Q1(d)-1 answer

Order picking is an important aspect within any warehouse. It forms as much as 55% of
operation costs within any distribution centre, compared to shipping, storage and receiving stages
and has a direct impact on customer satisfaction levels. The ability to both quickly and accurately
process customer orders is now an essential part of doing business.
This weeks blog will determine how you can improve upon order picking processes, as well as,
how to choose the correct method of order picking for your warehouse.
Order picking is the process of pulling items from inventory to fill a customer order.
It is seen as the most labour intensive activity within a warehouse.

There are many order picking methods. These include:

Zone picking: Each order picker is assigned a specific zone and will only realise order picking
within this zone.
Batch picking: An order picker is assigned and picks multiple orders simultaneously,
minimising trips to each location.
Wave picking: A variation of zone and batch picking. Rather than orders moving from one zone
to the next for picking, all zones are picked at the same time and the items are later sorted and
consolidated into individual orders/shipments
3-answer

Stock taking is the counting of on-hand inventory. This means identifying every item on hand,
counting it and summarizing these quantities by item. There may also be a verification step,
where the count results are compared to the inventory unit counts in a company's computer
system. Stock taking is a common requirement of a periodic inventory system, and may also be
required as part of a company's annual audit.
Stock taking is the counting of on-hand inventory. This means identifying every item on hand,
counting it and summarizing these quantities by item. There may also be a verification step,
where the count results are compared to the inventory unit counts in a company's computer
system. Stock taking is a common requirement of a periodic inventory system, and may also be
required as part of a company's annual audit.
q.2 answer
Any Stores system starts with planning the need for materials. It is assumed here that the need
itself has been forecast with a considerable degree of accuracy. The forecast also must be
subjected to periodic review. The art of storekeeping is largely that of optimizing the use of

resources to meet actual needs in an efficient manner. Efficiency of Stores function is measured
by the number of times the stocks have turned over. That is how much time material spends in
the stores. The lesser time it spends the better it is. As money is a scarce resource , once it is

Stores is a very broad word that indicates a wide variety of materials stored such as
chemical, metals, liquids, gases, spare parts, equipment, or finished goods,
converted into materials, then only it is useful. This is the essence of stock turnover.

ranging from engineering components to drugs and pharmaceuticals.

Each of these items will require a specific type of storage and their handling and
preservation methods will vary accordingly. There is a high degree of specialization
required to store and handle these products and in many cases special storage licenses
need to be obtained from the Government, e.g., the storage of petroleum products or
explosive products. It is hence mandatory for Stores personnel to understand
thoroughly all of these requirements and implications The understanding of these
principles is most important in the efficient practice of the art of storekeeping.
The services rendered by Stores can be arranged into four broad activities:

To make available a balanced and uninterrupted flow of raw materials,

components, tools, equipment and any other material needed to meet
operational requirements

To provide maintenance materials, spare parts and general stores as

requirements

To receive and issue finished products

To accept and store scrap and other discarded material as they arise

To effectively dispose of the unwanted materials

The interesting facet of the whole situation is that Demand comes bundled while
supplies unbundled. That is demand is usually from Production which will give Stores a
BOM (Bill of Materials) and probably different materials (which come from different
suppliers) are required at the same time. While supply comes from different suppliers

from different regions which may or may not (in all possibility may not) come at the
same time. Hence balancing all these is a considerably demanding job, which is
required to be performed by stores personnel.
In the face of a challenging situation faced by stores personnel, one of the main
responsibilities for them is to :

Properly account for every item received in the stores

Preserve the material till its issue from stores and

Issue the material when demanded

To have effective control and proper accounting of materials , a professionally managed

Stores has the following main functions :

Receiving
Custody

Inventory Control

Disposal

To discharge the functions effectively , a typical stores division consists of several

physical structure (building) known as Receiving bays, Custody storage , Quarantine
space etc

q.3 answer

5 Major Techniques of Stock Taking

(Including Merits and Demerits)
Article shared by Pragati Ghosh

Various techniques/techniques of stock taking are as follows:

1. Periodic stock verification
2. Continuous or perpetual or automatic stock verification
ADVERTISEMENTS:
3. Spot checks
4. Stock out stores verification
5. Annual stock taking.
1. Periodic Stock Verification:
Periodic stock taking is quarterly or half yearly checking of the entire stock in one or two days.
This takes where the stock comprises a few but expensive items. The method followed is similar
to the annual stock taking i.e., physical stock of various items is recorded on inventory sheets or
inventory card and then compared with the bin card balance.

image source: citadelsystems.com

ADVERTISEMENTS:
While inexpensive items may be checked once a year, expensive and attractive items should be
checked three or four times a year. The physical balance obtained at the end of the financial year
will form the inventory for final accounts.
Merits:
1. For balance sheet purposes, it gives correct value of closing stock. The balance sheet is thus
accurate.
2. No extra staff for the stock taking purpose alone has to be posted.
3. It is simple, convenient and satisfactory for a small store house.
Demerits:
1. Since discrepancies are detected only towards the end of the accounting period, no thorough
investigation of the discrepancies noticed is possible. This defeats the very purpose of stock
taking.

