Raw Materials Purchasing, Volume 4

The commodity purchasing context. Commodity price movements. Some practical buying examples. The components of the commodity purchasing decision. Measuring tactical purchasing performance. Purchasing partially substitutable basic raw materials - the blending problem. Scheduling the delivery of linseed oil requirements. Medium-term price forecasting. A market barometer for world linseed prices. Price determination and price forecasting in the world maize market. Models for the tactical buying problem. Practical implementation of the decision price break policy: Case study 1 - day-to-day cereals buying. Case study 2 - daily copper buying. Organising a study of raw material purchasing. References. Sources of trade information published regularly. Name index. Subject index.

A systematic study of commodity purchasing analysed from an operational research viewpoint and based on numerous case studies.

For operational research practitioners who are involved in studies in the purchasing area in cooperation with buyers; purchasing managers responsible for buying raw materials; and students of operational research methodology.