Introduction
The subsystem, function or process of supply or supply is key to the success of business management, constituting a complex function and being the first step in logistics in the company. This complexity derives logically from the nature and diversity of the products or services to be acquired, without forgetting other fundamental aspects such as: the need to adapt to a highly changing economic environment motivated by the globalization of markets, the qualitative and quantitative variations of the demand for products, the scarcity of capital and the growth of financial costs, as well as technological changes and the constant increase in quality requirements.
In this way, the need for supplies is what causes the different purchase orders to be made so that it can proceed.
Development:
Regarding the need for supplies, the author of the research considers that the supply function has a broad character, being in charge of the activity of buying more, the management, planning and control of materials, and therefore it is concluded that it covers four areas: purchasing, storage, transport management and inventory management, which for their operation and improvement need the application of techniques and procedures that allow achieving better results and thereby give an efficient and effective response to the needs of the company.
The objective that arises through just-in-time supplies is to reduce the levels of stocks of the products purchased.
To achieve this goal, suppliers must make frequent deliveries in small batches, with assured quality and with short delivery times.
Of course, the immediate counterpart derived from this objective is the need for a greater number of orders and a greater number of deliveries. In order for this reduction in the size of the order batches to be operational, it is necessary to avoid both the purchase price, as the costs of ordering, transportation and handling of the items are excessively increased. Therefore, the administrative work inherent in orders must be minimized, transport reorganized and inventory management must be improved.
As just mentioned, the need to make a greater number of orders makes it essential to reduce the administrative work involved in each one. For this, formal orders must be made, very specified for long periods of time, but scheduling, within them, daily or weekly shipments. In addition, the quantities to be served in each delivery must be able to be changed informally and quickly, through, for example, simple telephone communications or any other simple mechanism and, also, regarding the size of the lot, the practice should be banished, so usual even in commercial relations, of not making deliveries for the exact amount requested.
An appropriate procedure is to have a procedure for the management of orders and that is used to assist in making purchasing decisions in the Marketing Company.
For the correct implementation and use of an order management procedure, it is necessary for the company to have an adequate inventory system that allows knowing the optimal safety points and ensures the necessary quantity in time supply.
It is very important to adopt an inventory management model that responds to the needs for ordering purchase needs for merchandise quickly and periodically to satisfy customer demands and to be able to effectively decide on the purchase.
There is an extensive bibliography on the subject of inventory organization, we find several inventory management methods, and we consider the ABC method, in inventories, as a fundamental support for solving effective order management. Adapting it to the characteristics and needs of commercial companies.
This method consists of carrying out an analysis of inventories establishing investment layers or categories with the objective of achieving greater control and attention on inventories, which due to their number and amount deserve constant vigilance and attention.
The ABC control system shows us how to manage the inventory according to the priority classification, this can be done in three different ways; according to the cost of unit, according to the total cost of existence and according to the order of requirements without taking into account the cost. In each of them it is subdivided into groups A, B, and C.
Our proposal is to use it according to the order of requirements without taking into account the cost. This technique is especially used in: Minimum management, product analysis, sales analysis and customer analysis.
The ABC analysis is observed with the criteria of:
A: Products that achieve rotations greater than 4 times in the year.
B: Products that achieve rotations in the year of 3 times in the year
C: Products with rotations less than 3 times a year.
With this method, the items with the highest turnover in the year can be identified, and it allows the analysis of the safety stop necessary to give guarantees of the service, manage purchases and control the delivery of goods based on their speed of circulation, neglecting for this decision their individual values that could also be an interesting form of classification. In this case, customer satisfaction is prioritized in terms of having at the points of sale those products that regardless of their value satisfy the needs of customers, thus also helping to have an adequate rotation of money and obtain results efficient of the commercial activity of the company.
In Cuban companies, adopting this method is very convenient since it allows the search for the fulfillment of the company's mission in the territory and that is not in contradiction, with the evaluation that is made of the results of the company's efficiency and correct use of financial resources.
