What is procurement planning?
Procurement planning includes all measures that deal with organizing the supply of the necessary operational resources such as raw materials, energy, semi-finished products and end products. Requirements planning, supplier selection, delivery routes and delivery strategy must be taken into account. The aspects of sustainability and climate impact play an increasingly important role here.
The aim of procurement planning is to efficiently cover resource requirements in the right quantity at the right time and at an economical cost. Procurement planning therefore has a considerable influence on a company’s competitiveness. Accordingly, procurement planning is a central business management function. With the help of digitalization, procurement planning can be significantly simplified and made more efficient.
Procurement planning is usually monitored and carried out by the purchasing department. In many cases, procurement planning is assigned to procurement management if there is a separate position for this in the company.
Procurement planning can bring the following benefits to a company:
- Decreasing procurement costs
- Consistent or increasing material quality
- Optimized delivery times
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