Always Always Follow Specifications While Buying

I remember having read about a Buyer who was a very good negotiator . So good that he could buy anything Cheapest and used to clinch deals on a daily basis . His job required him to do so and he was best at it and had a penchant to buy Cheap. Well he was lured by a hospitality company to join them because of his overall ability but during his interview he was told that this hospitality company wants him to choose him for his experience but wants to buy the best stuff, not really cheap. They wanted to create a chain of Restaurants which was to create a niche amongst the upper strata of society. So, they wanted to create ambiance which would allow them to show case high quality and life style with everything and every dish and the way they came across to customers. Due to his immense experience and good interview he got the job. He however could not leave his penchant to buy cheap even ignoring the high specifications which were set by the company. Result was that he ended up buying cheap some very very cheap looking stuff and ended up creating a very shabby looking ambience in the first restaurant but bought stuff at half the cost for the budget allocated to him. Whilst company during the process was happy for the numbers but the result was really the opposite to what they intended to create. The Buyer lost the job and company the time to go to market and the resultant revenue loss.

I read this story which was presented better than this and during the story, I learnt that buyer overlooked the specifications over and over again and was habitual cheap stuff buyer at the cost of specifications.

Who owns the Specifications: Not the buyer, sometimes the promoter of the company is the buyer but norms for quality are set up by either a function lije design and Research and development and sometimes the promoter is the quality guy. In most professional environments both are managers looking after different functions each custodian of cost or quality. In all cases one has to understand the other and not forget the purpose why a) Specifications are set where they are and what is available to spend and during the purchasing process  and b) whenever there is a change required either to spend more or less or change the specifications one follows the other.

This is why processes are required: In most organized environmentsorganizations tend to have processes a) To lay down and b) Manage the change process if any. In most Engineering organization it is called the design/engineering change process management. How so ever elaborate the process this is is a major area of conflict and manage it.

What is the conflict: The designer tends to over design his requirements due to safety requirements or critical parameters where a product can fail and do not want to compromise. This part is very critical to quality of product though. I have been a designer myself sometimes and I find a designer tends to be rigid and many time close to a) Alternative designs and b) Materials or c) manufacturing processes . But more than that d) Lack of knowledge and e) Fear of failure both of which are interlinked. They have a pressure for high quality and low failure rate

The buyer on the other hand is exposed to a market where there is a) More innovation than the designer knows and most of times buyer knows too and b) Cost cutting pressure to fight inflation and prove themselves. So they get excited and sell low cost internally and sometimes overlook the specifications and carry the bandwagon even at the cost of specifications.

Where is the way out : A) Specifications need be laid out absolutely clearly and understandable B) What cannot be compromised need be understood through written docs C) Design Failure tests need be incorporated in the inspection/validation processes. The above need be sacrosanct and D) Organizations then need to go and look at options, E) Evaluate them commercially and technically by very objective methods and F) Conclude transparently through proper due diligence and competitive benchmarking.

It is better said than done:  More so because we are humans with egos, bureaucracies of the organizations, taking positions and loosing larger interests and because it also requires change of Specifications. To bring a change therefore organizations need to reach a stage where they change specifications before and buy later. It’s a damn painful process but believe me its very rewarding a) Financially and b) Development of people as individuals and teams

BUT Till that is achieved Buyers have to follow specifications Always Always and Always