2. The system is suitable for a small store house only where stock taking can be completed in a
day or two. For a medium store house, where store taking has to spread over a number of days,
work suffers seriously if store house operation has to be suspended for the full period.
Alternatively, more staff have to be drawn from elsewhere and such staff will necessarily be
inexperienced. Stock taking results will then be unsatisfactory.
3. If the stock taking is not completed in time, preparation of final accounts and balance sheet
gets delayed.
2. Continuous, Perpetual or Automatic Stock Verification:
Under this system, verification is done throughout the year as per a pre-determined plan of
action. A items may be verified thrice a year, B-items twice a year and C-items once a year. It,
therefore, presupposes that a perpetual inventory record for each item is maintained showing all
transactions so that reconciliation can be done. The advantages here are:
Work can be independently carried out by materials audit department staff. Investigation with
regard to discrepancies is spread over the year and hence detailed analysis is possible. Final
accounts can be prepared expeditiously if continuous verification is done as per plan.
There is no need to freeze the entire operations of the stores as verification is done throughout
the year based on perpetual inventory records. Any time stock records are more up-to- date when
compared with the periodic verification system.
Merits:
1. Deviations from set replenishment levels come to notice and are corrected. Since stock figures
are correct, replenishment is made at the correct time avoiding production hold up or other
maintenance activities.
2. Obsolete and surplus items are detected and timely action taken towards their disposal.
3. Based on the average quantum of work, a few verifiers may be appointed for this work and
trained. Since there is no sudden increase in work, staff need not be withdrawn from other
sections and thus work will be carried out by trained staff only and will be efficiently executed.
4. These staff can perform the work more diligently as there is a uniform load of work of
verifying a few items each day.
5. If stock taking is completed according to the programme, final accounts and balance sheet can
be prepared without delay.
6. There is no need to close down store house operation. Materials can be continuously made.
Also normal posting of receipts and issues transactions can continue without interruption.

7. Wastage and spoilage due to carelessness of the store- keeping staff is avoided. It acts as an
effective deterrent towards malpractices and reduces theft and pilferage.
8. Clerical posting errors are detected immediately and rectified. Also, deviations from set
procedures are noticed quickly and remedial action taken.
9. There is adequate time to probe into discrepancies.
Demerits:
1. The information about actual stock of a particular item on a particular day may not be
available; only book figures are available. It means that a particular item may be on the bin cards
and store ledger and may not be found in stores when actually needed.
2. This system of continuous stock-taking is expensive and a small enterprise cannot adopt it.
3. Spot Checks:
Spot checks are made by the store keeper at the time of receiving first stock or while issuing
store items. This method is voluntarily carried out by the stores staff for their own satisfaction
and for accuracy of store materials. Moreover, it is not a regular method of verification and there
is no set method of doing it.
This method also does not get any official recognition because it does not provide any
information to management regarding to storages excess etc. This is certainly over and above the
normal methods of stores verification being used by the store house. This method of stock
verification is generally adopted in all those organisations where a continuous system of stock
verification is not functioning.
4. Stock out Stores Verification:
This method of stores verification is resorted to when a particular item of stock is out of stock.
Again, when the stock has touched the danger level or it has come down to a level where
replenishment may become an emergency, then also low point stores verification is done.
Generally, this type of verification is done by stores house staff. The store keeper maintains a
record of such verification. He is also obliged to report to the replenishment and or purchase
section including accounts department and his seniors about the result of such verification for
soliciting instructions and applying correction, if there is any need for the same.
5. Annual Stock Taking:
Where periodical stock taking by stores staff or continuous stock verification by accounts staff is
not in force, complete checking once a year is very desirable.

