Samenvatting

For 40 years, companies and academia see logistics as a main ‘process’ within companies. Supply chain become an individual department similar as purchasing, sales, finance and R&D. Focussing on supply chain can lead to success but still are a lot of companies not aware of the possibilities of this discipline. For this thesis the subject is operational excellence in material management. The target audience are described as: Small sized metal manufactures within the agricultural sector. Looking to the theory, lean management tools are helping organisation to become more efficient. The focus of lean is to reduce waste, to save costs, and produce more.