Having the following information quickly and accurately
- Inventory rotation.
- Necessary coverage.
- Need to buy.
Thus providing information that enables the proper analysis to make the decision to buy, to this is added the assessment of the possibilities offered by the supplier market with its corresponding offer and evaluation of them.
The financing possibilities of the possible purchase are also taken into account in the terms of payment requested by the supplier based on availability, and the company's decision to make the purchase decision is made, generally for those goods that rotate at a speed that allows the fulfillment of the payment obligations that are contracted with it.
Regardless of all the aspects that we have been analyzing up to this point, it always involves a space for analyzing specific needs and possible solutions to specific customer demands.
The decision is made in a Collegiate Management Body made up of commercial and financial personnel from the company in question.
Procedure for preparing and approving the order.
This procedure establishes the actions of the order planning and management process, with the steps and regulations necessary to achieve it, to ensure that the products purchased are in accordance with the specified requirements and customer needs. This procedure is applicable to the products that will be purchased for marketing.
Terms and definitions.
Orders: Document by which the inventory replenishment is requested based on the analyzes carried out on the indicators that reveal the purchase needs and the sales forecasts. In addition, punctual requests and general needs are included.
Purchase: Acquisition, by payment, of a product or Service.
Responsibilities.
. The Head of the planning and order management process, together with the Directors and Specialists of the Areas, are responsible for executing what is established here.
. It is the responsibility of the personnel who contract with a supplier, that the latter is within the list of approved and evaluated suppliers.
. It is the responsibility of the buyers to inform the sellers about the guarantee of the products and its conditions.
. It is the responsibility of the heads of sales points to prepare the Purchase Order for the merchandise necessary to complete their planned sales and meet the needs of customers.
. It is the responsibility of the Financial Accounting management to present the Solvency and forecast indicators for carrying out the purchase decision.
. It is the responsibility of the Chartered Body of the Commercial Finance Committee to make the decision to accept the purchase of merchandise.
The purchase decision is made from two possibilities
1.- From the orders presented by the points of sale in the monthly analysis of their inventories.
1.1- At the point of sale, the assortments are arranged by aggregates in the ABC classification based on the inventory turnover indicator in physical units from the previous year, the safety stop is calculated, taking into account the stocks at the time of the analysis The purchase need is calculated in physical units.
1.2- At the point of sale, the calculation of the need for purchases is made, which is presented to the Commercial Finance Committee and communicated to the corresponding purchase area for processing.
1.3.- The Purchasing area locates and presents the corresponding offers of the suppliers with the information of the possible negotiation in each case in the Financial Commercial Committee
1.4- The Financial Accounting area prepares and presents the financial indicators to assess solvency and liquidity forecast.
1.5- The points of sale present sales forecasts, and specific commitments with customers.
1.6- The Commercial Financial Committee, taking into account all the indicators and analyzes presented, makes the decision to buy the merchandise.
2.- From offers made by suppliers that result in the analysis carried out, it is feasible to introduce the product in our commercialization.
2.1 In the case of location of merchandise on consignment, it will proceed according to the market studies carried out by the Public Relations area and the points of sale, analyzing its acceptance in the Commercial Financial Committee.
2.2 If the products offered by the supplier have not been commercialized, the development of their market launch is analyzed in the Financial Commercial Committee based on market studies carried out by the public relations area.
In the improvement process, the introduction of the procedure for preparing and approving orders in assisting the purchasing decision continues in the marketing company, influencing the company to obtain results higher than expected in its efficiency indicators. And efficiency of its processes.
Conclusions
1.- To carry out efficient order management, it is necessary to establish the ordering of inventories and form a procedure for the preparation and approval of orders that integrates concepts of the strategic approach and the process approach to improve decision-making in the function of shopping in marketing.
2.- The conception of the procedure guarantees its relevance as it is consistent with the strategic and quality approach that the integrated management of companies has.
3.- The application of the elaborated procedure has allowed to verify its viability of use as an instrument to be used in the process of continuous improvement of the Cuban marketing company.
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