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節錄自一家出版社的文章，說明了Material Management的定義與由來：

Materials Management is simply the process by which an organization is supplied with the goods and services that it needs to achieve its objectives of buying, storage and movement of materials. Materials Management is related to planning, procuring, storing and providing the appropriate material of right quality, right quantity at right place in right time so as to co-ordinate and schedule the production activity in an integrative way for an industrial undertaking. Most industries buy materials, transport them in to the plant, change the materials in to parts, assemble parts in to finished products, sell and transport the product to the customer. All these activities of purchase of materials, flow of materials, manufacture them in to the product, supply and sell the product at the market requires various types of materials to manage and control their storage, flow and supply at various places. It is only possible by efficient materials management.
The materials requirements planning, purchasing, inventory planning, storage, inventory control, materials supply, transportation and materials handling are the activities of materials management. They will be discussed in details in various chapters to follow.
About 20-25 years ago, there was no cut-throat competition in the market to sell the various consumer items manufactured by different industrial undertakings and the availability of materials to manufacture these items was not scarce. Therefore, materials management was not thought to be so important and its separate identity in the organization was not felt. But today it has become an important management activity to streamline production. Actually before the production begins it is necessary to ensure availability of all the types
of materials needed for production and its supply at the various production centers. Planning, purchasing and scheduling are the main functions of materials management. It aims at improved productivity. It is used to reduce the cost, which increases profitability and streamlines the production. Apart from management of material cost and its supply it helps in its proper
utilization, transportation, storage, handling and distribution.
The market research and forecasting both for sales of company’s product and purchasing of various materials required for producing the product are needed at the planning stage.
Purchasing, procurement of materials, transportation, storage, inventory control, quality control and inspection of materials and goods supplied at various production centers before production are also managed as routine work. Materials handling, packaging, warehouse 2 / Materials and Financial Management
planning, accounting, scrap, surplus and obsolete materials disposal, finished goods safety and care are the activities managed by the materials management department.
Selection of personnel for marketing, purchasing, inventory control, stores management and materials handling and their training and placement is also to be seen by the materials management department
This indicates that it is very essential to have a materials management department in any organization to support the management in the production activities. It also helps in the marketing, sales promotion and control of all the types of materials for its quantity, quality and cost.

Definition

The International Federation of Purchasing and Materials Management accept the
definition of materials management given below. According to it, materials management is a total concept having its definite organization to plan and control all types of materials, its supply, and its flow from raw stage to finished stage so as to deliver the product to customer as per his requirements in time. This involves materials planning, purchasing, receiving, storing, inventory control, scheduling, production, physical distribution and marketing. It also controls the materials handling and its traffic. The materials manager has to manage all
these functions with proper authority and responsibility in the material management department. The historical background about the materials management is as follows.

Historical Background

The scarcity of materials, which was felt during World War I in USA to a very large extent and it, has become difficult for production managers to supply the War goods. This has created it necessary to organize the Materials Management department for managing large inventories in stores and to analyze the problems arising to control and economize inventory cost problems and shortage elimination. The materials management was included as an important function of the management.
With the development of principles of scientific management by F.W. Taylor in 20th century, the economic use of materials in all the organizations was critically felt to reduce the cost of production.
The early years of developments in the field of materials purchase and supply systematically begins from 1850. Charles Baggage’s book on the economy of machinery and manufacturing published in 1832 refers to the importance of purchasing function. Baggage is also known as “Materials Man”.
The growth of Rail Road industries by 1866 started in America. The Book on ‘The
Handling of Railway Supplies and their Purchase and Disposition’ in 1887 discussed the purchasing issues. Purchasing gained importance during World War I. Howard T. Lewis was a purchasing professional from 1905 to 1945. He developed importance of sound procurement to company operation.
The concept of materials management was widely spread during World War II. Professor Howard T. Lewis of the Harvard Business School made the extensive studies in Industrial Purchasing Practice. W.N. Michelle, N.F. Harriman, L.F. Buffy, Donald G. Clark, Edward T. Gushee, Russell Forbes, Stuart F. Hewritz and George A. Reward had contributed largely to Materials Management / 3 purchasing and materials management in procuring, receiving, inventory control and supply.
World War II introduced a new period in purchasing history. The emphasis on obtaining required and scarce materials influenced a growth in purchasing interest. In 1933, nine colleges offered courses related to purchasing which was increased to forty-nine colleges in 1945 in America. The membership of the National Association of Purchasing Agents increased from 3400 in 1934 to 5500 in 1940.
The post-war period saw the development of the value analysis technique, pioneered by General Electric Company in 1947 on the evaluation of which materials or changes in the specification and design would reduce over all product cost. From 1947 to 1960 were 13 years on further developments in materials management. Firms initiated dramatic growth of the materials management during 1960-1970. The Vietnam War resulted in upward price and materials availability pressure. During 1970 Firms experienced widespread materials problems related to ‘oil shortages and embargoes’.
Widespread agreement between countries taken place with the overall objective to solve materials problems including materials planning, inventory control, purchasing, quality control, stores control, materials movement and surplus disposal. The purchasing strategies and behaviors that evolved over in 1980 gave rise to foreign global competition .
The global era of trading in between 1970 and 1999 for materials management increased.
Purchasing approaches beyond 2000 reflects a changing emphasis towards the improvement of quality of materials, supplier relationship, more co-operative approach, long-term strategies of cost management and database materials management systems for materials planning and utilization in industries to bring about overall improvement in production systems, in-cost reduction through economy and increased sales. In order to serve the corporate goals and perform materials activities efficiently, a functional organization of the materials management must be established to fulfill the objectives of materials program, elimination of materials wastages and duplication of efforts to do so in every organization. Then only the abovementioned goals of materials management can be achieved.

Objectives and Functions of Materials Management

The objectives and functions of materials management can be categorized in two ways as follows:
(I) Primary objectives
(II) Secondary objectives
They are discussed below:
(I) Primary objectives
Which can be classified as:
(i) Efficient materials planning
(ii) Buying or Purchasing
(iii) Procuring and receiving
(iv) Storing and inventory control
(v) Supply and distribution of materials
(vi) Quality assurance
4 / Materials and Financial Management
(vii) Good supplier and customer relationship
(viii) Improved departmental efficiency
(II) Secondary objectives
There can be several secondary objectives of materials management. Some of them are given below:
(i) Efficient production scheduling
(ii) To take make or buy decisions
(iii) Prepare specifications and standization of materials
(iv) To assist in product design and development
(v) Forecasting demand and quantity of materials requirements
(vi) Quality control of materials purchased
(vii) Material handling
(viii) Use of value analysis and value engineering
(ix) Developing skills of workers in materials management
(x) Smooth flow of materials in and out of the organization
To fulfill all these objectives, it is necessary to establish harmony and good co-ordination between all the employees of material management department and this department should have good co-ordination with the other departments of the organization to serve all production centers.
The basic objectives of management in an organization are:
(1) Sales increase through sales promotion
(2) Profit maximization
(3) Improvement in customer services
(4) Globalization of its product sales
(5) Meet the technological changes
(6) Good employer - employee relationship
(7) Selection of alternative materials
(8) Reduction in manufacturing and other cost.
(9) Social objectives
In order to fulfill these basic objectives of management the objectives of materials
management should be set in such a way that they should totally help to meet ultimate goals.
The functions of materials management are discussed below:
In order to fulfill the objectives of materials management as stated above to meet the basic objectives and goals, the functions of the materials management are also categorized as primary and secondary functions.
(I) Primary Functions
To meet the primary objectives, the primary functions of the materials management are given as follows:
Materials Management / 5
(i) Materials Requirements Planning (MRP)
Planning of materials requirements in manufacturing is a necessary function in any organization, as inventory of materials involve about 60% of the total investment of the organization. The profit earned depends on the utilization of these materials and reducing the inventory of the materials.
The latest technique used is called Just in Time (JIT) is referred practically to no inventory.
However, in the present situations in any of the organization particularly manufacturing organization, it is not absolutely possible to keep no inventory of materials required for production.
The MRP is a technique used to plan the materials starting from the raw materials, finished
parts, components, sub-assemblies and assemblies as per Bill of Materials (BOM) to procure or produce them to support a Master Production Schedule (MPS). It is used on computers productively by any company that uses a MPS to manufacture products that require assemblies, components and materials to produce the final products. The MPS is exploded using the bills of materials to determine requirements of lower-level assemblies, components, finished parts and raw materials. It plans orders to meet these needs.
(ii) Purchasing
All the organizations needs an efficient and economic purchasing and procurement of its various supplies of materials from the suppliers. The materials management department has to perform this function of purchasing and procurement of materials very efficiently. Since 50% to 60% of sales turnover is spent on the purchase of various materials, the amount of profit earned on this sales very much depends how economically the materials are purchased and utilized in the organization. The profitability depends on the efficiency by which this particular function of purchasing and procuring the requisite materials at appropriate time
will be done and its availability is assured.
The function of purchasing can be stated as follows:
(1) The requisition of material is necessary by proper authority to initiate its purchase.
(2) To select proper supplier for the materials requisitioned, before placing an order.
(3) To negotiate about the price of the material from the supplier and it will be
purchased at the cheapest price.
(4) The quality of material must be assured and should not be compromised with the cost of the material.
(5) The material should be purchased of right quantity and right quality at proper time at the cheapest cost.
(6) To set the proper purchase policy and procedure.
(iii) Inventory Planning and Control
The modern concept of inventory planning is that the materials should be purchased and brought in the stores just before it enters the production or sold out so that inventory cost
is negligible. The zero inventories are the ideal planning. There are three types of inventories.
(i) Raw materials
(ii) Purchased goods
(iii) Finished parts and components