Material Management Issues - Coursework Example

It is an approach for organizing, planning, and controlling all organizational activities that are primarily concerned with how materials flow into the organization. The scope of both operational management and material management varies from organization to organization and they both include control and planning of material, purchasing, production planning, material movement, waste management, and inventory control.

Askin & Standridge (2013) define material management in their article as the process of providing the required materials conveniently at the right place to sustain the required production level at minimum cost. The main purpose of material management is effectively control the materials’ flow. The authors state that the structure of material management should be well organized to allow integral coordination and planning of the material’s flow to ensure the appropriate use of resources thus reducing production costs. The content of this article relates to the content of Chapter 7 (operation management) because both operational management and material management operate interchangeably and share several common traits. Both material management and operation management have set goals and objectives that are almost unique.

Material management, according to Robert (2008) is the process used by companies to acquire all the needed materials to achieve their operational goals and objectives. The process of material management usually starts by requesting the materials from a potential supplier and the materials pass through several operations until they are incorporated to end products. Like operation management whose main goal is to maximize the organization’s production and minimize costs, material management is a function of business mainly for purchasing; planning, storing, and moving materials in a manner that helps organizations minimize their costs and maximize production.

The relationship between the content of this article and that of Chapter 7 stems from the reality that these two fields are mutually dependent on one another. Material management is considered to be part of operation management simply because materials play a vital role in the entire manufacturing operation. In addition, both material management and operation management have similar goals and objectives. They all seek to enhance the output of an organization by increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.

The contents of these two articles are related to the content of chapter seven based on the fact that operation management is based on internal focus and material management is externally focused. Material management deals with external parties to acquire raw materials that are needed to manufacture products and sell these products to the markets while operation management deals primarily with activities that take place within the organization to manufacture services and products. The process of both operational management and material management varies with different organizations and the two include control and planning of material, purchasing, production planning, material movement, waste management, and inventory control.