1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
Stores management is very closely linked with production and distribution and is a much neglected area of business study. Yet the stores function is a vital part of all industrial organization, public and private utility organization; and armed services, and it must be designed to suit the particular needs of the organization and its services.
The store keeping is set up in any concern to assist in the production of goods and services and no industrial unit or public undertaking of substantial size can be efficiently managed without it.
According to Uzor (2003 :1) defined a store as any space reserved and equipped for holding materials which are awaiting dispatch customers for further processing and final consumption. The store keeping is therefore basically concerned with holding stock and for there to be an efficiency of store-keeping, there are things people would want to know, such things according to Uzor (2003,2006:11) are as follows.
- To whom they are responsible
- Whom is expected of them. Their duties
- Who is responsible to them
- Whether their efforts are appreciated
- Whether they are or not performing the duties satisfactorily
Also according to be and Dobler (1996:30) they said that a understanding result is delay, idle time and lack of optimum use of storage facilities” it can also lead to less of customers and low profit.
1.2 Statement of the Problems
It is undisputable that most manufacturing industries fail as a resulting of store-keeping function inability to meet up their production activities. Most times there are so many problems encountered by manufacturing industries such as”
- A lack of materials damage due to improper storage of items in the stores.
- Work-in-progress lost due to stoppage in production process
- Some organization view store-keeping as an irrelevant function in the organization, therefore the management have little or no knowledge of the activities going on in the store.
- Organizations knowing fully that store-keeping function is more complex and technical in nature that it requires people with high intelligence to handle will go ahead to employ untrained and unqualified personnel.
- Organization also neglect to employ people with business experience who can deal effectively with other departments and also with outside suppliers due to their knowledge about both organization practices.
1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Need for Efficient Stock Control in a Small Scale Industry. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To stress on the importance of store keeping in the operation of store function, thereby motivating the management to develop interest on the storekeeping function.
- To examine how storekeepers education programme can help in safe guarding goods and services in the store house function.
- To find out the causes of cost of goods in the store house function.
- To highlight on the need of employing young and energetic employees for the purpose of store keeping.
- To lay emphasis on the importance of employing a technical know-how worker on the current advancement of technology e.g computer.
- Employment people with business experience, to group stores either it should be under materials management department or production.
- It also lays employment on the basic function of qualities and qualification of stores security in an organization.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The significance of a study is on the following group of people, the researcher, other students and the society.
The Researcher:
This study entails to increase my knowledge and to understand more on the scope of my study. This study will also help me to be equipped and kitted with topics like this, if I eventually come across one in the labour market.
Other Students:
This project topic will serve as a guide to other students who are yet to be in the same filed of study. It will given them a guideline on how to write projects and also to gain knowledge about store keeping function in any organization.
The Society:
The significant of this project topic is also needed by the society, for this will make them recognize their weaknesses and the better ways to amend them.
In other words, the society in general will be moving better and the rate of employment increases due to the importance of store keeping they read from by this research work.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- What is the importance of store-keeping in the operation of store function, thereby motivating the management to develop interest on the store-keeping function?
- How does store keepers education programme can help in safe guarding goods and services in the store house function?
- What are the causes of cost of goods in the store house function?
- What is the need of employing young and energetic employees for the purpose of store-keeping?
- What is the importance of employing a technical know-how worker on the current advancement of technology?
1.6 Scope of the Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Need for Efficient Stock Control in a Small Scale Industry. Because of limited time, some other constraints such as finance and materials, this study is specially carried out in Anambra state.
This research work will look not the extent to which proper store-keeping in the operation of store function effect the operation and performance of the manufacturing sector in Nigeria. Due to limited true factor and finance available to urge and in order to ease data collection, this research will be restricted in Anambra Emros industries.
1.7 Limitation of the Study
During the course of this study, there were some problems encountered which stood as limitations to the research work. Some of the limitations include:
- Time Constraint:
The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Financial Constraint:
Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
- Initial Cooperation Delay from Respondents:
A particular limitation of this work came as a result of the respondent refusal to offer their cooperation at the initial time they were contacted. This contributed in making the success of this research study difficult.
