Project Materials

IMPORTANCE OF MATERIAL CODING AND CLASSIFICATION IN STORE MANAGEMENT IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

ABSTRACT

For any organisation to remain in business and compete favourably with its competitors in the same industry, its employees must receive adequate technical and non-technical training in order to control the machinery and politics at their disposal. One of the major tremendous emphasis placed on the importance of material coding and classification in a manufacturing company stems from the current realisation that the human factors available to any organisation constitute its life, and thus the need for development in order to achieve efficient performance standards, of which training is the core and particularly important activity in businesses.

Chapter one

Introduction

According to Macgrathy (2008), classification and codification of materials are necessary steps in systematic storage maintenance. Materials are classified in such a way that they can be easily stored, issued, and identified. Materials are classed according to their nature.

Materials can also be classed based on quality and utility, such as their nature. Materials can also be divided into raw materials, consumable stores, components, spares, and tools. Thus, material categorisation refers to the process of categorising materials based on factors such as nature, quality, or utility.

Each item of material is given a different name in order to facilitate identification and storage and distribution of goods. The application of this approach to various materials is known as material codification. Good storekeeping necessitates correct classification, either by nature or by usage.

The earlier approach of categorisation, or classification based on material properties, is more often utilised. This method of classification divides the various items of stores into specific groups such as construction materials, belting materials, consumable stores, spare parts, and so on.

The items are grouped so that each item of stores can be conveniently codified on an alphabetical, numerical, or alpha-numerical basis and assigned a unique store code number.

1.1 Background of the Study

PZ Plc Aba was established for manufacturing in 1964, with the responsibility of producing household items. As a result of the Nigerian Civil War, the firm was forced to close in August 1967, with most of the machinery and rehabilitation work beginning in March 1971, and the company resuming operations in May 1971.

A large amount of material is required to carry out this production function. The PZ company, having recognised the function and need for proper care of these materials, appointed stores personnel and stores manager, and also established a purchasing unit charge with the responsibility of supplier selection, ordering, progressing, acquisition, and producing these materials

while the store manager (including his personnel) was charged with the responsibility of storing inspecting and developing a system for effective identification, coding, and classification.

The stock records will then reveal the store’s actual location. The British Standard Institution has done a lot of work to develop standards for material products, and when a standard specification number is stated, it refers to what is specified.

Even if a sophisticated coding system cannot be developed, arranging materials in logical lines will be of great benefit to a business in avoiding errors in ordering, issuing, and pricing, among other things.

The store manager of PZ Plc Aba, through her grouping of materials, has arranged their materials on logical lines for easy identification, thereby avoiding errors in locating, ordering, issuing, and other aspects of stock in the organisation.

The code appears on all documents relating to material transportation and use, and it is matched to the right bin and rack. In reality, the store manager recognises the need of using store vocabulary or catalogues.

As a result, the effectiveness of any material control or management system is heavily reliant on the system used to effectively code and classify stored commodities.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Although material coding and classification are regarded as a means of easy identification, they are not without flaws.

1. Because of the nature of the coding system she chose, each code was assigned a unique number. This increased the volume of the store’s vocabulary.

2. Inconsistencies in material classification in the store section. For example, there is a part of spinning materials that is generally housed in the spinning stores but has lately been moved to the administration stores.

3. There is also a lack of a component that properly manages the organization’s lexicon.

4. The organisation is also dealing with the issue of incorrect material classification.

1.3 GOALS OF THE STUDY

The researcher’s effort tries to discover the techniques and methods employed in the coding and classification of items. Objectives include:

1. To identify limitations in materials coding and classification with the goal of providing solutions for the organization’s benefit.

2. Determine the necessity for an effective and efficient coding system.

3. To assess the impact of inconsistency in storage, coding, and classification.

4. Finally, to make valuable recommendations to management regarding the employment of various methods and procedures for coding and classification of items.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION.

1. Do you think that coding and classification of materials is necessary in manufacturing companies?

2. Has efficient coding and classification method applied in PZ Plc Aba?

3. What are the issues of coding and categorisation in PZ Plc Aba?

4. What are the remedies to the problem?

1.5 Significance of the Study

The researchers anticipate that the experiment will be successful in shedding additional light on the problem. It will also help to raise the awareness of all those who have or have assumed responsibility for material coding and classification of purchased materials in the manufacturing industry, with a particular focus on PZ Industries Nigeria Plc Aba.

This reduces travel time to material stores, increases productivity, and ensures adequate professional recognition in the industrial sector.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Material coding and classification is a broad field of study. However, this work will only focus on the importance of effective coding and classification of items as they relate to PZ Industries Plc, Aba.

1.7 Limitations of the Study

The writer focusses on the requirements for materials coding and classification in a manufacturing company, with a specific reference to PZ Industries Plc. Aba, the paper would have one more if not for:

1. Research biases: Despite knowing the purpose of this study, most respondents declined to cooperate. The researcher must spend time encouraging them to answer one or more questions.

2. Financial constraints: Due to the difficult economic circumstances, adequate funding for most diversified research was not available.

3. Time constraint: The researcher mixed his classwork with research. Because he did not have his own transportation, the researcher had to keep an extremely tight schedule. The problem gets worse.

4. Transportation: The project faced significant challenges because to transportation issues. The researcher wasted a lot of time looking for a vehicle and may only be able to reach his destination late. At time, interviews arranged may be skipped and repeated journeys became required.

4. Attitude of Nigeria Research: The tendency of people (respondents) not to view questionnaire as essential as well as lackadaisical attitude of people to research in the country lead to some questionnaire not returned.

Some that were returned did not comply the instruction of the research questionnaire. This militates adversely on the development of work, nevertheless, the researcher made up these short comings via utilisation of interviews and observations in this organization.

5. Other reasons that hampered this study were there are shortage of shop management texts by Nigerian authorities in this country thus made references in prior works very tough.

1.8 Definition of Terms

Stores management: It entailed the day to day functioning of the store. In specific terms, store management is involved in the execution of operations that are intended to achieve the department’s goals and objectives as determined by the administrative sector.

To achieve the desired outcome, store management was responsible for planning, organising, staffing, directing, controlling, and coordinating.

Store coding is the identification of stock items using numerals, letters, or a combination of the two, with the position and value of each digit typically providing specific information about the items identified.

Coding might simply include assigning a number to each object as it appears, but this strategy makes classification of items based on their code increasingly complex as the number of items involved grows.

This problem is eased if we group similar items together and design a system for classifying and identifying individual items, which entails arranging items into two categories or classes.

Thus, the whole sequence of operations would be as follows:

1. Identity: What is the item, and what are the deals.

2. Specify the product’s description, dimensions, tolerance, etc.

3. Classify: into the appropriate group and subgroup.

4. Code: By distributing groups, subgroups, and item designations.

Colour coding: This is a system that uses colours to identify things in stock. This type of coding is primarily used in timber yards to make timbers, as well as in oil companies to manufacture various types of pipe and chemicals stored in drums or tanks.

End-of-life coding: This is a system in which items are arranged and stored according to the user department, with all items for casting works stored together in a designated location and issued only for casting.

Suppliers code: This is a system in which supplier codes are employed. To use this system, one must first understand it thoroughly; else, issues may arise.

Nature of the products: This method is extensively utilised by the most companies, with this system items are classed and coded according to their basic nature. Before any coding system is accepted or deployed into the stores, several essential 5 favours have to be considered and these include:

i. The type of stock goods to be cooled

ii. The availability of workers and resources for the identification and upgrading of stores.

iii. The availability of workers and resources to identify and update stores.

iii. The mode of operation, which may be manual or computerised.