| Materials logistics management is currently undergoing rediscovery in many companies throughout the world, but particularly in the United States, where every aspect critical to competition and profitability is being scrutinized. The major reason for this rediscovery is the potential for using materials logistics, roughly defined as the inbound movement and storage of raw materials to meet manufacturing needs and the outbound storage and delivery of finished product to meet marketing needs, as important competitive element in the marketing mix.; Concurrent with this rediscovery or possibly causing it, information technologies commercially available in the 1990's will permit materials logistics management to perform more efficiently and effectively than ever before. However, there is a problem. This technology is often expensive and very complex, requiring a concerted management effort to effectively implement and integrate it into the existing business operations. Materials logistics organizations worldwide are struggling with this problem.; The answer seems to lie in the effective strategic planning for information technology implementation. This study investigates the information technologies that are most likely to be used in materials logistics during the 1990's and examines how they are currently being employed and the plan for their future adoption in one of the United States' most competitive industries. From this investigation, a strategic planning model is developed that can assist materials logistics management with the identification and adoption of appropriate strategies, organizations, management processes, and key tactics. The key tactics examined are the use of information technology and the use of outsourcing. The model is useful to gauge the progress of the materials logistics organization toward its chosen goal and to measure the rate of that progress vis-a-vis other enterprises. |
