Introduction To Industrial Management Module 1, 2& 3
Introduction To Industrial Management Module 1, 2& 3
Introduction To Industrial Management Module 1, 2& 3
Industrial Management
2021
Curriculum contents- Module 1
•Introduction
•System- concept, definition, types, parameters, variables and behavior.
•Management – definition and functions.
•Organization structure:
•i. Definition.
•ii. Goals.
•iii. Factors considered in formulating structure.
•iv. Types.
•v. Advantages and disadvantages.
•vi. Applications.
•Concept, meaning and importance of division of labor, scalar & functional processes, span of control,
delegation of authority, centralization and decentralization in industrial management.
•Organizational culture and climate – meaning, differences and factors affecting them.
•Moral-factors affecting moral.
•Relationship between moral and productivity.
•Job satisfaction- factors influencing job satisfaction.
•Important provisions of factory act and labor laws.
The Top 10 Fortune 500 Company of USA
Rank 2021 Business Focus 2020 1955 Business Focus
1 Wal mart It's e-commerce sales up 79% Walmart General Motors Automobile
J
Comparing 1955's Fortune 500 to 2019's Fortune 500
More than 89 percent of the companies from 1955 have either gone bankrupt
or have fallen from the top Fortune 500 companies (ranked by total revenues)
A Glimpse of Today’s Industry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4-eJsFdxaU
Environment In the New Millennium
• Shared vision
• All organization members have a common view of the purpose of the
organization and a sincere commitment to accomplish the purpose
Conversion
Inputs Outputs
Subsystem
Control
Subsystem
• The act of getting things done through people - Mary Parker Follet.
• Mary Parker Follet- She was the first to apply the principles of individual and group
psychology to the study of Management
• Maslow’s Theory of Human’s Needs which states that each one of us is motivated by
needs.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV-L_f3RWVM
Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA), Rubbing Alcohol, Ethanol for cleaning grease dirt etc.
Organization Structure
Organizing-
Organizing means assigning the planned tasks to
various individuals or groups within the organization and
creating a mechanism to put plans into action.
Includes creating
departments and
job descriptions
It helps in the process of deciding
where decisions will be made,
who will perform what jobs and tasks, and
who will report to whom in the company
Characteristics of an
Organization
• An organization has a structure.
• Work specialization
• Departmentalisation
• Unity of command
• Span of control
• Centralization vs. decentralization, and
• Formalization
Elements of Organization Structure
• Work Specialization-
• In Work Specialization , a job is broken down into a number of steps
and each step is completed by an individual or group of individuals,
Multi-
rather than having one individual to do the whole job . Work
Skilling as
specialization makes efficient use of diversity of skills that workers hold
alternative?
(Forging, Machining, Welding, Assembly, Painting, etc. before the final
product is despatched).
• Departmentalization
• Once the jobs have been divided through work specialization, these
jobs have to be grouped together so that common tasks can be
coordinated. The basis by which jobs are grouped together is called
departmentalization.
• There are commonly used five departmental structures, discussed in
next two slides:
Departmentalization
Classifications…
• Functional Departmentalization
• The activities can be grouped by functions performed. Functional
departmentalization seeks to achieve economics of scale by placing people with
common skills and orientations into common units.
• Product Departmentalization.
• It groups jobs by product line. Each manager is responsible of an area
within the organization dependingXYZof his/her specialization
Automotive Ltd
Commercial Heavy
Car
Vehicles Vehicles
Departmentalization
Classifications…
Customer Departmentalization. It groups jobs on the basis of common customers.
Span-of-Control
The purpose of organizing is to make human cooperation effective and
is limited by the number of persons a manager can ‘supervise’
effectively and efficiently.
“Effective span” is influenced by maturity of managers to skill of the
subordinates; from clarity of plan to clarity of delegation.
Factors affecting Span of Control
• Key factors to review when determining the appropriate span of
control within an organization include the following:
• Formalisation:
• This refers to the degree to which job within the organization are
standardized. There are explicitly job description lots of organizational rules,
and clearly defined procedures covering work processes in organizations in
which there is high formalization. Where formalization is low, job behaviours
are relatively non-programmed and employees have a great deal of freedom
to exercise discretion in their work.
Tall vs. Flat Structure
• Mechanistic Organization
• Organic Organization
Mechanistic Organization Structure
• It has division of labor, but the jobs people do are not standardized. Employees tend to
be professionals who are technically proficient and trained to handle diverse problems.
