ABSTRACT
Operations are in most organizations an important factor in both the successful delivery of the basic purpose and the total costs incurred. The purpose of this chapter is to review one particular resource and its links to these two factors. This resource is the material used by the organization. In particular, the chapter addresses the following questions:
1 What do we mean by materials? The term ‘materials’ has several meanings. The chapter will describe some of the more important of these definitions. It should become clear tha materials are an important resource in all operations, not just manufacturing.
