In June 1972 18 persons of Senior Executive level in the field of Purchasing and Materials Management in Government Departments, Defence Services, State Corporation and leading Mercantile Firms met to discuss the establishment of an Institute to foster the professional development of the Purchasing and Supply Function in Sri Lanka.

On 24th October 1972 the Institute of Supply and Materials Management was established, thus fulfilling a long felt need. The Institute was ceremonially inaugurated with a well attended seminar in early 1973 at the Auditorium of the Central Bank by the then Minister of Foreign and Internal Trade.

It was registered as a company under section 19 of the Companies Ordinance in 1978 with the Registrar of Companies.

The Institute was admitted a Member of the Organization of Professional Association of Srilanka in 1976 and has its registered office in the OPA at No. 275/75, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, (Prof. Stanly Wijesundara Mawatha) Colombo 7. This Institute was incorporated by Parliament by Act No. 3 of 1981.

The ISMM is a member of the International Federation of Purchasing & Materials Management, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (UK) and the National Association of Purchasing Management (USA) and The Association of Management Development Institutes of South Asia and Networking Institute of Management Sri Lanka (Under the aegis of Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration.)

Presently the Institute consists, of 21 Fellow members, 417 Corporate members, 226 Associate members 6 Institutional Members making a total of 670 professionals spread over the Public and Private sector under-takings, Industry and Commerce.

From the very inception the main thrust of the Institute's activities has been the training of supplies personnel at all levels. Training started at the grassroots level. Over 10,000 Stores personnel including Store Keepers and Stores Managers and over 660 Officers engaged in Shipping and Wharf work, Imports and Exports trade have successfully undergone training so far. In order to service the training needs of the higher echelons in the Purchasing and Materials Management field in public and private sector undertakings, industry and commerce, the Institute launched a fully fledged professional course leading to the award of the Diploma in Purchasing and Materials Management.

The demand for Institute's course is steadily increasing. The Institute regularly carries out seminars, workshops to familiarize members with the latest developments in techniques, skills and concepts in order to update their knowledge and upgrade their performance.

Purchasing and Materials Management is a fast developing field of Management having a major influence on economic development and trade both at domestic and international levels. The impact of P & MM will be felt in all activities and no institutions could carry on with its activities devoid of material resources. As a result the role of P & MM is assuming a strategic role for the progressive development of the country.

In recognition of the increasingly crucial role played by the P & MM profession the Department of Public Administration by its circular No. 46/09 (1) of 20.06.94 has given full recognition to the corporate membership of ISMM which recognized as equivalent to a 2nd class honors degree relevant to the field of Supply and Materials Management awarded by a recognized university.

EDUCATION & TRAINING

Training is the major objective of our Institute. Since 1972 this Institute started course in Storekeeping in both the Sinhala and English media. These were eight week courses, which led to the certificate in Storekeeping. In this we fulfilled an urgent need for some qualifications in the lowest rung in the field of P&MM which enabled nearly 1500 Storekeepers obtaining lucrative employment in West Asia.

Next to be introduced was the Stores Management Course in both media of 10 weeks duration which later became the foundation course qualifying personnel to follow the Diploma Course in Purchasing and Materials Management in the English Medium. Purchasing Management is yet another foundation course that had been since introduced.

The curriculum for the Diploma course of 13 modules was drawn up in consultation with the relevant Faculties of the of the University of Colombo and by giving due consideration to many modules of similar courses run by similar institutes in other parts of the world. The duration of this course (conducted only during the week ends) extends to a period of 3 years. Twelve such courses have been completed and those who successfully passed in all the modules were awarded the Diploma. This has enabled them to obtain better employment both locally and abroad.

Recently ISMM has launched the Distance Education Programme through correspondence courses for Storekeeping, Purchasing, Principles & Practices, Stores Management & the Diploma in P& MM to train and educate Sri Lankans engaged in the P&MM field in the Middle East.

Our faculty consists of very senior and experienced members of our institute as well as experts in different fields drawn from the Universities as well as Public and Private sector Institutions and establishments.

A course in Shipping and Clearance commenced in 1988 which is of 8 weeks duration where most of the resource personnel are drawn from the port, shipping, insurance, freight forwarding, customs and other allied sectors. This course is recognized by the Customs Department for the granting of the Certificate of Customs House Agents.

A course in Warehousing commenced two years ago lasting 6 weeks meant for Warehouse Clerks and has been very popular. This, too, is a job-oriented course. Another new course introduced recently is the course on Purchasing Principles & Practices and a course in Hotel Purchasing Storage.

In addition to these there are several weekday short-term courses on Purchasing, Management, Contracts & Negotiations, Inventory Management, Materials Management, Stock Verification & Disposals Procedure and International Trade.

Several new courses to meet the ever growing diversity of needs of industry trade and commerce are being planned and will be introduced to the Education & Training Programme in due course. An International diploma course in Supply Chain Management is also conducted in association with the international Trade Centre / UNCTAD. This comprises of a certificate stage, an advance certificate stage and the final diploma stage.

To meet the growing needs of globalization the Institute carries out programmes in Information Technology related to Supply and Materials Management and have a well equipped IT laboratory.

CONSULTANCY SERVICE

The Institute also provided consultancy services in the Purchasing and Materials Management field to turn around six organizations affected by poor management of the Purchasing and Materials Management function. Our experience in the private and public sector have shown that crisis preventive and management efforts have to be put in place in entire organizations in good time & engage the service of experts in the field. Delay to do so can only result in the exit of such organizations from business in view of the growing global competition.

M I L E S T O N E S   O F   I S M M