MMPlan & Execute
Material Management
Real-Time Material Control for Regulated, High-Mix Manufacturing. In-plant material flow control with governed storage, FIFO/FEFO policies, electronic kanban and automatic replenishment missions.
The challenge
Line stoppages caused by stockouts, misplaced lots or uncontrolled environments can cost manufacturers millions in lost productivity, rework and compliance risk. Spreadsheets, manual calls and siloed systems leave planners and operators firefighting shortages, while conventional WMS or ERP modules stop at inbound or accounting rather than serving the in-plant supply chain.
Overview
The LOGICAL SYSTEMS Material Management (MM) application moves material operations from reactive expediting to proactive orchestration. Built on the Inductive Automation Ignition platform, it governs storage, enforces policies such as FIFO, FEFO and LIFO, and continuously plans replenishment so the right material reaches the right place at the right time. It is designed for the in-plant supply chain: supermarkets, carousels, cold rooms and staging areas.
MM orchestrates electronic kanban signals, auto-generates missions for operators or automation, and enforces environmental and withdrawal policies at the point of use. Scanner-first mobile workflows cover receiving, picking, replenishment and returns, online or offline. Supervisors monitor mission boards and stock levels, while executives track KPIs such as Planned vs Actual (PVA) consumption, compliance and spoilage cost. Native connectors exchange transactions with ERP, WMS and other systems, avoiding data silos.
Typical results
Typical results reported in the MM datasheet. Results depend on each site's starting point and scope.
Capabilities
What MM does
Material Intelligence & Storage Governance
- Unique identification of units and carriers with expiry, potency, hazard and substitution rules
- Hierarchical storage: warehouses, zones, supermarkets, carousels, cold rooms and line-side buffers
- Pick-time policy enforcement: FIFO, FEFO, LIFO, LEFO, bin priority, environment gates
- Environmental governance: cold-room monitoring, SMT baking cycles, issue blocks when limits exceeded
Consumption, Returns & Optimization
- Manual, scanned or API-driven consumption with potency adjustment for variable-strength materials
- Managed returns (partial packs, opened reels), quarantining and disposition to scrap or re-issue
- Spoilage capture with cost attribution and audit trail
- Pallet/container optimisation with split, merge and cannibalisation rules under approval workflows
Mobile Execution & Integration
- Scanner-first handheld workflows for receiving, putaway, picks, counts and returns, online or offline
- Photos, signatures and operator notes captured at every critical step
- Integration with ERP, WIP, WMS, WD, TMS, OEE and CMMS via LSA EAI
- Executive dashboards for storage zone health, mission cycle times, compliance and costs
Missions, Supermarkets & Carousels
- Electronic kanban signals automatically generate replenishment and transfer missions
- Mission board with priorities, SLAs, progress tracking and escalation to TMS
- Supermarket min/max thresholds with governed withdrawals and rebalancing rules
- Carousel slot mapping, pick/put sequences, utilisation tracking and controller adapters
Analytics & Reporting
- Real-time KPIs: PVA consumption, mission cycle time, FEFO compliance, supermarket health, spoilage/return costs
- Inventory accuracy, rebalancing effectiveness and substitution frequency by site, line and enterprise
- Supermarket and carousel utilisation reports that highlight bottlenecks
- Mission metrics showing lead times, fill rates and exception-handling patterns
- Trend analytics for repeated shortages and environmental violations
- Scheduled report distribution to planners, supervisors and executives
Mobile Capabilities
- Scanner-first handheld workflows for operators at docks, supermarkets and lines
- Barcode/QR/RFID scanning with offline tolerance and automatic sync on reconnection
- Photos, signatures and notes captured in replenishment, returns and spoilage workflows
- Cold-room badges and SMT bake timers enforced on handhelds before material issue
- Missions queued for operators with priority and SLA indicators
Benefits
Why manufacturers choose MM
Inventory accuracy
99%+ inventory accuracy across sites and lines.
Higher workforce productivity
20-30% higher workforce productivity through governed, mobile workflows.
Less material waste
15-25% lower material waste from spoilage, overfills and rework.
Fewer stockouts and stoppages
Electronic kanban and just-in-time missions mean fewer stockouts and line stoppages.
Faster changeovers
Faster changeovers and replenishment cycles reduce downtime risk.
Improved regulatory compliance
Environmental governance and audit trails improve regulatory compliance.
Ask MM in plain language
LS Assistant, the AI assistant in every Logical Systems application, answers questions from your live MM records and shows the sources behind every answer. It keeps learning as your records, work instructions and resolved issues grow, and your data is never used to train AI models.
Answers with sources
Every answer cites the records and work instructions it used.
Your role, your site
It sees only what each user is allowed to see.
Asks before it acts
Every change it proposes needs a person's confirmation and is audited.
18 languages, voice on mobile
Questions, answers and content in your teams' languages.
Integration
Connects to the systems you run
Systems & protocols
- ERP
- WMS
- MQTT
- OPC UA
- OPC DA
- REST API (JSON payloads)
- Kafka (via connector)
- Snowflake (via pipeline, data bridge)
- Carousel controllers (via Ignition IO drivers)
Datasheet
Material Management datasheetWorks with
Related solutions
See MM in action
Book a demo with our engineers, using scenarios from your own plant.