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Graduate case studies

Graduate case studies
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Mark - 
Procurement Manager

Even though many of our graduates will have progressed in their careers since completing a case study, they are still of interest to students who wish to gain an understanding of the world of work.

About the job

Main responsibilities

Optimizing inventory.
Production planning.
Sales analysis.

Typical day

Place orders for products delivered daily from suppliers.
Check quantities of products required and place orders if necessary from suppliers on longer lead times.
Analyse customer base to understand changes.
Improve companies use of the ERP system.
Define stock levels for manufactured products.
Production capacity and monthly planning.

What do I enjoy about my job?

Being able to see the improvements which I have generated in stock availability, reduced inventory and sales growth.

Challenging aspects

Working with colleagues who don't have the same level of systems, knowledge or the desire to understand our customer base.
Knowing that optimising the stock holdings won't work as there is not sufficient data flow from the sales team so there are always unexpected events. I drive the sales data analysis, which is after the event.

Why did this area of work appeal to me?

Numbers, patterns, statistics.

Skills/qualifications I use in my job?

Statistics.
Data manipulation.
CIPS qualifications


Career information

Brief history since leaving University

2004 to Jan 2005 - Postman.
Jan 2005 to Oct 2005 - Travelling and labouring round Australia.
Feb 2006 - July 2007 - temp jobs, warehousing, assembly, administration.
July 2007 - Dec 2014 - Engineering Stores Management for SCA, project planner for site relocation.
Jan 2015 - July 2016 - Materials Controller Davant.
July 2016 - present - Procurement Manager Davant - Studying for CIPS level 4.

Where do I see myself in the future?

In the next 3-5 years allowing studying to be my primary focus by taking a less stressful job.

Longer term retraining to be an analyst or working in a planning department


Advice to students

My piece of advice to students

Spend some time working before selecting a career. Robert Pirsig was correct in his statement that uni is wasted on the young, it's better to work out what area you want to work in and gain some experience rather than study in one area then work out where you want to work.


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Last updated: 30 Dec 2017