The goal of materials management is to provide an unbroken chain of components for production to manufacture goods on time for customers.
Materials is generally measured by accomplishing on time delivery to the customer, on time delivery from the supply base, attaining a freight, budget, inventory shrink management, and inventory accuracy.
In other companies the procurement and management of the supply base is the responsibility of a separate purchasing department.
Materials typically account for a large portion of a construction project's budget.
[1] Despite these statistics, when project budgets and efficiency are considered, labour and cost reduction are discussed.
When materials are tracked efficiently project time can be optimized, costs can be saved and quality can be maximized.
Commercial construction projects- these types of projects include retail stores, your restaurants and hotels.
[5] The importance of material tracking in these types of projects is extremely high, because the project network is large, materials are procured from all over the world and the construction sites are typically in remote locations with poor infrastructure.
Computer-based systems are an excellent tool during the purchasing process, because equipment specification, supplier selection, delivery time guarantees, shipping fees and multiple other aspects of procurements can be automatically compared on one platform.
Details on packing lists will be attached to the packages in the delivery and they will typically be sent to the purchaser via email.
For example, if electronical equipment is procured and delivered to the construction site in one lot to save costs on multiple delivery fees, the electrical equipment that is not needed for assembly immediately has to be stored in water-proof locations.
The need for digital tools is furthermore highlighted, if materials are stored for example in contractor warehouses rather than the construction site.