Overcoming Materials Management Problems

Materials management is concerned with planning, organization, and control of materials inventory, production, stocking, and distribution (Magee and Boodman, 1990). In the 1990s, both the economic and industrial environments are dynamic. Thus, materials management practices and procedures must be capable of supporting effective decisionmaking in these dynamic environments.

The growing internationalization of business activity further complicates the process of materials management, in terms of (1) developing accurate and timely data on production and stocking levels, (2) developing and projecting accurate and timely data on material and product requirements, and (3) incorporating a wide variety of multinational and international economic data into materials management activities. The growing internationalization of business activity has been accompanied by the introduction of high technology (high tech) procedures into manufacturing processes. With respect to materials management, the greatest significance of the introduction of high tech procedures into manufacturing processes has been the development of the justintime (JIT) materials processing procedure. The widespread application of the JIT procedure will not only contribute to revolutionary change in the processes of manufacturing, it will also usher in revolutionary change in manufacturing support procedures and processes, such as materials ma