• The organic organization is low in centralization so that the professional can respond
quickly to problems and because top management cannot be expected to possess all
the varied expertise that is necessary to make decision.
Organic vs Mechanistic Structures
Mechanistic Organic
Individual specialization: Joint Specialization:
Employees work separately Employees work together and
and specialize in one task coordinate tasks
Complex integrating mechanisms:
Simple integrating mechanisms:
task forces and teams are primary
Hierarchy of authority well-defined
integrating mechanisms
Centralization: Decentralization:
Decision-making kept as high as possible. Authority to control tasks is delegated.
Most communication is vertical. Most communication lateral
• Organic
• Similarly, if an organization is attempting to employ a growth strategy by
entering into global markets, it will need a structure that is flexible, fluid
and readily adaptable to the environment.
• If an organization pursues differentiation strategy, it has to continuously
innovate to survive. An organic organization matches best with this
strategy because it is flexible and maximizes adaptability.
Matrix Organizational Structure
• The matrix organizational structure is one in which
specialties of both functional and product are
combined to provide the advantage of the functional
specialization along with focus to simplify and amplify
the focus of resources on a narrow but strategically
important
product, project, market, customer,
or innovation .
Matrix Organizational Structure
Strictly speaking matrix management is the practice of pooling
people with similar skills for work assignments and are managed
with more than one reporting line
Matrix Organization
Organization Architecture
Organizational Architecture
In every organization,
stories, rituals, material symbols and language evolve over time.
These shared values determine, in large degree, what employees see and how they
respond to their world.
Functions of Organizational Culture
• Culture provides a sense of identity to members and increases
their commitment to the organization
• Member identity- The degree to which the employees identify with the organization as a
whole.
• Group focus-The degree to which work activities are organized around groups rather than
individuals.
• People focus-The degree to which management decisions take into consideration the effect
of outcomes on people within the organization.
• Control- The degree to which rules, regulations and direct supervision are used to oversee
and control employee behavior.
• Risk tolerance- The degree to which employees are encouraged to be aggressive, innovative
and risk taking
• Reward criteria- the degree to which rewards are allocated on employee performance
criteria in contrast to seniority.
• Conflict tolerance- The degree to which employees are encouraged to air conflicts and
criticisms openly.
Apple Organization Culture
Apple Inc. has an organizational culture for creative innovation. The company’s cultural features
focus on maintaining a high level of innovation that involves creativity and a mindset that challenges
conventions and standards. The business depends on cultural support and coherence, which are
determinants of competitiveness and industry leadership, especially in addressing aggressive and
rapid technological innovation and product development. The following are the main characteristics of
Apple’s corporate culture:
• Top-notch excellence
• Creativity
• Innovation
• Secrecy
• Moderate combativeness
Organizational Climate
• The organizational climate on the other hand is the sense, feeling or
atmosphere people get in the organization on either a day-to-day basis
or just generally.
• You know when you walk into a place and you either think:
• ‘wow this place has an amazing energy. People are really friendly and it feels positive’,
• Essentially, the climate are the perceptions and attitudes of the people in the
culture.
Organizational Culture Vs. Organizational Climate
• Obviously the climate and culture are connected and feed off each other.
• It should be also apparent that the climate can often change pretty quickly.
• The climate is often be based on events, peoples reactions and incidents between
people. The culture is less dependent on individual events but tends to drive
people’s interpretation, thinking and perspectives of events that occur.
Morale
• Morale is a mental condition or attitude of individuals and
groups
which determines their willingness to co-operate with others in the
accomplishment of an organization’s objectives.
• Five factors that can be used to measure and influence job satisfaction
are:
• Pay or total compensation
• The work itself (such as projects, responsibilities)
• Promotion opportunities (i.e., job enlargement, more prestigious title)
• Relationship with supervisor
• Interaction and work relationship with coworkers
(b) Worker means a person (employed directly or through any agency including a contractor) with or
without the knowledge of the principal employer, whether for remuneration or not in any manufacturing
process, or in cleaning any part of the machinery or premises used for a manufacturing process
(b) Safety
To ensure safety of the workers, the Act has provided several measures such as compulsory fencing of machines of all sorts.
• Shops and Commercial Establishments Act is applicable to establishments which do not fall under the definition of factory, mine or plantations.
• The Factories Act is a central Act whereas the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act is a state Act and as such
there will be separate Shops Act for separate state.
• The factories Act, 1948 defines ‘factory’ emphasizes on the words of physical process of “manufacturing”.
Information technology companies provide “Services” and hence come under Shops and Establishment Act.
