A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters in Procurement and Supply Chain Management of Mzumbe University
The study aimed at determining the effectiveness of inventory control in a public organization where by Medical Stores Department (MSD) central zone was used as a case study. The objectives of the study were to analyze the principles established for controlling inventory, to determine the contribution of inventory control, to identify the problems that affect the inventory control and to suggest the appropriate method for inventory control for the organization.
The study combined the use of different data which were primary and secondary data methods. The primary data included the use of different techniques such as interview, questionnaires and observation to gather information. The secondary data included the review of various documented records of the organization concerning inventory, official reports of the inventory, inventory control working papers such as special order form, delivery note and a gate pass. The researcher presented and analyzed data by using both qualitative and quantitative methods and also tables and simple statistics like percentages were used to present data.
The findings revealed that MSD has set inventory control principles to undertake for proper inventory control and such principles were; principle of controlling inventory when receiving the items, principle of controlling inventory during inspection of items, principle of controlling inventory on quality issues, principle of controlling inventory during issuing of the items and the principle of controlling inventory for rejected items. Also the appropriate method for controlling inventory at MSD was First Expired First Out method.
The findings made the researcher able to conclude that there was effective inventory control at MSD. It is the recommendation of this study that computerized system should be adopted to reduce paper work as papers may get lost easily, management should improve security of the items in the warehouse to prevent theft. It is also recommended that here should be proper allocation and record keeping of the items, classification of items should be used in order to save time when retrieving the items from the warehouse. The management should employ people with relevant skills in the warehouse department, new systems of arrangement in the store should be adopted and coding methods should be used and closed monitored in order to help the whole process of storing and retrieving the items in the warehouse.