İnşaat firmalarında satın alma yönetimi-Türkiyedeki uygulamalar

Abstract

Değişen dünyamızda birçok üretim alanında olduğu gibi yapı üretiminde de büyük gelişim ve değişimler olmuştur. Endüstri devrimiyle birlikte malzemenin maliyet içindeki payı işgücüne göre daha fazla artmış, 2. Dünya Savaşı 'ndan sonra ise süratli ve çok miktardaki yapı ihtiyacı prefabrikasyonu getirmiştir. Tüm bu ve benzeri değişiklikler yapı üretim sürecinde malzemenin önemini giderek arttırmış ve bu konuda da modern yönetim tekniklerinin kullanılması zorunlu hale gelmiştir. Malzeme temini ve satın alma konusu yapı üretim sürecinde ihtiyaç duyulan tüm malzemelere ilişkin ihtiyacın ortaya çıkmasından üretim yerine gelmesine kadar olan tüm eylemleri içerir. Malzemelere ilişkin piyasa araştırmalarının, malzeme ve satıcı seçiminin yapılması, siparişin verilmesi, satın alma sözleşmesinin yürütülmesi, alınacak malzemelerin üretim yerine gelene dek takibi, kabulü ve teslim alınması malzeme temini ve satın alma yönetimi konusunun kapsamındadır. Genel olarak birçok endüstri kolunda uygulanmakta olan satın alma sistemlerinin yapı üretim sürecinin kendine has özellikleri dolayısıyla, inşaat sektörüne uyarlanması gerekmekte olup aynen bir fabrika üretiminde olduğu gibi kullanılmaları mümkün değildir. Son yıllarda Türk inşaat firmalarının Orta Doğu ülkelerinde gerçekleştirdik leri projelerle yurt dışına açılması ve daha sonra dağılan Sovyetler Birliği'nin mirasını devralan Birleşik Devletler Topiuluğu'nda büyük projelere imza atmaya başlamaları yapı üretim sektörümüzü oldukça hızlı bir gelişim dönemine sokmuştur. Kuşkusuz bu projelerin gerçekleştirilmesi için tüm girdilerin, özellik!® de malzemelerin, planlanan zamanda üretim yerinde bulunması gerekmektedir. Tüm üretim sektörlerinin temel amacının da kaynakların en akıllıca kullanımı olduğu düşünülürse malzemelerin en uygun şekilde temini malzemeye yönelik tüm yönetim işlevlerinin temel amacıdır. Türk inşaat firmalarının malzeme temini ve satın alma işlevlerini nasıl bir organizasyon biçimi il® yürüttüklerini ve bu sürecin özellikleri il® karşılaşılan problemleri belirleyebilmek amacıyla önd® gelen bazı inşaat firmalarımızda bir alan çalışması yapılmıştır. Bu çalışmada firmaların çalışma biçimleri ve organizasyonlarının incelenmesinde istatistik! bir analize gidilmemiş, sadece bir kaç örnek ile Türk inşaat firmalarının durumunu belirlemeye ve problem noktalarT ortaya koymaya çalışılmıştır. Belirlenen problemler doğrultusunda bazı çözüm önerileri getirilmiş ancak bunların detayına inilmemiştir. Firma düzeyinde bir entegre kontrol sistemi kurulması için malzemelere ilişkin bir kodlama sistemi geliştirilmesi gerektiği belirlenmiş ve bu sistemin kurulmasında rol alacak kişi ve kuruluşların ilişkilerinden bahsedilmiştir. Ayrıca bu sistemin iyi işlemesi için veri sağlayacak bir bilgi bankası veya bundan da öteye gitmiş bir satın alma danışmanı kuruluşun varlığı inşaat sektöründe bulunan tüm kişi ve kuruluşlar için son derece yararlı olacaktır.

Despite the fact that the human being, since the day of his existence, has been striving to take possession of the resources to meet his diverse requirements, today, utilisation of these day by day diminishing or scarce resources, in the most rational way has become more important. However developments to a large extent have taken place in all sectors parallel to the onset of the industrial revolution, it should be emphasised that the human power - machinery rate proved a great increase in favour of machinery power nearly in ail the sectors and that therefore, the productivity increased considerably. Depending on the increase in the productivity, share of materials in the cost increased more than that of the work force. The production techniques which have been developed due to the industrial revolution, created the need for modern and greater structures and buildings; and on the other hand following the World War II the need for very fast construction and great number of buildings, introduced prefahricafion techniques. Ali these and some other similar changes increased the importance of materials in the building production process and utilisation of the modern management techniques in this respect, also became inevitable. The importance of purchasing the most proper materials with the best price and purchase conditions can be easily understood, if it is taken into consideration that the share of the material costs is nearly 50-60% of the total construction costs. The facts that the inputs of the building production are widely varied and the construction work is realised on project basis which means that different materials should be procured with different organisations for each project, have caused the material procurement process to be highly complex and significant. When th® importance of material procurement throughout the building production process is taken into consideration, some questions will at once arise such as how the construction firms carry out the material procurement in parallel with the on going rapid development and transformation process in the construction sector, what kind of organisations do they have to perform procurement activities, what are their deficiencies and needs, what should be done to be able to meet the changing needs etc.. Therefore it is possible to define the problem which is being handled in this thesis as follows: "How is materia! procurement handled in construction firms in general and in Türkiye, what are the problems related to material procurement in our country and how can these be solved?" During this sAuâ^ the aim was not to provide numerical data on the prices of the construction materials and their share in the total construction cost, but to present the subject as a very important and vital construction management function, display its importance and to make a research on the subject in terms of its organisational structure. In order to be able to reach this goal, it is necessary to achieve the sub-purposes such as: - pinpointing the material procurement and purchase management concept and its importance in the overall construction management activities - presenting the characteristics of the construction sector in this respect when compared to others and analysing the applicability of the methods and systems used in other sectors to the construction sector. - examining in detail the handling of material procurement activities with regard to its effect on the organisational structure of the firm - studying the activities and the systems used in the Turkish construction firms for material procurement and purchasing, identifying the problems they face in this respect to fulfil the contracts especially in the foreign countries and to present a proposal for the settlement of the problems. In Section 2, the method followed during the thesis study has been mentioned and the attention has been drawn especially to the important points related to data collection. The feks study has not been performed to make a statistical analysis, but to obtain only a general idea on the material management activities of Turkish construction contractors. The Section 3 starts with the introduction of the main concepts related to materials management in the construction sector and considers the various important aspects of the materials procurement and purchasing process. Logistics Management concept, with which Materials Management is closeiy related, covers generally the procurement activities for material, equipment and personnel. Materials Management on th© other hand, is the system including all the planning and control activities carried out for the definition of the specifications and quantity of the materials on time, the procurement with a reasonable price and availability on site at the required time; and also requires the management of materials with an integrated approach from the pfenning, procurement and production stages until the completion of the building. The two other concepts included in the scope of Materials Management subject and which have minor differences in between are, "Procurement" and ""Purchasing". Procurement dees not only cover the purchasing (buying)of required materials, but to obtain them in any way. Although the term procurement includes to obtain the goods produced by other departments or units of the firm, the "Purchasing" concept describes only the activities related to the materials to be bought from outside of the firm. However, since such a distinction is not made in most of the firms, all of the procurement activities shall be considered under the "Purchasing* concept. Another activity which is not of much importance for the construction firms as it is for the material manufacturers, is the Physical Distribution Management and will be of importance only in terms of transportation, customs etc. of materials and their distribution between the different construction sites. Efforts for development of the materials management and purchasing systems in the construction sector are not much when compared to the other sectors. The factors affecting the development and industrialisation in the construction sector considering materials management, may be summarised under the following headings: a) PRODUCT CHARACTERISTICS. The product itself and the place of production is fixed.. Weight and mass of the product is huge.. There are infinite types.. It is resistant and has long fife. " Several number of materials are used. b) MARKET AMD ENTERPRISE CHARACTERISTICS. Marketing at the place of production. Inability to make continuous production without interruption because of the impossibility of stock keeping. c) BUILDING PRODUCTION PROCESS CHARACTERISTICS ? Technical Characteristics - The number and type of materials used are a lot - In general, the contractor Is fully subject to the requirements and wishes of the client - Several works proceeding interactively or at the same time affect the other works by chain reactions - In general the production is unique (not to be used in any other project) - Repairing the defects is very costly and is not feasible as the product (building) has very iong life and a very high price - The storage of ail the materials on site is impossible since the site is subject to all the natural conditions and it is very costly to keep the materials safe on sit®.. Organisational Characteristics - Because of project based, unique production, the centralisation level of the material purchasing organisation should be well adjusted - The material purchasing possibilities where the construction fakes place, affects the organisational structure to a great extent - The material procurement organisation is closely related to the project delivery approach