1 Functions of Stores.

Stores play a vital role in the operations of company. It is in direct touch with the user
department in its day-to-day activities. The most important purpose served by the stores is to
provide uninterrupted service to the manufacturing divisions.
The functions of stores can be classified as follows:
- To receive raw materials, components, tools equipments and other items and account for
them.
- To provide adequate and proper storage and preservation to the various items.
- To meet the demands of the consuming departments by proper issues and account for the
consumption.
- To minimize obsolescence, surplus and scrap through proper codification, preservation
and handling.
- To highlight stock accumulation, discrepancies and abnormal consumption and effect
control measures.
- To ensure good housekeeping so that material handling, material preservation, stocking,
receipt and issue can be done adequately.
- To assist in verification and provide supporting information for effective purchase action.

3 Benefits of computerization in material management.

In modern management, Time plays a great role. Right decision at right time is the need of
hour. All the decisions are based upon the past data or information and as such with the
change in technology and other developments, it is necessary that the decision be based on
the latest information, for which a sound data processing system is called for.
The materials manager who wishes to utilize a computer in the operation of his department
does not have to understand its electronic intricacies. He should, however, know generally
what a computer can do, what it cannot do and how his departmental procedures must be
designated so as to be compatible with computer operation.
Effective use of a computer offers a manager several significant advantages.
i Computing ability to process huge volumes of data rapidly.
ii Freeing the personnel from routine clerical work and repetitive tasks.
iii Enable departmental personnel to do more creative work.
iv Immediate availability of much more complete data for use in decision making.
The materials management activities which can be performed by computerized system are
the same in all cases. They are
Posting of inventory records.
Computation of economic order quantities.
Preparation of purchase requisitions.
Preparation of purchase orders.
Distribution of accounting charges.
Automatic preparation of follow-up memos.
Posting of delivery and quality records, by part and by vendor.
Preparation of numerous operating reports for management.
Auditing of invoices and preparation of cheques for payment of invoice.
 Computerization can be of great help to meet the following objectives of materials
management.
1 Accurate and speedy remittance of information to customers and suppliers, bills,
statements, reminders, etc.
2 Information for management for control purposes e.g. stock levels, inventory position,
customers acceptance etc., etc.,
3 Improvement of customer relations, vendor and employee relations, by timely accurate
and relevant information and thro vendor analysis etc.
4 Reduction of inventories to free the working capital.
5 To increase profits at the same time giving better service by optimum scheduling,
forecasting and optimizing utilization of traffic facilities, warehouses, machines, etc.
6 To increase the productivity of materials and facilities.

4 Disposal and Condemnation.

Equipment condemnation and disposal
The life cycle of equipment is fairly simple, but one process that seems to cause problems is
deciding when to condemn and how to dispose of equipment.
When looking at condemnation and disposal, the engineer in charge of the department should
have the experience, knowledge, and authority to decide when a piece of equipment should be
scrapped and removed from use.
The reasons for condemning equipment will usually be:
Beyond economical repair - Where equipment comes in and the cost of repairing it is
considered too high after looking at the current value (taking depreciation into account),
and the age of the equipment.
Technically obsolete - Parts and service support are no longer available.
Clinically obsolete - The clinician using the device (or manufacturer) recommend
replacement for clinical reasons. (Diagnostic ultrasound imaging usually becomes
clinically obsolete after 5 years due to the rapid improvements in imaging technology, but
can still be used and supported by the supplier.)
Equipment that has been damaged by contamination.
The information supplied to the user must include the date of condemnation, whom the
equipment belongs to and who authorized the condemnation.
When sending out the notification of condemnation copies should be sent to senior managers
responsible for procurement, and users of the equipment. An equipment condemning note/memo
should be individually numbered and logged onto the equipment database with an individual job
number, equipment description, including the make, model, serial number, control (asset)
number, purchase date (age), reason for condemning and any additional information.
You should also state the equipment location (Dept / Ward) and at which Hospital.
If a replacement is required the cost for new equipment needs to be included in the capital bids
processes giving financial priority to the most urgent purchase based on need and risk.
A record of all condemnations should be kept on the database.
Disposal
Once the equipment has been condemned it should be quarantined or thrown away.
To quarantine the equipment means removing it from clinical use and putting it somewhere it
cannot be used which is allocated as an area for scrapped equipment.
There may be an alternative use for this equipment:
 Third world charity
Research project
Training
Sold on to vetinary practice, etc.
If there is an alternative use, the equipment may be held in the quarantine area until it can be
handed over. Whoever takes the equipment must sign a form agreeing that the equipment is
'taken as seen'. All service and inventory labels must be removed, and all patient information
deleted (where the device has IT storage capability)
The equipment that cannot be found an alternative use must be disposed of safely.
The equipment may be thrown in the skip to be taken to the local landfill site, or incinerated
where appropriate.

