A materials management information system (MMIS) in a steel industry

M. Ing.Purchasing/procurement, materials management, supply chain management and logistics are strategic elements linking customer requirements with the possibilities of the market. Purchasing is establishing itself as a center of competence for the strategic alliances and development partnerships with suppliers, for the continual process of improvement and for strategic cost management in product development. Materials Management within the Steel Industry is primarily concerned with the planning, acquisition, conversion, flow, and distribution of raw materials to finished goods. Through the use of Materials Management techniques, a company can initiate cost reduction programs. These can include lower stock levels, reduction in number of vendors used, better quality of goods used, integration of supply chain into company's own value chain, etc. As such, it is important to have an integrated, supporting information system, which can supply valid, up-to-date information as and when required. This thesis investigates whether it is necessary or more advantageous to buy a ready-to-use system, or to write a custom system, to fulfil the before mentioned requirement. New technologies create the opportunity to do business more effectively. Managers must however, take responsibility for participating in the planning and design of the information systems. Many computer-generated reports are designed to enable managers to keep track of day-to-day operations and to monitor the use of resources. Through effective design these reports can help manage not only the use of resources, but also the total cost of ownership. Decision support systems are designed to support semi-structured and unstructured decisions in situations in which information is incomplete. They are developed to support decisions that are so different each time that it would be hard to develop a standard set of procedures for programming them. Such decisions may be specific and may relate to a one-time-only situation. A decision support system should enable the decision-maker to apply the right decision rule to a problem, rather than using standard rules that may not apply because of changing conditions.After a sample group tested the custom software system and completed the questionnaires, the information was summarised. The most important conclusion is that while the smaller, custom written system is not ideally suited for every application within a larger company, it will be ideal for a smaller company. Ease of adaptation and the financial impact also influences the final decision, where the easier to adapt, 'cheaper' custom system is more suitable to a small company