MATERIALS MANAGEMENT

Materials Management is merely the process by which firms are supplied with the goods and services that
it needs to accomplish its objectives of buying, storage and movement of materials.
Materials Management has different functions that include planning, procuring, storing and providing the
suitable material of precise quality, right quantity at right place in right time in order to organize and plan
the production activity in an integrative manner for business undertaking.
“According to management theorists, materials management is total conception of having its definite
organization to plan and control materials, its supply, and its flow from raw stage to finished stage so as to
deliver the product to customers as per their requirements in time.”
Definition: :
Tersine and Campbell (2004) 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.
Another theorist, Ammer, Dean (1991) defines material management as the process in which a company
acquires the materials that it needs to achieve their objectives. This process usually begins with the
requisition of materials from the supplier until the material is used or incorporated into a product.
FUNCTIONS:
This entails the following functions:
 materials planning,
 purchasing,
 receiving,
 storing,
 inventory control,
 scheduling,
 production,
 physical distribution and
 Marketing.
Elements of integrated Material Management:

Objectives of Materials Management:

Materials management objectives are categorized into:
1. Primary objective : Making available (supply) of materials in specified quantity and quality at
economic cost and maintaining the continuity of supply. Minimization of investments in materials and
inventory costs, and assuring high inventory turnover.
2. Secondary objectives :
o Purchasing the items from a reliable source at economic price.
o Reduction of costs by using various cost reduction techniques such as variety reduction,
standardization and simplification, value analysis, inventory control, purchase research etc.

o Co-ordination of the functions such as planning, scheduling, storage and maintenance of materials.

Flow of Materials in Manufacturing:

In any manufacturing organisation, there is a flow of materials at various stages of manufacturing i.e. from
input to output. The flow with reference to inputs involves such activities as purchasing, traffic control
and receiving. The activities associated with flow within the factory include the material handling
activities at different workstations as per the order of processing. Output related activities include
packaging, shipping and distribution.
1. Purchasing 6. In plant storage
2. Inbound traffic from suppliers to company 7. Material handling
3. Receiving 8. Packaging and shipping
4. Inventory Control 9. Outbound traffic
5. Production control 10. Warehousing and distribution.

CYCLE TIME
In the flow of materials inside a factory from the point of inputting till the conversion into the output there
occurs a huge cycle time in the transformation process.
 Run time - Job is at machine and being worked on.
 Set up time - Job is at the work station, and the work station is being "setup."
 Queue time - Job is where it should be, but is not being processed because other work precedes it.
 Move time - The time a job spends in transit.
 Wait time - When one process is finished, but the job is waiting to be moved to the next work area.
 Other - "Just-in-case" inventory.