Although it is the trend of purchasing management to concentrate the purchasing power of enterprises in one department, the setting of purchasing departments should be decided according to the specific situation of enterprises, mainly the scale of enterprises and the number of products. However, no matter how the procurement department is set up, it must have a high position in the enterprise, and it is best to report directly to the senior leaders, because this is a necessary condition to ensure the procurement department to play its role.

(1) Single purchasing department. If the enterprise is small in scale and the product structure is simple (a typical example is a single factory or enterprise, and a large company with close branches can also do it), it is better to set up a single purchasing department and report directly to the general manager.

(2) Centralized purchasing department. Some enterprises are large in scale, such as domestic large multinational companies or large state-owned enterprises, and some enterprises have more business and complicated management. Such enterprises can set up an independent purchasing department system and report to the deputy general manager in charge of purchasing, which not only meets the requirements of centralized procurement, but also facilitates the management of the company. As shown in Figure 6 -2.

(3) Centralized and decentralized procurement departments. For some enterprises with large scale, many kinds of products, great differences in raw material demand and long geographical distance of subsidiaries, centralized and decentralized procurement can be adopted. Set up a purchasing department at the company headquarters, which is responsible for formulating the purchasing strategy and plan of the head office, coordinating the purchasing actions among subsidiaries, avoiding malicious competition and concentrating on purchasing. Generally speaking, in enterprises with good personnel management, the responsibilities of the above-mentioned procurement personnel at different levels will be recorded in detail in the job description. According to the survey of 1280 purchasing departments in the United States, the responsibilities of purchasing departments are arranged in order of importance, and the first nine important work orders are as follows:

① Evaluate existing suppliers;

② Selecting and developing new suppliers;

③ Arrange the purchase and delivery dates;

④ Negotiate the purchase contract;

(5) engaged in value analysis;

⑥ Self-made or purchasing (outsourcing) decision;

⑦ Designated mode of transportation;

(8) control inventory;

Pet-name ruby lease or buyout decision.

It can be seen that the most important duty of the purchasing department is to find qualified manufacturers to maintain an adequate supply of materials. However, in addition to these inherent responsibilities, according to the procurement survey in April, 1983, the procurement department will add the following new responsibilities (in order of importance):

① strategic planning;

② product development;

③ traffic;

④ New product evaluation;

⑤ Purchase fixed equipment;

6 business trip;

⑦ Marketing planning;

(8) Providing economic indicators;

Pet-name ruby futures operation;

Attending cash flow plan.

The responsibility of the purchasing department has been gradually upgraded from the traditional business level to the strategic level, which shows that the purchasing department has participated in the company's long-term development decision.