Materials Management

One of the challenges in a manufacturing company is making something. To make something correctly, people, machines, and materials have to be in perfect unison.  The Materials Department is the central nervous system of a manufacturing company. Although perfection is not possible, it is necessary for the Materials Department to strive for perfection and embrace the responsibility that this is “setting the table” for the Production Department. There will NOT be an efficient Production Department without an excellent Materials Department. The major challenge that materials managers face is maintaining a consistent flow of materials for production---is everything in the right place at the right time? The major issues that materials managers face are incorrect bills of materials, inaccurate inventory, un-reported scrap, shipping errors, receiving errors, and production reporting errors.

Most companies consider the Materials Department to include Purchasing (Supply Chain), Production Control, Inventory Control, Shipping and Receiving, Warehousing and Storerooms, Material Movement, Scheduling, Capacity Planning and Expediting. In today’s global environment, if you are not actively quoting and sourcing a good chunk of your materials overseas, you could be overlooking significant cost savings and making your company cost non-competitive.

Vision Manufacturing Consulting will make your Materials Department exceptional. We will help you determine if there are sourcing opportunities and we will help you raise the bar, aspiring for perfection in your Materials Department. By aspiring for perfection in the Materials Department, the table will be properly set for a much more efficient Production Department and we can hold Production Management accountable to execute at levels not ever thought possible. We will help you implement metrics that will clearly show that the Materials Department has command of its responsibilities.

Most manufacturing companies struggle with Scheduling and Capacity Planning. It is imperative to get these activities correct. Input has to equal output and each manufacturing work center must perform the required processes correctly and on-time to enable the downstream work centers to have a chance. Modern computerized ERP systems function by assuming that all work centers complete on time.

The process and managerial improvements of your Materials Department is a major cost reduction initiative that will realize efficiency and cost savings in your Materials Department, but more importantly will lead to major cost reductions outside of the Materials Department.