5 Objectives of material management.

The objectives of material management can be categorized in two ways as follows:
(I) Primary objectives
(II) Secondary objectives
They are discussed below:
(I) Primary objectives
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.
Purchasing
All the organizations need 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.
Inventory Planning and Control
Inventory at different levels is necessary to make sure about the availability of all the types of
materials and goods and their proper flow from one facility to another at different levels.
The storing of various types of materials and parts as inventory is therefore very essential
before its delivery and use at different areas/departments. This involves inventory planning
and control of materials in the stores department. Many a time, the supplier may not be in a
position to supply the materials of the ordered quantity at the proper time. To maintain the
continuity in production and line balance in assembly work, the various types of inventories
are necessary to be maintained and kept in the stores.
Thus, the inventory control is a very important function of the materials management
department. The various types of inventory models are developed for the different materials
to economize the purchase, supply, and inventory control to analyze and optimize the costs
involved in ordering, set-up and inventory carrying of materials required in the production.
Ascertaining and Maintaining the Flow and Supply of Materials
Distribution of materials requisitioned by the various production centers and other
departments must be ascertained and its flow and continuity of supply must be maintained by
the materials management department. Insufficient or zero inventories many times create the
situations of stock-outs and leads to disruption in services provided.
For example, in case of a hospital, even if we find something wrong with the supplies, the
doctors and para-medical staff cant wait because an emergency like situation cant be
deferred. A material manager bears the responsibility of making it sure that in no case any
department of a hospital is likely to face a gap between the demand and supply. Even in no
abnormal condition when in particular catchment area we find an abnormal increase in the
demand of a few selected items due to epidemics or natural calamities, the gap is to be
avoided.

Consistency in Quality
Of course, it is an important consideration because the quality of services is substantially
influenced by the quality of materials. In any case, a material manager is not expected to
make a compromise with quality because this may cause irreparable losses to the patients.
Since we talk about quality in totality, the quality of hospital materials appears to be a focal
point as failing the supply of superior quality of hospital materials, even the world class
doctors and professionals would find it difficult to improve the quality of healthcare services.
Departmental Efficiency
The objective of this function is to ensure the efficiency of the system adopted. If the system
and procedure adopted for materials management are inefficient or faulty, none of the
objectives mentioned above can be fulfilled, howsoever the procedure may be good. In order
to maintain the things in proper way as per planning an efficient control is necessary in the
department over each and every process. Management Information System (MIS) and
feedback control at every stage of working must be adopted to control and make the
management and employee work as efficiently as possible to achieve the best results.
High Turnover
The management of materials is also aimed at increasing the rate of turnover. We dont find
any sense in collecting the materials in stores, even we dont find it practical to promote
unnecessary supply. The main thing in the process is to make possible high degree of
mobility in the demand and supply of materials. A material manager bears the responsibility
of increasing the turnover so that all the departments get the required quantity and quality of
materials on time.
Good relationship with the suppliers
It is essential that a material manager makes sincere efforts to develop rapport with the
suppliers so that they succeed in getting materials even if situations are not favourable.
(II) Secondary Functions
There can be number of secondary functions. Some of them are discussed below:
Standardization and Simplification
The standards and specifications of various types of materials are fixed by design and
technical department of the organization.
Standards define the quality, reduction in sizes and variety, interchangeability of parts and
products. It ensures efficient utilization of materials and reduces wastages. Standard materials
are always available at reasonable cost. It also helps purchasing department in selection of
materials and vendors. If less variety of items purchased and put in the stores the types of
inventories will be reduced and in this way the cost of carrying the inventories in the stores
will be reduced.
New Material and Product
As a material manager, it is quite natural that you pave avenues for innovation for which it is
essential that as and when new materials are launched, you activate the process of making
available the same to the hospitals. The changes in the process of diagnosis and treatment
make it essential that whatever the materials you make available are in face of latest
developments. The management of materials thus is found aimed at the availability of new
generation of materials.

