Plant buyer vs procurement agent

The differences between plant buyers and procurement agents can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a plant buyer and a procurement agent. Additionally, a procurement agent has an average salary of $72,384, which is higher than the $59,450 average annual salary of a plant buyer.

The top three skills for a plant buyer include purchase orders, lean manufacturing and MRO. The most important skills for a procurement agent are supply chain, strategic sourcing, and supplier performance.

Plant buyer vs procurement agent overview

	Plant Buyer	Procurement Agent
Yearly salary	$59,450	$72,384
Hourly rate	$28.58	$34.80
Growth rate	-	11%
Number of jobs	24,593	45,198
Job satisfaction	-	2
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	6	6

Plant buyer vs procurement agent salary

Plant buyers and procurement agents have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Plant Buyer	Procurement Agent
Average salary	$59,450	$72,384
Salary range	Between $44,000 And $80,000	Between $49,000 And $106,000
Highest paying City	-	Richmond, CA
Highest paying state	-	New Jersey
Best paying company	-	McKinsey & Company Inc
Best paying industry	-	Technology

Differences between plant buyer and procurement agent education

There are a few differences between a plant buyer and a procurement agent in terms of educational background:

	Plant Buyer	Procurement Agent
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 69%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Plant buyer vs procurement agent demographics

Here are the differences between plant buyers' and procurement agents' demographics:

	Plant Buyer	Procurement Agent
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 49.5% Female, 50.5%	Male, 51.4% Female, 48.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 7.0% White, 66.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 7.6% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	7%	7%

Differences between plant buyer and procurement agent duties and responsibilities

Plant buyer example responsibilities.

Manage plant ISO system for all procurement functions.
Manage MRP on all stock material to create plane orders.
Assure suppliers comply with safety and quality alignments within company standards and manage non-conformance reporting for logistics as per company policy.
Purchase production material and MRO supplies.
Maintain tool crib and all MRO materials.
Work with appropriate personnel to ensure effective and functional storage for all supplies and commodities.

Procurement agent example responsibilities.

Achieve $200k cost savings buy locating excess material from OEM.
Manage project size OEM bills of material from supplier negotiation through final invoice.
Monitor and manage cost of components for bill of material (BOM), schedule lead times and performance with budgets.
Prepare strategic commodity business plans for globally manage commodities, performing spend analysis, and identifying part cost drivers.
Process purchase requisitions to POs for different commodities for MCI s end-user community.
Perform category spend analysis of indirect spend for hotel expenses to determine hotel candidates for 2010 RFP corporate rate negotiations.

Plant buyer vs procurement agent skills

Common plant buyer skills

Purchase Orders, 25%
Lean Manufacturing, 7%
MRO, 7%
Delivery Dates, 6%
Commodities, 5%
Indirect Materials, 5%

Common procurement agent skills

Supply Chain, 15%
Strategic Sourcing, 6%
Supplier Performance, 6%
Customer Service, 5%
Inventory Control, 4%
Purchase Orders, 4%