| In today's increasingly competitive manufacturing | | | | operation, important distinctions in materials |
| environment, where tightened margins mean | | | | management involve purchasing decisions based upon |
| tightened grips on waste, running lean inventories is | | | | the job type. For make-to-order jobs where |
| the name of the production game. Materials | | | | production may require a one-time part, material |
| management is now the art of balancing production | | | | parts can be purchased straight to the job. By |
| scheduling with inventory acquisition--tasks often | | | | contrast, for big jobs or those multiple diverse job |
| performed by personnel with varying degrees of | | | | orders that require common parts, material/parts can |
| responsibility. In large industrial organizations, the | | | | be bought to inventory. In both modes of purchasing |
| specialization of materials management has resulted in | | | | inventory, it is important to buy and stock only what |
| distinctions often drawn between the work of a | | | | you need to time deliveries of material to coincide as |
| buyer or purchasing agent and that of a purchasing | | | | closely as possible with production needs. This will |
| manager. While purchasing agents commonly focus on | | | | reduce the cost of carrying excess inventory with |
| routine purchasing tasks, purchasing managers usually | | | | the resulting depreciation the longer its held in stock. |
| handle the more complex or critical purchases and | | | | To the extent that such material requirements |
| may supervise a group of purchasing agents handling | | | | planning can be facilitated, reduced or zero-balanced, |
| other goods and services. Whether a person is | | | | inventory flow is that purchasing concept that most |
| referred to as purchasing manager, buyer or | | | | contributes to JIT lean manufacturing operations. In |
| purchasing agent depends more on the specific | | | | the modern facility, enterprise resource planning (ERP) |
| industry and employer practices more so than on | | | | software offers an integrated system working to |
| specific job duties. In all cases, however, the | | | | coordinate all of the variables involved in inventory |
| increasing differentiation between the functions | | | | management (inventory tracking, cycle counting, |
| testifies to the increasing importance that materials | | | | purchase requisitions, demand planning, etc.) to |
| management has in manufacturing today. | | | | facilitate automated inventory purchasing, and |
| In the best case scenario, inventory will continuously | | | | produce lean production results. For the modern |
| flow through the plant with little to no stopping. | | | | manufacturer, this common sense approach to |
| Inventory moves from the reception of materials on | | | | inventory and production coordination and control |
| the dock, to shop floor production, to the shipping | | | | means tighter grips on cost margins through the |
| out the door of the finished goods. For these | | | | elimination of inventory waste in the system. |
| just-in-time (JIT) mandates of lean production | | | | |