Page 171 - DMGT525_MATERIALS_MANAGEMENT

Materials Management

Notes Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
10. Costs involved in stores can be analyzed under two heads namely ………..........………..
and ………..........………..

11. When the throughput or the ………..........……….. of goods handled is high, the total cost
per tonne is low.

12.4 Problems and Developments

It is an inauspicious fact that stores management has been considered as a clerical function. In the
array of materials management, stores is deemed as the least glamorous and it never attracts
talent.

!

Caution It is forgotten that the stores manager is probably the custodian of the single
largest group of current assets and plays a pivotal role in ensuring smooth production,
besides assisting purchase activities through timely support. This is the foremost difficulty
and challenge that faces the stores manager today.

Many decisions in stores management, for instance selection of racks, bins, handling equipment,
safety practices, codification, training personnel and accounting, call for considerable skill and
ability to coordinate with other departments as well as with outside agencies. These aspects
should be highlighted and appreciated so that the stores function is given due importance. Other
regions in stores, such as records keeping, movement analysis to reduce obsolescence, surplus
and damage are crucial to the profitable operation of the firm and the stores manager confront
a challenge in these areas as well.

In many organizations, the scrap yard comes under the control of the stores manager. This is an
entirely new responsibility calling for the ability to maximize returns on the disposal of scrap.
The chief stores officer has under him separate officers for the functions of receipt, issue, kardex
and sub-stores. Besides coming into contact with the production, purchase, maintenance,
inspection and finance departments within his organization, he has to some into contact with
outsiders like suppliers, transport carriers and bankers. In order to meet such challenges, the
significance of the stores function must steadily gain thrust and qualified engineers must be
posted as chief officers reporting to the materials manager.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
12. Records keeping is crucial to the ……………............…… operation of the firm.
13. The chief stores officer has under him ……………............…… officers for the functions of
receipt, issue, kardex and sub-stores.
12.5 New Developments in Storing

A new development in storage practice in India will be discussed briefly in this section. This is
known as dry storing. This is fairly new concept in sack/bulk stores and has resulted in an
extremely versatile and economical method of dry storage. Available initially in four sizes, that
is 250, 500, 750, and 1000 tons, the stores are suitable for storing any type of bagged material, as

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