Oceaneering International’s is a production company that is evidently in its advanced stages of operations where it is expected to be externally supportive. Companies experiencing the progressive stages in development must always incorporate supply chain management and operations strategies to the overall engineering, production, marketing and distribution planning (Arnold & Chapman, 2008).
It is upon this realization that it is recommendable for the supply chain management team of Oceaneering International’s to adopt the min-max inventory planning, a more progressive materials management system so as to achieve sustained materials cost control improvement. The min-max inventory planning is capable of addressing numerous jewellery design and manufacturing solutions and particularly so in terms of facilitating working strategies between the management and operational functions of the firm through the integration of different functions of the firm (Arnold & Chapman, 2008).
By adopting min-max inventory planning, Oceaneering International’s will be able to introduce interactive aspects in its production utilities such as the automated computer reordering system by encouraging increased interactions among the internal customers and more importantly, between the internal customers and the external customers. As such, customers will be able to directly place their orders for their preferred jewellery designs to the system and thereby eliminate the need of the company employees to perform the same function from the company computers.
These benefits will translate to increased order uptake and productive use of human resources in other demanding functions in the production processes. The company will also be able to employ just-in-time production strategies in supply chain and inventory management by using the customer fed orders in the system to forecast the raw material need for production at particular times.
There are no doubts that the adoption of mini-max will further facilitate the Oceaneering International’s to improve its manufacturing processes by as much as 25%, a precedent that will significantly transform the company’s market presence in the UK and profits according to its long-term strategic plan. Conclusion My findings on this particular analysis activity have demonstrated the significance of continuous materials management process improvements as key components of success in any production company.
By and large, any manufacturing company which does not pursue constant materials controls and improvement strategies risks experiencing materials wastage, redundancy of staff and misuse of other production resources because of the difference between the company’s material requirements for production and the prevailing market realities. As Arnold & Chapman (2008) observe, effective material management and the subsequent alignment and integration of technological and supply chain management systems to the needs of the organization are prerequisite requirements for successful strategic management of large scale production activities.
Therefore, the significance of the analysis of the materials management processes at Oceaneering International’s serves as guideline for achieving high quality service provision standards through the adoption of persistent practical and corrective measures in the company’s inventory management processes. List of references Arnold, J. R. T. & Chapman, S. N. (2008), Introduction to materials management, 6th edn, London: Prentice Hall International. Neilslen-Englyst, L. (2003), Operations strategy formation…a continuous process, Integrated Manufacturing Systems, vol. 14, no. 8, pp. 669-690.