Introduction to Industrial
Management
Module-2
2020
Module 2
•Critical Path Method (CPM) and Programme Evaluation Review Technique (PERT):
•Draw network diagram for a real life project containing 10-15 activities, computation of LPO and EPO.(Take
minimum three examples).
66
Work Breakdown Structure
• It is foundation of project planning
• It defines tasks
• that can be completed independent of other tasks,
• facilitating resource allocation,
• assignment of responsibilities and
• measurement and control of the project
• It is followed by
• Activity
– A task or a certain amount of work required in the project
– Requires time to complete
– Represented by an arrow
• Dummy Activity
– Indicates only precedence relationships
– Does not require any time of effort 68
Project Network
• Event
• Signals the beginning or ending of an activity
• Designates a point in time
• Represented by a circle (node)
• Network
• Shows the sequential relationships among activities using
nodes and arrows
69
Project Network
Activity-on-node (AON)
nodes represent activities, and arrows show precedence
relationships
Activity-on-arrow (AOA)
arrows represent activities and nodes are events for points
in time
70
Gantt Chart
Graph or bar chart with a bar for each project activity that shows passage of time
Provides visual display of project schedule
71
History of CPM/PERT
72
PERT
73
Arrows and Nodes in Project Network
• Use of nodes and arrows (PERT)
74
Arrows - as Activities in PERT
75
Nodes- as Activity in CPM
76
Situations in network diagram
B
A
A must finish before either B or C can start
C
A
C
both A and B must finish before C can start
B
A
C both A and B must finish before either of C or D can
start
B
D
A
B
A must finish before B can start
Dummy both A and C must finish before D can start
C
D darla/smbs/vit 77
Concurrent Activities
3
Lay foundation Lay
Structure foundation Dummy
work 2 0 Structure
2 3
work
1
2 4
Order material
Order material
78
Class work
Activity No.
Activity Duration Dependency
(AON) (AOA)
Go to Watch out
Common
Go to Pick up TT Hide in
Room
2 Table ball Basket
1 4 5 6
3
Entering
Common
room
PERT
Activity List For Project
Activity No.
Activity Duration Dependency
(AON) (AOA)
1. (1-2) Notice for project 1 -
2. (2-3) Select partner 2 1 (1-2)
3. (2-4) Students go to guide. 1 1 (1-2)
3
Lay foundation Dummy
2 0 Build Finish
3 1 house work
1 2 4 6 7
Design house Order and 3 1
and obtain receive Select 1 1 Select
financing materials paint carpet
5
B
F G H
A 5 7 8 9
1 2
D
C E
6
3
• Total float: It is a time duration by which an activity can be delayed or extended without delaying or
extending the overall project duration.
• Free float: It is a time duration by which an activity can be delayed or extended without delaying the
successor’s activity.
PERT CHART IN NETWORKING
Total Float= (LSTj-ESTi)- Tij & Free Float = (ESTj- ESTi) - Tij
Critical Path Analysis
• The objective of Critical Path Analysis is to estimate the
minimum time required for the completion of a project and to
assign starting and finishing times to all the activities involved
in the project.
• Time estimates of each activity can be deterministic (CPM) or
can be stochastic with three time estimates (Most likely,
Pessimistic and Optimistic times) as in the case of PERT.
• This helps to identify
• Total completion time of the project
• Earliest and Latest Start Time (EST & LST) of each activity.
• Critical activities and critical path
• Float of each activity which are not falling on the Critical Path. (Floats
for activities on the Critical Path are zero.
Floats
• The Float or Slack of an activity or an event is the free time of an
activity in which a non-critical path activity and/ or an event can be
delayed or extended without delaying the total project completion
time.
• Total Floats:
• This is the length of time by which an activity can be delayed when
• all preceding activities are completed at their earliest possible time and
• all successor activities can be delayed until their latest possible time.
• This is given by
• In a Network i and j are the Event Numbers (1,2,3,..n) which are consecutively
numbered , where j is > i and Tij represents the activities connecting them.
Free Float & Independent Float
• Free Float
• The Free Float of a non-critical activity is defined as the time by
which the completion of an activity can be delayed without causing
any delay in its immediate succeeding activities. (Both EST)
• Free float values for each activity (i,j) are computed as follows:
E11=41 E12=42
11 12 L12=42
L11=42
Float Calculation
EST LST Float Computation
Note: For Float calculation the EST and LST of the dependent subsequent activity
is to be considered as Ej and Li and not the calculated Ej and Li.
