NIU Departments should contact the Material Distribution Center to determine the availability of the material or part by any of the following methods:
Once the availability of the material has been determined, the Material Distribution Center will generally request a work order number in order for the material to be released to any NIU department. In order to obtain a work order number, the NIU department should contact the Work Order Desk. An account number will be required by the Work Order Desk before a work order will be created for the NIU department's purchase of material.
The Material Distribution Center (MDC) is a sales and service operation which is responsible for maintaining the on-campus parts and material inventory used primarily by Physical Plant departments. The Physical Plant departments include Building Maintenance, Building Services, Grounds, and Heating Plant. Other NIU departments may purchase inventory items from the Material Distribution Center as needed.
The inventory maintained by the Material Distribution Center can generally be categorized in the following types of parts and material: