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This group performs some or all of the following duties:

Purchasing control workers

• Review requisition orders for accuracy and verify that materials, equipment and stock are not available from current inventories
• Source and obtain price quotations from catalogues and suppliers and prepare purchase orders
• Calculate cost of orders and charge or forward invoices to appropriate accounts
• Process purchases within purchasing authority
• Contact suppliers to schedule deliveries and to resolve shortages, missed deliveries and other problems
• Prepare and maintain purchasing files, reports and price lists.

Inventory control workers

• Monitor inventory levels as materials, equipment and stock are issued, transferred within an establishment or sold to the public using manual or computerized inventory systems
• Compile inventory reports, recording the quantity, type and value of materials, equipment and stock on hand, using manual or computerized inventory systems
• Prepare requisition orders to replenish materials, equipment and stock
• Maintain stock rotation and dispose of and account for outdated stock
• Enter data for production scheduling, stock replenishment/relocation and inventory adjustments
• Reconcile physical inventories with computer counts.

• Completion of secondary school is usually required.
• Courses in purchasing management may be required for purchasing control workers.
• Courses in production and inventory management and ability to operate a computerized inventory system may be required for inventory control workers.

• Progression to supervisory positions or more senior occupations such as purchasing agent or retail buyer is possible with additional training or experience.
• The duties of purchasing and inventory control workers may overlap in some establishments.

• Purchasing agents and officers (1225)
• Retail and wholesale buyers (6222)
• Storekeepers and partspersons (1522)
• Supervisors of purchasing and inventory clerks (in 1215 Supervisors, supply chain, tracking and scheduling co-ordination occupations)