goods and services for their company or organization to use, while buyers ordinarily buy items in order to resale them for profit. Purchasers and buyers find the best goods or services, choose suppliers, negotiate prices, and grant contracts that ensure that the right amount of the product or service is received when it is needed.

Purchasing managers, buyers, and purchasing agents take several steps to reach these goals: they research sales records and inventory levels of current stock, find foreign and domestic suppliers, and stay current on any changes in either the supply of or demand for needed products and materials.

Finding good suppliers is crucial to the work of purchasing managers, buyers, and purchasing agents, who evaluate suppliers on multiple criteria (price, quality, service support, availability, reliability, selection, etc.). Purchasing managers, buyers, and purchasing agents study catalogs, industry and company publications, directories, and trade journals, often on the Internet. Reputation and history of a supplier is important, and future purchase actions may be advertised in order to solicit bids.

In government agencies and manufacturing firms, purchasing specialists typically are dubbed contract specialists; buyers or industrial buyers; or purchasing directors, managers, or agents. These specialists acquire various elements necessary for production: materials, parts, machines, supplies, services, etc. They can obtain anything from raw materials, machinery, and construction services to fabricated parts, office supplies and airline tickets. If the right materials, equipment, or supplies are out of stock when needed, work and production can be slowed or even halted.

Effective purchasing specialists need to be deeply familiar with the technical aspects of the goods or services they purchase. Some purchasing managers, known as contract or supply managers, concentrate on negotiating and supervising supply contracts.

In large industrial companies, buyers and purchasing agents are often seen as having a different role from purchasing managers. Buyers and purchasing agents tend to concentrate on standard purchasing tasks; they frequently have a particular area of specialization, such as in a commodity like steel, lumber, cotton, grains, fabricated metals, or petroleum products. Purchasing agents follow market conditions, price trends, or futures markets in order to conduct the more complicated or crucial acquisitions. They also may oversee a team of purchasing agents who deal in other commodities and services. In choosing between the titles of purchasing manager, buyer, or purchasing agent, specific job duties matter less than the particular industry and employer.

The traditional roles of purchasing or supply management specialists in many industries have changed because of evolving business practices. Throughout product development, for instance, manufacturing companies increasingly rely on these specialists to forecast the cost, availability, and suitability of parts and materials. Moreover, conferring with the purchasing department during the early stages of product design can help prevent problems with the supply of materials.

Certification Modules:

Module 1: Introduction to Purchasing and Supply Management

• 1: Purchasing and Supply Management
• 2: Purchasing Decisions and Business Strategy
• 3: The Legal Aspects of Purchasing

Module 2: Materials Management

• 1: Materials Management
• 2: Inventory Management
• 3: Just-In-Time (Lean) Purchasing
• 4: Purchasing Procedures, E-Purchasing, and Systems  Contracting

Module 3: Fundamentals of Purchasing and Supply Management

• 1: Supplier Selection and Evaluation
• 2: Global Sourcing
• 3: Purchasing, Supply Partnerships, and Supply Chain Power
• 4: Total Quality Management (TQM) and Purchasing

Module 4: Price/Cost Analysis and Negotiation Strategies

• 1: Price Determination
• 2: Bargaining and Negotiations

Module 5: Special Purchasing Application

• 1: Purchasing Transportation Services
• 2: Equipment Acquisition and Disposal
• 3: Healthcare Purchasing and Supply Management
• 4: Procuring Professional Services