ABSTRACT
I have a question for you: If our material costs are approximately 68%–75% of our total cost and our labor cost is approximately 7%, why do some businesses focus on layoffs or reducing headcount instead of managing their materials from the supplier to the customer, where the larger cost is? Could it be because implementing a world-class material management system is impossible or too difficult? Well, I think Toyota and others have proven to the world that it is neither! They have become experts at implementing and sustaining material management tools such as Kanban, Changeover Wheel, Pull, JIT, and Plan For Every Part (PFEP), to name just a few. A Material Management Lean Discipline Expert could easily save you hundreds of thousands of dollars.