PERT
• PERT is based on the assumption that an activity’s duration
follows a probability distribution instead of being a single value
• Three time estimates are required to compute the parameters of
an activity’s duration distribution:
• pessimistic time (tp ) - the time the activity would take if
things did not go well
• most likely time (tm ) - the consensus best estimate of the
activity’s duration
• optimistic time (to ) - the time the activity would take if things
did go well
• Analyze the paths through the network and find the critical path.
• The length of the critical path is the mean of the project duration probability
distribution which is assumed to be normal
Given by
x-
Z=
where = te = project mean time
= project standard mean deviation time
x = (proposed ) specified time
and then using the Z value from the Standard Normal Distribution Table.
(Values Represent AREA to the LEFT of the Z score in a Normal Distribution
Curve).
102
PERT Example
Immed. Optimistic Most Likely Pessimistic Te V Activity
Preced. Time Time Time
A -- 4 6 8
B -- 1 4.5 5
C A 3 3 3
D A 4 5 6
E A 0.5 1 1.5
F B,C 3 4 5
G B,C 1 1.5 5
H E,F 5 6 7
I E,F 2 5 8
J D,H 2.5 2.75 4.5
K G,I 3 5 7 103
PERT Example
PERT Network
A E H J
B I K
F
104
PERT Example
Activity Expected Time Variance
A 6 4/9
B 4 4/9
C 3 0
D 5 1/9
E 1 1/36
F 4 1/9
G 2 4/9
H 6 1/9
I 5 1
J 3 1/9
K 5 4/9
105
PERT Example
Activity ES EF LS LF Slack
A 0 6 0 6 0 *critical
B 0 4 5 9 5
C 6 9 6 9 0*
D 6 11 15 20 9
E 6 7 12 13 6
F 9 13 9 13 0*
G 9 11 16 18 7
H 13 19 14 20 1
I 13 18 13 18 0*
J 19 22 20 23 1
K 18 23 18 23 0*
106
PERT Example
Variance of the Critical Path:
Vpath = VA + VC + VF + VI + VK
= 4/9 + 0 + 1/9 + 1 + 4/9
= 2
path = 1.414
Probability of Project Duration within 24 wks is
• If the length of the project needs to be reduced further, the process is repeated.
109
Project Crashing
• Crashing
• reducing project time by expending additional resources
• Crash time
• an amount of time an activity is reduced
• Crash cost
• cost of reducing activity time
• Goal
• reduce project duration at minimum cost
110
Activity crashing
Crash
cost Crashing activity
Normal Activity
Normal
cost
Normal
time
Time-Cost Tradeoff
Min total cost is Total project cost
at optimal project
time Indirect cost
cost
Direct cost
time 112
CPM Chart
Task. A project has been defined to contain the following list of activities along
with their required times for completion. Time-Cost data is also provided. :
114
Project Crashing example
Network using CPM technique.
2 4
12
8
7
1 4
12
3 6
4 5 4
4
115
Time Cost data
75000 110700
116
R500 R7000
Project duration = 36
2 4
8 12 R7000
7 From…..
1 4
12
R400 3 6
4 5 4
4 R200
R3000
R200
R500 R7000
2 4
8 12 R7000
To….. 7
1 4
7
Project
R400 3 6
duration = 31 4 5 4
4 R200
Additional cost R3000
R200
= Rs.2000
117
Project Crashing Example
• Second level of iteration.
• Further reduction may be prohibitively costly.
R500 R7000
2 4
5 12 R7000
7
1 4
7
Project
R400 3 6
duration = 28 4 5 4
4 R200
Additional cost R3000
R200
= Rs.1500
Example
•Details of Project Activities along with their durations, costs and inter-dependencies are given below.
•Draw a PERT Network and find out the Critical Path and project duration.
•You are also advised to reduce the project duration with a limitation that Crashing cost if it is more than Rs.
3000 per week is not acceptable.
•Find out the cost of the project with Normal cost and Crash cost.
10+ 5 + 5 Marks
Project Activity Duration and Cost
Duration
Immediate Normal Crash Crash
Activity Description
Predecessor Cost Time Cost
(Wks)
Rs. Wks Rs.
