The raw materials inventory consists of materials that will become part of the product during the conversion process. The finished goods inventory consists of completed goods awaiting shipment to customers. Inventory control is the process of managing inventories to minimize inventory costs, including both holding costs and potential stock-out costs. One of the most sophisticated methods of inventory control used today is materials requirements planning. The primary difference between the two systems is that materials requirements planning involves just production and inventory personnel, whereas the manufacturing resource planning system involves the entire organization.
Scheduling is the process of ensuring that materials are at the right place at the right time.
Both place and time are important to scheduling. The routing of materials is the sequence of workstations that the materials will follow. Scheduling Through Gantt Charts. A Gantt chart , developed by Henry L. Gantt, is a graphic scheduling device that displays the tasks to be performed on the vertical axis and the time required for each task on the horizontal axis. Scheduling Control via PERT .