Annual stock taking is done in the last month of the financial year. In certain places, the factory
will be closed for a few days and in other places the receipts and issues will be suspended until
the stock taking is over.
Circulars are also sent in advance to the suppliers not to deliver any material during stock taking
days. Closing of the work, suspension of receipts and issues etc. might be possible in small
plants but would involve serious loss of production to a large organisation.
Similarly, checking of a large number of items within a limited period of three or four days will
be a rush job and may entail lack of concentration, misplacement of materials, etc.
A system of annual stock taking which does not involve the closing of the factory or suspension
of issues and receipts is described below. Two weeks or a month may be taken for the checking,
depending upon the number of items to be checked and persons available for the job.
The theory behind this method is that if the bin card balance and physical balance agree on the
day of the checking, they should generally tally on the last day of the financial year and if there
is any shortage or excess on the day of the checking, then the same shortage or excess should
exist on the last day of the financial year.
And the physical balance on the last day of the financial year is obtained not by counting the
stock of all items on a single day but by deducting the shortage from or adding the excess, found
during the course of the checking over three or four weeks, to the bin card balance on the last day
of the financial year. This theory must be clearly understood in order to follow the system in
detail. An example of the bin card entries is shown below (Table 13.1) to illustrate this.
Suppose the checking is done on 10th Dec. and the bin card balance, physical balance and
shortage are 40, 36 and 4 respectively, the physical balance as on 31st Dec. when the bin card
balance in 21 will be taken as 17. The surplus will also be treated in a similar manner.
By following the above theory, the physical balance as on the last day of the financial year can
be calculated by counting even immediately after that day. In fact, the auditors carry out snap
check and ascertain the accuracy of the annual inventory on this principle, as some issues and
receipts will take place between the preparation of the annual inventory and the checking by the
auditors.
Merits:
1. It gives the quantity of actual stock of all items held in stock on a particular day and, therefore,
stock figures are authentic and reliable.
2. Irregularities in stores are exposed. It also provides check on the employees.
3. It is a cheaper and economical method as it does not require a permanent stock taking staff.
4. It is most suitable for small businesses.

Demerits:
1. The stock verifiers are not experts or trained in stock taking, therefore, the work is not perfect.
2. Production or work has to be stopped or suspended during stock-taking period.
3. Since the date of stock-taking is fixed well in advance which gives the dishonest employees an
opportunity to commit frauds?
Reasons for discrepancies between actual stock and book stock cannot be traced easily due to
passage of time.

q.4- answer

Scrap is the excess unusable material that is left over after a product has been manufactured. This
residual amount has minimal value, and is usually sold off for its material content.
A business can reduce the amount of scrap that it generates by exercising great care in setting up
production equipment, buying raw materials of adequate quality, and training employees in the
proper use of production equipment.
Scrap consists of recyclable materials left over from product manufacturing and
consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials.
Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered metals, and nonmetallic materials are also recovered for recycling.

Scrap metal originates both in business and residential environments. Typically a "scrapper" will
advertise their services to conveniently remove scrap metal for people who don't need it.
Scrap is often taken to a wrecking yard (also known as a scrapyard, junkyard, or breaker's yard),
where it is processed for later melting into new products. A wrecking yard, depending on its
location, may allow customers to browse their lot and purchase items before they are sent to the
smelters, although many scrap yards that deal in large quantities of scrap usually do not, often
selling entire units such as engines or machinery by weight with no regard to their functional
status. Customers are typically required to supply all of their own tools and labor to extract parts,
and some scrapyards may first require waiving liability for personal injury before entering. Many
scrapyards also sell bulk metals (stainless steel, etc.) by weight, often at prices substantially
below the retail purchasing costs of similar pieces.
In contrast to wrecking yards, scrapyards typically sell everything by weight, rather than by item.
To the scrapyard, the primary value of the scrap is what the smelter will give them for it, rather
than the value of whatever shape the metal may be in. An auto wrecker, on the other hand, would

price exactly the same scrap based on what the item does, regardless of what it weighs. Typically,
if a wrecker cannot sell something above the value of the metal in it, they would then take it to
the scrapyard and sell it by weight. Equipment containing parts of various metals can often be
purchased at a price below that of either of the metals, due to saving the scrapyard the labor of
separating the metals before shipping them to be recycled.
Scrap prices may vary markedly over time and in different locations. Prices are often
negotiated among buyers and sellers directly or indirectly over the Internet. Prices
displayed as the market prices are not the prices that recyclers will see at the scrap
yards. Other prices are ranges or older and not updated frequently. Some scrap
yards' websites have updated scrap prices.

Great potential exists in the scrap metal industry for accidents in which a hazardous material
present in scrap causes death, injury, or environmental damage. A classic example is radioactivity
in scrap; the Goinia accident and the Mayapuri radiological accident were incidents involving
radioactive materials. Toxic materials such as asbestos or metals such as beryllium, cadmium, or
mercury may pose dangers to personnel, as well as contaminating materials intended for metal
smelters.
Many specialized tools used in scrapyards are hazardous, such as the alligator shear which cuts
metal using hydraulic force, compactors, and heavy-duty shredder machines.
According to research conducted by the US Environmental Protection Agency, recycling scrap
metals can be quite beneficial to the environment. Using recycled scrap metal in place of virgin
iron ore can yield:[2]

75% savings in energy.

90% savings in raw materials used.

86% reduction in air pollution.

40% reduction in water use.

