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Procurement and Project's Time Schedule, would it be a good idea to synchronize procurement operations with work progress at site, or just finish all the required materials purchase operation at the beginning of the project.
It is always a good and I would say the most appropriate strategy to arrange for procurement and delivery of the material as and when these are required. In view of procurement processing time, production lag and various unexpected snags we may keep a safe cushion in terms of time but this would obviously increase inventory holding costs and is not viewed favorably in the industry.
It is better to synchronize procurement operations with work progress at site
The project's plan should layout the procurement and the time frame for each element and task. Invest time to plan, determine the dimensions, communicate the requirements in a timely manner, your suppliers should become your associates. Suppliers ought to synchronize themselves with your requirements, you ought to assess their capacity, their failure is also yours. (sorry but it is a fact)
Early planning helps you budget, research and negotiate effectively and efficiently.
If you plan ahead you are in control, but if you don't then everyone else become in control except for yourself.
Remember to draw a contingency plan with a relevant cost provision.
Draw your overall plan first and then plan to synchronize.
Procurement actions and delivery of goods must match with Project's Time schedule for successful completion of project
In every project that I handle, the very important role is procurement, specially time table or schedule becuase the longer schedule the more money consume. Shor schedule but finish the project.
Dividing the project from day one into stages depending on the complexity of the project ofcourse will help to produce a suitable time schedule step by step which produces procurement plans and arrange the delivery operations with work progress
Procurement precedes the project and is after good planning
You need to consider and plan earlier for all long lead items which are the materials that need between 3 to 6 months to be on-site. This is a key factor to succeed in comletion your project on-time and within the planned budget. For the materials that are available most time in the local market such as steel, cement, concrete, pipes, bitumen, etc., you can follow your normal Procurement Plan e.g. order the materials as per the construction schedule as needed.
I also would like to emhance the importance of the ahead planning for unexpected risks/unforseen events such as the diplomatic problems/siege/boycott as what happened recently in the GCC Countries. We must be well-prepared and ahead planned in purchasing all critical material to be able to complete our project on-time.
It all depends on the type of project, if the project is a small and timelines are minimal then it is advisable to have all the procurement of material at the beginning itself. If one is dealing with large industrial, infrastructure projects then, a realistic estimate with a time-bound work-flow will only help any investors.
