June 1, 1913.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



469 



The Purchasing Agent. 



By Frederic Dannerth* 



IN this twentieth century, with our schools of scientific sales- 

 manship and correspondence courses galore, for those who 

 purpose selling commodities, may we not hope soon to have 

 an institute for the training of buyers — the men who purchase the 

 raw materials for our manufacturing establishments — the men 

 who have so frequently been accused of receiving gratuities and 

 similar forms of "rake-off." .And if you examine closely you 

 will probably find that the accusers are receiving more spoils 

 and "graft" than the most prosperous buyer has ever dreamed of. 

 At a time when strikes are the order of the day, when the sup- 

 ply of coal, of textiles and iron products may be cut off without 

 further notice within twenty-four hours, it becomes most neces- 

 sary for this official to scent from afar-off the delays incident 

 to labor troubles. He must take care to lay in a goodly store 

 of those materials which his factory needs most, in order to keep 

 its various shops in operation. Then again when his require- 

 ments are less than the monthly allotment called for in his 

 annual contract, the buyer must be able so to conjure the situ- 

 ation that the vendors — his supply houses — do not hurry him or 

 "saddle" him with excessively large shipments. .Another point 

 which must be constantly kept in mind is the large amount of 

 storage space required for goods which are ordered in carloads 

 and used by the pound. 



One phase of purchasing which comes into play more fre- 

 quently among importers and jobbers, is due to the quadrennial 

 prospect of tariff changes. This possible revision makes it neces- 

 sary to keep in touch with the new administration and the de- 

 sire on the part of the party in power to raise or lower the im- 

 port duties on certain commodities. The arrival of importations 

 ten hours after the tariff act goes into effect is a familiar spec- 

 tacle at custom ports, and one which brings forth sadness or 

 cheer in the heart of the importer, depending upon whether the 

 duty has been advanced or lowered. One other point which 

 the buyer usually keeps before him when placing orders is : the 

 possibility of delay in shipments due to spring floods and ex- 

 cessive snowfall on railroad lines, or fires and strikes at the 

 shipping point. 



A well organized purchasing department is characterized by 

 the specialization of duties — an arrangement by which the shift- 

 ing of responsibility is eliminated, or at least reduced to the mini- 

 mum. Thus the chief buyer with his assistant counts among 

 his duties : 



Interviewing the representatives of vendors ; 

 Visiting the trade markets and manufacturing plants; 

 Watching trade tendencies and prices of raw material , 

 Checking his monthly consumption of each raw product, and 

 noting the daily consumption of the principal materials. The 

 time spent on these "incidental" duties and the accuracy with 

 which they are performed will determine to a large extent the 

 efficiency of the purchasing agent's office. To purchase profitably, 

 comprehensively and safely, the buyer must be not only a judge 

 of values but he must likewise be familiar with every line in the 

 market, for it is obvious that the farther his knowledge in this 

 direction extends the greater will be the choice open to him. 

 The buyer must be a man of judgment and convictions, for he 

 is frequently consulted by the head of the firm and must be 

 able to back up his opinions with good reasons. Thus he is 

 constantly being put on the defensive, for no corporation head 

 will be so irrational as to O. K. every expenditure, however 



•Dr. Dannerth has for a number of years been acting »s advisory chemist 

 to various rubber goods manufacturer*. 



large, without iiuiuiring into its advisability. A buyer's duty is 

 not to do the small things himself, but to see that they are done; 

 and to that end he should hold the reins on all branches of his 

 department. He can take nothing for granted ; if he would know 

 his materials he must see them, and even this is but a test 

 of the shape, smell, color and taste of the article. In other 

 words, he can determine off-hand only those properties which 

 cannot be expressed by numerical values, properties which are 

 ascertained by the senses of sight, smell, taste and touch. Hence - 

 we find that those materials which are used in chemico-engineer- 

 ing industries— materials which are valuable entirely or partly 

 because of their chemical and physical properties, must be tested 

 by one who is familiar with laboratory methods for making ex- 

 act determinations. 



Thus the amount of actual "tannin" in a tanning extract ; the 

 amount of free caustic alkali in a silk-dyeing soap; the amount 

 of "active chlorine" in the paper-makers' bleaching powder; or 

 the amount of adulteration in antimony for rubber goods manu- 

 factures — determinations such as these must of course be made 

 in the testing laboratory, which is attached to all properly or- 

 ganized purchasing departments. These chemical tests are sup- 

 plemented and sometimes preceded by the physical tests for spe- 

 cific gravity, viscosity, tensile strength, elasticity, hardness and 

 dimensions. 



In addition to the testing laboratory, the buyer has under his 

 supervision the clerical room and the receiving room. In the 

 first of these all requisitions for the purchase of machinery, chem- 

 icals, or departmental supplies are filed and passed upon. Bills 

 of lading, invoices and statements are likewise inspected and 

 passed upon in this branch of the department. Here also is 

 kept an accurate card record of discounts, terms and the re- 

 sponsibility which each vendor guarantees or assumes. The 

 original copy of "Specifications for Materials Purchased," 

 which have been drawn up by the head of the testing labo- 

 ratory, is likewise kept on file in this office. 



In the receiving room we find the warehouse foreman and 

 the receiving clerk, who receive shipments and make a phys- 

 ical inspection of each article with reference to dimensions, 

 w-eight. number and size. 



In the testing room or laboratory, samples of all shipments are 

 received and subjected to such tests as will determine whether or 

 not the delivery complies with the standard of quality set forth 

 in the contract or specification. All these duties, as a rule, fall 

 to the lot of the buyer's chemist, who in turn acts and co- 

 operates with the factory chemist, the engineering chemist and 

 the sales chemist. 



After having thus briefly reviewed the duties of the buyer and 

 the functions of his several assistants, it will be of interest to 

 consider a few phases of his work, which at times bring him in 

 closer contact with the laws of business and the courts of 

 commerce. 



A casual inspection of the court decisions in the various States 

 of the -Union shows at a glance the confusion which has arisen 

 from the fact that buyer and seller did not understand each 

 other, and it is for this reason chiefly that so much time and 

 energy have been spent in recent years on the preparation of 

 rational specifications for the purchase of materials. (See also 

 The India Rvibber World, January and February, 1911.) Among 

 the topics which are of interest in this connection are: "What 

 is the legal meaning of the word 'agreement'?" "What consti- 

 tutes the acceptance of a proposition?" "What constitutes a 

 sale?" "How should contracts be constructed and how are they 