and the financial means of the project " Financial çnaracterışt)fcş - As well as the output, also the inputs of the building production system are very costly - Materia! stock keeping and conclusion of continuous procurement contracts are very difficult under inflationist conditions - Generally when the contract is signed the price of the building is determined - Cash flow is not the same during each step of the construction Purchasing is generally defined as fulfilment of the necessary conditions and follow up of procedures for the procurement of the materials with the Right Quality and at the Right Quantity from the Right Supplier at the Right Time with the Right Price and this is known as the °5R Rule of Purchasing" It is known that purchasing has a profound effect on profit rate and it will be possible to increase the profit if purchasing functions are performed properly. However the effect of material purchasing on the profit rate may vary according to the project delivery system and the contract concluded between the contractor(s), the owner, the project manager and the other groups which may take place in the project organisation. As well as the profit rate, it should be kept in mind that also the control systems to be applied will vary in this respect. During establishment of purchasing policies, various policies can be formuiated according to purchase amounts such as stock purchasing, project based purchasing or iow quantity purchase as well as the different goals of construction firms. Besides, assignment way of purchasing responsibility is also a policy. Of course ail these poiiciss should be set in accordance with design, construction and finance which are the other activities of the firm. Organisation of the purchasing process for each project is subject to the contracts concluded between the peopie and institutions faking part in this project. On the other hand the organisation of the construction firm in its own depends on various criteria such as special features of the projects realised, current economic and organisational circumstances etc..Other than the people responsible for purchasing both on the owner's or the project management institution's side, a private purchase consultancy institution (Purchasing Agent) co-operating with anyone of them may take place in the project organisation. The relationships between the people and groups faking place in the purchasing organisation will be formed depending on several criteria such as size and features of the project, capacity and organisational structure of the contractor, distance between the site and the headquarters of the contractor, place where the project is realised, the market conditions of that particular country and related export and import iaws. As it is mentioned before the organisation of purchasing process demonstrates different characteristics from different view points. When the fulfilment way of purchasing function is taken into consideration, different forms such as assumption of all the authority and responsibility by the purchasing department co-operation of the purchasing department by a private purchase consultant (purchasing agent) or fulfilment of the purchasing responsibility by a project management institution which is not a part of the contractor, can occur. On the other hand, when the assumption way of the purchasing responsibility is considered, centralisation or decentralisation problem becomes important. The location of the purchasing department will introduce a different dimention into the discussion and infinite number of organisation types will appear according to the different directorates that purchasing department can be subject to. Although it has been mentioned that the construction process, when compared with other sectors has many different aspects in terms of material procurement and purchasing, the most resembling aspects are the main steps to be taken during the execution of the purchasing function. These steps can be summarised as follows: - Determination o? the need for materials - Definition of the material to be purchased, preparation of the specifications - Conduct of inspections, surveys and evaluations related to material suppliers and manufacturers, which includes market surveys and identifying potential suppliers and producers, invitation for bids, evaluation of the bids and seiection of the appropriate suppliers. - Placement of the order - Foliow up of orders (Expediting) - Acceptance of materials including quality and quantity control - Payment The purchasing process can be inspected by utilisation of various parameters depending on different purposes of the projects and the firm. However the most important condition for inspection and for faking corrective action is the correct data flow. This depends on a well established material management system. Even though globalization process of our construction firms which started with the middle east countries during the previous years and developed with the Common Wealth of Independent States during the recent years, may show that this sector undergoes an extremely rapid development and transformation stage, if is true that a large number of construction firms other than those few well-known ones, are not ready to compete with lots of developed firms ail around the world especially in terms of investment size and management structure. Taking info consideration the fact that the materials management subject is new even for other sectors, it can be said that this subject doesn't occupy an important place in the managerial efforts in the construction sector. During the field survey carried out in some firms, it is found out that our construction firms have just begun adapting computerised systems in the materials management area. If is also remarked that the firms which are active abroad started to fake efforts for materials management in order to compete with the others and it is an important factor that they know very well the material market they operate in to cut-down their material related costs. Moreover, it was seen that the construction firms are quite inadequate to store the data related to previous purchases and the updated market data and to evaluate these data enabling the other units to make use of them. In order to realise these, it is a must to effect certain reforms for the entire construction sector. When the facts that our construction firms are facing some very important financial problems and that their resources for research and development activities are very limited, are taken info consideration, it would be easier and possible to expect the government, some public institutions and agents to support and lead such activities in corporation with the private sector. The setting up of a standard material coding system, which can be used by all the construction sector, will both enable the co-ordination among a large number of firms and make it easier for each firm to set up an internal execution and inspection system. On the other hand the establishment of data banks and consultancy institutions to enable aiS people and institutions to have easy access to material related data wiH be possible by the formation of such a coding system and the efforts spent by the construction firms for data gathering will be minimised. Such a data bank should also function as a purchasing consultant who is equipped with the means to process these data, make estimations for future prices based on the prices in the past and some economic monitors and when needed, to execute some procurement facilities. If is sure that such an institution, established and operated whether by the government or the private sector, will cover a major deficit in the construction sector.