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Hire an intern (engineering or industrial production major) to find out which materials the company uses may have better alternative options in the changing marketplace. If you do not have the manpower to do this analysis, hire an engineering student to measure the qualities and comparable costs of your current materials purchased and those that may be available in the marketplace at better costs.
IDEA: Have your intern request all of your materials vendors to report to you the latest changes in their materials offered for sale. People in your purchasing department may have missed the announcements with so many new items offered in every day. What are the newest items they are featuring that cut prep time, or are easier to use in production, or produce less scrap, or are easier to handle. Sometimes materials change as new processes evolve. What demands are they responding to in the market you need to be aware of? (i.e. quality of steel today is far better than in the 1970s). Manufacturing specifications change the way manufacturers make and sell materials.
GPI 400
