Top Industry Resources for Wire and Cable Purchasing Agents

Being a purchasing agent is not for the faint of heart, especially in the fast-paced construction industry. Tasked with sourcing a wide range of specialized, expensive products, purchasing agents must cope with a high volume of requests, tight deadlines and budgets, shifting product availability, and uncertain delivery times.

Most purchasing agents would say that their role gets more challenging every year. In response, many are investing in career certifications to evolve their skillsets and improve job performance.

At Kris-Tech, we’re also making significant investments to help our purchasing agent customers boost efficiency and meet demanding performance targets. These range from maintaining our own industry product certifications to delivering regular customer training on wire products. Our goal is to provide valuable resources and serve as a valued partner for our customers.

Role-Specific Certifications for Purchasing Agents

Purchasing professionals looking for role-specific certifications and training often turn to the American Purchasing Society (APS).

The APS is an organization of buyers, purchasing managers, executives, and purchasing professionals. It offers a range of training and certification programs designed to improve its members’ capabilities and the overall standing of the purchasing profession.

The APS Certified Purchasing Professional (CPP) is designed for professionals committed to improving their purchasing skills and supply chain practices. This program is unique, as each participant must pass a written exam and submit to reference checks to evaluate their business reputation.

There are also four other worldwide APS certification purchasing programs:

• Certified Professional Purchasing Manager (CPPM). Designed for professionals holding management positions
• Certified Green Purchasing Professional (CGPP). Validates training in green procurement and sustainability
• Certified Professional in Distribution and Warehousing (CPDW). Focuses on the functions involved in distribution, inventory, logistics, and warehousing
• Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant (CPPC). Created for Certified Purchasing Professionals who consult or teach purchasing to people outside of their own employer

APS certifications also require members to adhere to Codes of Conduct and Ethics that promote integrity, professionalism, and high standards of personal conduct in the workplace.

Purchasing with Confidence — Product Certifications

Purchasing agents ordering cable and wire products need 100% assurance that products meet all performance and safety specifications.

Industry certifications are integral to providing that assurance. That’s why Kris-Tech invests in third-party certification from several American and international standards organizations, including:

• Underwriter Laboratories (UL). All Kris-Tech products are UL tested and certified to meet or exceed industry performance and safety specifications. Kris-Tech also conducts spark testing, elongation tests, and flame testing per UL.
• National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). NEMA is an ANSI-accredited Standards Developing Organization made up of industry and technical experts. NEMA publishes more than 700 electrical and medical imaging standards, including many relevant to wire and cable. Kris-Tech is a NEMA member, and all Kris-Tech products meet applicable NEMA standards.

Great Wire Products Are Just the Beginning

Helping our customers be successful isn’t just about building great wire products — it’s also about how we do business. Kris-Tech is committed to our partner and distributor relationships and is a proud member of the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED). NAED provides training, resources, and business best practices for electrical distributors and manufacturers.

Kris-Tech Customer Service — Designed With Purchasing Agents in Mind

At Kris-Tech, we’re always gathering feedback from our customers and looking for ways to improve purchasing agents’ procurement experience. In fact, we’ve built our customer experience to align with purchasing agents’ priorities:

• For most of our customers, every day is a race against the clock. That’s why Kris-Tech is ‘built for speed’ — from our customer service team that responds within 30 minutes to offering the industry’s best lead times.
• Purchasing agents depend on us to provide accurate information every time. We verify the details on every spec sheet, and our highly-trained sales teams take pride in their product knowledge.
• Keeping customers informed is critical throughout the purchasing and delivery process. In the unlikely event there’s a problem with shipping an order (e.g., a weather or carrier delay), we proactively call our customers and prioritize the issue until it’s resolved.
• Kris-Tech invests heavily in new-hire, sales, and technical training. We also bring in industry experts at least twice a year to present to our entire team. This helps us to stay current on emerging industry trends and understand and adopt new best practices.

We also conduct ongoing training for our distributor partners and their purchasing agents. While the pandemic is keeping us from delivering traditional ‘in-person’ sessions at the moment, we’re pursuing online alternatives. Of course, we hope to be back in person with our customers very soon!

• Dedicated Sales Teams. Relationships are critical in our business — it’s why Kris-Tech employs a dedicated sales model rather than a call center approach. Our outside and inside sales professionals work with specific customers and territories. That means purchasing agents can speak with the same Kris-Tech professionals every time, allowing us to build long-term relationships with our customers.

Times Change — Our Values Don’t

The cable and wire industry is changing. Cable and wire products are more specialized, and projects are larger and more complex. As the purchasing agent’s role evolves to meet new challenges, these professionals are leveraging training, certification, and all available resources to maximize productivity.

At Kris-Tech, we’re committed to finding new and innovative ways to help our customers succeed. At the same time, we’ll continue to lead with our ‘old-school’ values — customer service, partnership, and trust.