Purchasing and Inventory Control Workers

Nature of work

Purchasing and inventory control workers process purchasing transactions and maintain inventories of materials, equipment and stock. They work for retail and wholesale companies, manufacturing companies, government agencies and other organizations.

Job duties

Purchasing control workers:

• Review orders for accuracy and verify that materials, equipment and stock are not available from current inventories.
• Source and get price quotes from catalogues and suppliers and prepare purchase orders.
• Calculate cost of orders and charge or forward invoices to correct accounts.
• Process purchases within purchasing authority.
• Contact suppliers to schedule deliveries and to work out shortages, missed deliveries and other problems.
• Prepare and maintain purchasing files, reports and price lists.

Inventory control workers:

• Use inventory systems to monitor inventory levels as materials, equipment and stock are issued, transferred within an organization or sold to the public.
• Compile inventory reports, recording the quantity, type and value of materials, equipment and stock on hand, using manual or computerized inventory systems.
• Prepare orders to restock materials, equipment and stock.
• Maintain stock rotation and dispose of and account for outdated stock.
• Enter data for production scheduling, stock replacement/relocation and inventory adjustments.
• Reconcile physical inventories with computer counts.

Sample job titles

• inventory clerk
• inventory control clerk
• inventory planner
• procurement clerk
• purchase order clerk
• purchasing clerk
• purchasing clerk assistant
• purchasing control clerk
• supply clerk

Skills

• You must be organized and attentive to detail. Your work must be accurate. Good communication skills are important. You need to be able to work as part of a team. Computer skills and the ability to work with technology may be helpful.

Job requirements

• High school is usually required.
• Courses in purchasing management may be required for purchasing clerks.
• Courses in production and inventory management and ability to operate a computerized inventory system may be required for inventory clerks.

Other considerations

• The duties of purchasing and inventory clerks may overlap in some businesses. Movement to supervisor positions or more senior jobs like purchasing agent or retail buyer is possible with additional training or experience.

No regulating bodies were found under this occupation profile

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