A materials management system, and a method of controlling a materials management flow including at least one inventoried item, are disclosed. The materials management system may include a remote operation center that provides a coordination of at least one portion of the materials management system, and that receives at least one attribute of at least one material flow item in the at least one portion of the materials management system, and at least one receiving station that transmits the at least one attribute to the remote operation center, and that receives the at least one update attribute from the remote operation center, over an external interconnection. The method includes the steps of scanning the at least one inventoried item upon entry into the materials management system at a first local receiving station, scanning the at least one inventoried item at an at least one secondary receiving station prior to delivery of the item, scanning the at least one inventoried item at at least one tertiary receiving station upon delivery of the item, scanning the at least one least one tertiary receiving station upon delivery of the item, and reconciling placement of the item at at least one of the at least one secondary receiving station and the at least one tertiary receiving station at a remote operation center externally connected to the first local receiving station, the at least one secondary receiving station, and the at least one tertiary receiving station.