Purchasing and supply chain Management Issues and sulotions Essay

Purchasing and supply chain Management Issues and sulotions - Essay Example The managing of purchase and supply revolves around the materials; what is needed when? And who will supply how? Roles of manufacturers, suppliers, agents, transporters, and government agencies are discussed. FINDINGS I have identified seven themes in this section for effective management of purchase and supply chain: Managing Materials, Planning and Building Supply Resources, Ordering and Stock Maintaining, Monitoring Deliveries and Goods Receipts, Controlling and Servicing Consumptions, Stocking Finished Goods and Waste Materials, and Anticipating Risks and Expected Remedy. Managing Materials The first and foremost thing in purchase and supply chain is the identification and recognition of materials. Material is defined as â€Å"anything that serves as crude or raw matter to be used or developed: Wood pulp is from which paper is made.†(Material 2011) Materials used in industries are unique and different for each industry. Each and every industry should first identify and rec ognize the materials which they will need to produce a set of finished goods. Materials also include stores, spares, tools and consumables required for the operation and maintenance of plant and machinery. There are four broad categories of materials in a manufacturing unit and each material that is needed in the process of production will fall in any one of these categories. These broad categories are Raw Materials and Operational Materials which when processed by Plant and Machinery, produces Finished Goods and Waste Materials. A figure given below illustrates it It is also important to understand the properties of materials to make efficient decisions that optimize cost and performance. â€Å"Materials engineering involves understanding the correlation between a material's cost, performance, and basic properties. The knowledge gained in the materials engineering approach facilitates timely and well-informed materials decisions relating to new designs, cost reduction efforts, sup plier selection, and manufacturing yield improvements.†( Pfeifer 2005) The chief Raw Materials in a textile mill are â€Å"Cotton† and â€Å"Cones.† The â€Å"Cotton† is an agricultural product. It is a crop produced by farmers on the fields and sold to Ginners. Ginners clean and process it in the form of cotton lint and pack it in bales. â€Å"The quality of the fibres varies greatly according to the variety, the seasonal conditions during cultivation and the way the crop is handled after harvest. 100 kg seed cotton gives 35 to 42 kg of cotton lint. Cotton fibers are characterized by a longitudinal spiral twist (see picture magnified 630 times), which contributes to an elasticity of about 10%† (Chaudhry 2003) The lint cotton is purchased by the textile mills, processed to produce yarns and cloths. Textile Mills are one of the most important global industries today. Modern textile mills are far more advanced and automated today and therefore needs e ven more accurate and precise purchase and supply chain. The real world photographs (Loyal Chennai) below show how huge and automated textile mills are today. Spinning and Weaving Mills photograph of a real world Manufacturing of