Buying Decisions
It is important to mention that being a manager, you are well aware of the buying process, or
transforming the dialogues into a deal. As a material manager, it is essential that by
negotiating you succeed in getting quality materials as a moderate price. You are supposed to
know about the quality of materials and if you have any doubt or confusion, you need to get
it confirmed by the doctors and the hospital managers. The management of materials makes it
essential that you activate the buying process and never commit a mistake by allowing the
producers/suppliers making available to you the poor quality of hospital materials.
Coding and Classification of Materials
This is an important function of the materials management to help the purchasing department
of every organization. It uses its own methods of classification of materials. ABC analysis is
one of the simple and standard method used by most of the firms for classification and
storing their variety of materials.
The materials are recognized to purchase and store as an inventory by its codes and
nomenclatures. The various methods of coding are used by every organization to control the
variety of materials and its quantity and price rates.
Forecasting and Planning
Materials requirements planning is based on correct forecasting of sales and demand of the
products/ services in the market. The various methods of forecasting are available and the
materials management department can choose the one which gives the best results to the
company.
Analytical methods are adopted for systematic forecasting and planning to procure the
various materials required. In case of fluctuating demands, there can be uncertainties in
supply as well. This can be overcome by maintaining the proper quantity in inventory of
short supply materials at proper time.
6 Basic Principles of material management.
- Effective management & supervision. It depends on managerial functions of
a Planning
b Organizing
c Staffing
d Directing
e Controlling
f Reporting
g Budgeting

- Sound purchasing methods

- Skillful & hard poised negotiations
- Effective purchase system
- Should be simple
- Must not increase other costs
- Simple inventory control program

The principles to be practiced for the sound management of materials in hospitals are
Quantity, Price, Source, Delivery, Methods, People and the most important one is Quality.
Quantity: This gravitates our attention on the quantity of materials to be demanded by a
material manager. This makes it essential that the estimation process is based on the changing
requirements of hospitals in a particular command or catchment area. It is quite natural that
quantitative requirements in all the area cant be uniform because we find a change in the
disease profile of different areas. However we find some of the materials of common use are
used in almost all hospitals. The main thing in the management process is to make it sure that
quantitative requirements of different hospitals are fulfilled. To be more specific in the
healthcare services, we find more fluctuation in requirements because in case of
viral/epidemic diseases, we find use of a few selected items in a very large quantity.
Price: Another consideration is price which draws our attention on making possible cost-
effectiveness. When we find hospitals spending almost 40 per cent of the total budget on
materials, even a minor care would maintain economy and at the same time albeit a small
mistake would promote cost ineffectiveness. We are well aware of the fact that to be more
specific in the Indian context, the material manager/hospital manager bears the responsibility
of minimizing the cost of services. Besides, a material manager is also supposed to explore
avenues for the supply of materials at a reasonable price which requires professional
excellence while negotiating with the suppliers and making a deal. In tis context, it is to be
remembered that maintaining the cost economy is not to result into a degeneration in the
quality of materials.
Source: We find a number of suppliers, manufacturers, agents, dealers supplying the hospital
materials. Of course, you have a contact with suppliers who have been supplying to you the
materials but your wisdom is coiled in the essence f developing rapport with a large number
of suppliers and manufacturers so that in case of crisis failure, you dont face any problem.
You need to minimize your dependence on a particular supplier even if you find with him
everything right. With the help of computers, you can list the different suppliers at national
and international levels. Your motive is to get quality materials at a moderate price. If you
have alternatives, the task is much more easier. Always promote direct contact and never trust
on others.
Delivery: It is also essential that whatever the deals you have finalized are materialized in
the defined ways. The supply of materials should be in the face of specifications and
standards. The assured or promised quality of materials is to be supplied and therefore you
are supposed to be careful that the gap between the quality-promised and the quality-
delivered is bridged over. Time honored delivery of materials is found significant to improve
the quality of hospital services. While placing orders, you need to mention the time and to
make it sure that the suppliers follow the schedule.
Quality: Today, the main motto of hospitals or any other healthcare organizations is to
provide goods/services of the highest quality as reduced cost. Quality control techniques
generally aim at detecting defects at inception and not at the inspection stage. In any case, a
material manager is not expected to make a compromise with quality because this may cause
irreparable losses to the patients.