A Design new premises 14 - 20,000 10 44,000
B Obtain Tenders from the contractors 4 A 2,000 2 10,000
C Select the contractor 2 B 1,000 2 1,000
D Arrange details with selected contractor 1 C 1,000 1 1000
E Decide which equipment is to be used 2 A 1,000 2 1000
F Arrange storage of equipment 6 E 4,000 3 7000
G Arrange disposal of other equipment 2 E 2,000 1 3000
H Order new equipment 4 E 2,000 2 6000
I Take delivery of new equipment 3 H,L 6,000 1 8000
J Renovations take place 12 K 24,000 8 32,000
K Remove old equipment for storage or disposal 4 D,F,G 20,000 2 30,000
L Cleaning after contractor has finished 2 J 3,000 1 6,000
M Return old equipment for storage 2 H,L 5,000 2 5000
Time –Cost Data
Time -Cost Data
Normal After After After
Normal Crash
Slope Critical Crashing Crashing Crashing
cost cost
Normal Crash Path 1 2 3
Activity
time Rs. time Rs. Cost
/unit
time
A 14 20000 10 44000 6000 CP CP CP CP
B 4 2000 2 10000 4000 CP CP CP
C 2 1000 2 1000 0 CP CP CP
D 1 1000 1 1000 0 CP CP CP
E 2 1000 2 1000 0 CP CP CP CP
F 6 4000 3 7000 1000 CP CP CP CP
G 2 2000 1 3000 1000
H 4 2000 2 6000 2000
I 3 6000 1 8000 1000 CP CP CP CP
J 12 24000 8 32000 2000 CP CP CP CP
K 4 20000 2 30000 5000 CP CP CP CP
L 2 3000 1 6000 3000 CP CP CP CP
M 2 5000 2 5000 0
CRITICAL PATH- A-E-F-K-J-L-I
Network Diagram Normal Cost-91,000
Network Diagram (1)
E3=18 E4=20 Time- 43 Wks
L3=19 L4=21
C
3 4
(2) D (1)
E7=22 E8=26
B (4) E6=22 L7=22 L8=26
L6=22
A K E9=38
1 2 6 7 8
(14) (4) L9=38
E2=14 E (2) F(6) J
(12)
E1=0 L2=14 G (2) 9
L1=0 5
L (2)
E5=16 H (4)
E10=40
10
L5=16 L10=40
M (2)
I (3)
E11=42 E12=43
11 12 L12=43
L11=43
Network Diagram
Crashing- F & I
E11=41 E12=41
11 12 L12=41
L11=41
Network Diagram
Network Diagram (3)
Network Diagram
Network Diagram (4)
Benefits of CPM/PERT
• Useful at many stages of project management
• Mathematically simple
• Give critical path and slack time
• Provide project documentation
• Useful in monitoring costs
126
Limitations to CPM/PERT
127
Materials Management &
Inventory Control
Module 3
Materials management-definition
Definition: A process encompassing acquisition, shipping, receiving, evaluation,
Satish 129
Purpose
1) Material Acquisition,
3) Material Storage.
Functions of Materials Management
Sourcing
• Planning and Programming of materials-determines the need
• Purchasing of materials-ensure uninterrupted supply at the most cost effective
way
Inventory management
• Material Economics- to ensure the overall input costs to the company
• Waste management- to identify the cause of wastage and eliminate them
• Disposal of non-moving and unusable materials -at a most cost effective
manners.
Objectives of Material management
• Primary objective is to reduce the cost of buying, storing,
handling, insuring, transporting and packaging of material.
This also includes:-
• Uninterrupted flow of input materials
• Initiate cost reduction drives both in the process (using MRP etc) and also
in the cost of materials purchased (using VA/VE in conjunctions with other
functions)
• Implement inventory control techniques to reduce inventory investments
• Maintaining adequate records of stores and purchases for proper controls
• Effective storage system to reduce deteriorations, pilferage, and other
losses.
• Developing vendor-customer relationship to reduce costs and improve
quality.
• Minimizing wastage of material by sourcing right material at right
dimensions to suit the consumption.
• Disposal of surplus materials to free capital and the storage space and
reduce threat of obsolescence.
Importance of Materials management
• The objective of any commercial organization is to get the best mileage out of every rupee invested in the
company. In other words, Management through their policies, decisions, coordination and control
mechanisms must maximize the Return On Investment (ROI)
•
Profits
• ROI = ———————— Capital
Employed
• From the above, it is clear that ROI can be maximized either by increasing Profit Margin or by reducing the
Capital Employed or by both. In the current market situation, Sales Price cannot be increased (rather
there is a demand to reduce it) and as such Profit can be increased only by reducing the Material Costs.
On the other hand, the opportunity to reduce the Overheads and Capital Employed is more by Inventory
Reduction.
