Materials Management: The Purpose Of Material Management

1088 Words3 Pages

Ballot (2006) defines material management as the process of planning, acquiring, storing, moving, and controlling materials to effectively use facilities, personnel, resources and capital. Tersine and Campbell (1977) define material management as the process to provide the right materials at the right place at the right time in order to maintain a desired level of production at minimum cost. The purpose of material management is to control the flow of materials effectively. Beekman-Love (1978) states that a material management structure should be organized in such a way that it allows for integral planning and coordination of the flow of materials, in order to use the resources in an optimal way and to minimize costs.

Chandler (1978) states …show more content…

Cavinato (1984) states that material management involves the control of the flow of goods in a firm. It is the combination of purchasing with production, distribution, marketing, and finance. Arnold (1991) states that material management is a function responsible for planning and controlling of materials flow. He adds that a materials manager should maximize the use of resources of the …show more content…

The person in charge of handling materials should keep in mind the goals of the company and ensure that the company is not paying extra money for materials. The goal of every company is to make a profit. This is the basis for company survival, costs should not exceed income, but keeping in mind customer's expectations. Furthermore, Jacobs et al. (2009) stated that the objective of material management is to ensure that the right item is bought and made available to the manufacturing operations at the right time, at the right place and at the lowest possible cost.

The typical tasks associated with a material management system are (Tersine and
Campbell (2004), Ammer (1999), Stukhart (2007)): Procurement and purchasing, expediting, materials planning, materials handling, distribution, cost control, inventory management/ receiving/warehousing and

More about Materials Management: The Purpose Of Material Management

Open Document