• It is thus evident that the ROI can be maximized by either reducing the material cost or reducing the
current assets by way of inventory of materials
• Materials Management focuses on reducing the material cost by following scientific buying process and
reduces inventory holding cost by adopting appropriate Stores management techniques and helps
improving the profitability of the organization.
Purchase Management
• Purchasing is a process of obtaining the materials, tools and supplies that are required to
manufacture a product or services in a most cost effective manner.
• These two documents aren’t interchangeable, but there are cases where you can jump right
to the RFQ.
• With an RFQ, the buyer is telling the sellers exactly what they want: “provide me with a
quotation for the following items.”
• A RFP, however, asks the seller to propose how they will resolve or address the buyer’s
needs: “provide me with your proposal on how to solve my problems.”
Request for Proposal (RFP)- As a Combined
option
• This is best suited when the service expectations have already been well
structured and vendors are short listed.
A Purchase Order should contain
• A basic purchase order features the following elements:
• Buyer: Name, address, and the contact information of the party paying for the goods.
• Seller: Name, address, and the contact information for the party accepting payment for the goods.
• Purchase Order Number: A unique identifier assigned to each purchase order for easy tracking.
• Order Information/Item Description: The details, quantity of goods, unit price and total cost of goods.
• Billing Address: Where the seller should send the invoice for payment so the buyer can make payment
• Signatures: Each purchase order should contain at least two signatures: one (or more) for the person or people
authorizing the purchase on behalf of the business and one (or more) for the person or people accepting the
order on behalf of the seller.
• Mode of delivery and its Cost: FOB (Freight on Board or Free on Board), CIF (Cost, Insurance & Freight) etc.
• Discounts: Many vendors offer and purchasers expect that when order quantities increase, discounts on prices be
provided.
• Delivery Schedules: When the products will be delivered. When services are procured, this will be a start and end
date.
• Payment Terms: This is when payment is expected, in what format and what fees are charged for late payments.
• Exception Handling: This describes the process for late, over or under deliveries or non-delivery. Cancellations and
changes to orders may also be included.
• Quality Expectations: Many companies may describe the quality that they expect the products to meet, including
dimension, weight, performance parameters and other quality control parameters.
FOB, CIF & CNF
• FOB- Freight on Board or Free on Board
• Seller’s responsibility ends on delivery of goods to the agreed shipping agents. Cost of
transportation till the delivery point and loading on the carrier is generally borne by the
seller. Remaining lies with the buyer.
• receive materials,
• to protect them while in storage from damage or
unauthorized removal,
• to issue materials in the right quantity, at the right time to
the right place and
• to provide these services at the least costs.
Types of Stores
• Depending on the types of industries there are
various types of stores:-
• Receiving – incoming material
• Main store - storage and issuance of accepted
materials
• Warehouse- receipt, packing and dispatch of
finished goods to various destinations
• Special purpose
store- receipt, storage and issuance of
special materials or at special condition-ex
bonded warehouse
• Scrap yard- deals with various types of scrap.
Coding
• Coding is the method of specifying a unique identification to the
materials in the stores or in inventory.
• A good coding system has the following characteristics:-
• Flexibility –should be able to last long period so that maximum benefits can
be achieved.
• Precision –unique code is assigned for every material
• Brevity – the length of the code should not be too long or too short. Should
be such that the material can be easily identifiable by looking at the code.
• Comprehensiveness- should include the nature of material, the name of the
supplier, end users etc.
Methods of Coding
• There are three methods of coding
• Group Classification
• Group coding is the grouping of inventories and assigning a unique
number to each group. In this method numbers are reserved for
each group.
• Raw material
• Purchased goods
• Spare parts, etc.
• Mnemonic Coding
• The mnemonic coding method includes alphabets and numerals.
Ex.- FR100M
• F:-Say Fabric
• R:- Red color
• 100M-100 Meters
• Hybrid System
• Hybrid system of coding is the combination of both the group
classification and mnemonic coding methods. Ex. -001R100M,
where 001 represents Fabric Group.
Buffer Stock
• Buffer stock is the Inventory of inputs held as a reserve
against short-term shortages and/or to dampen
excessive fluctuations in the prices of commodities and
thus protect the buyer from wild swings in prices.
• Adequate Buffer (Safety) stock levels permit business
operations to proceed according to their plans.
• Buffer stock is held when there is uncertainty in the demand
level or lead time for the product; it serves as an insurance
against stock outs.
• The less accurate the forecast, the more safety stock is
required.
• However, a common strategy is to try and reduce the level of
safety stock to help keep inventory costs low by making the
product demand more predictable.