76% reduction in water pollution.

97% reduction in mining wastes.

Every ton of new steel made from scrap steel saves:

1,115 kg of iron ore.

625 kg of coal.

53 kg of limestone.

Energy savings from other metals include:

Aluminium savings of 95% energy.

Copper savings of 85% energy.

Lead savings of 65% energy.

Zinc savings of 60% energy

q.5-answer
Most Common Causes of Workplace Accidents

Mark Twain once said, It is better to be careful 100 times than to get killed once. Think about
this; 80 of every 100 accidents that happen in the workplace are ultimately the fault of the person
involved in the incident. What does this tell us? Workers are not taking the proper precautionary
measures before working, or they are simply too lazy to be bothered with it. After all, they do
their jobs everyday right? Why do they need to waste their time with tedious things like
inspections and precautionary measures? Well, considering the above statistic, there should be an
ample amount of evidence to convince lazy and neglectful workers to start paying more attention
to correct safety measures. A majority of workers seem to like to find things to blame when
workplace accidents occur rather than root causes. However, there are 7 common causes for
workplace accidents, and root causes account for every single one of them. To give workers
more incentive to practice proper safety measures within the workplace, we have compiled these
7 common causes to give a better illustration of what the root causes of accidents in the
workplace are.
Shortcuts
Humans are notoriously lazy, so taking shortcuts is a rather common practice in all walks of life,
not necessarily work alone. However, when workers take shortcuts at work, especially when they
are working around dangerous machinery or lethal chemicals, they are only exposing themselves
to a potential catastrophe. Simply put, shortcuts that are taken on the job are not actually
shortcuts. They are simply increasing your risk of injury, or worse, death.
Overconfidence

Confidence is always a great thing to have, but there is also such a thing as too much confidence.
When workers walk into work everyday with the attitude that, It will never happen to me, they
are setting an attitude that leads to incorrect procedures, methods, and tools while working. Be
confident, but remember that you are not invincible.
Poor, or Lack Of Housekeeping
Whenever someone walks through your workplace, they can get a pretty good idea of your
attitude towards workplace safety by just looking at how well youve kept up your area.
Housekeeping is one of the most accurate indicators of the companys attitude towards
production, quality, and worker safety. A poorly kept up area leads to hazards and threats
everywhere. Not only does good housekeeping lead to heightened safety, but it also sets a good
standard for everyone else in the workplace to follow.
Starting a Task Before Getting All Necessary Information
The quickest way to get a job done is to do it right the first time. To do it right the first time, you
need to make sure that you have any and all pertinent information relating to the task you will be
performing. Workers who begin a job with just half the information, or half the instructions, are
essentially doing the job while blind. Remember this; its not stupid to ask questions, it is stupid
not to.
Neglecting Safety Procedures
This is probably the worst thing that any employee at any level in the organization can do.
Deliberately neglecting set safety procedures in the workplace doesnt just endanger yourself, but
it endangers the workers around you as well as the company as a whole. Casually following
safety procedures doesnt work either. You are paid to follow workplace safety procedures, not
your own.
Mental Distractions
Everyone has a life outside of the workplace, and sometimes life can take dips and turns that
affect your emotions and your mood negatively. However, as harsh as it sounds, workers cannot
let mental distractions from their personal lives affect their performance at work. Not only will
they become less aware of their surroundings and less safe, but they will also become less
productive, costing the company time and money.
Lack of Preparation
You may have heard of something called Job Hazard Analysis (JHA). JHAs are an effective
method of figuring out the best way to work safely and efficiently. When workers begin a task

without thinking through the process beforehand, or hastily start without any type of planning,
they are setting themselves up for failure. Make sure you plan your work, then work your plan.
There are several reasons why workplace accidents happen, but these 7 are the most common,
and sadly, the most overlooked, causes. It really comes down to awareness and focus. Lazy
workers are not as effective and they are not as safe as their aware and focused counterparts. On
top of this, lazy workers immediately become a direct threat to everyone around them. There
needs to be a conscious effort each and every day in the workplace to make sure that these 7
causes dont happen. Your life, your coworkers lives, and your companys overall well-being
depends on it

q.6-answer

Stores Responsibilities
Interestingly, Stores is a function that is visible in probably any physical house. Be it a
hotel, a hospital, a shop or industrial set up Stores is found every where.
Its presence every where adequately underlines the responsibility of Stores.
Depending upon where it is located a Stores has to burden from minor to major
responsibilities.
The most common yet major responsibilities that are carried by any Stores are:

Receipt of incoming goods

Inspection of all receipts

Storage and preservation

Identification of all materials stored

Materials handling

Packaging

Issue and despatch

Maintenance of stock records

Stores accounting

Inventory control

Stock-taking

Receipt is the process of checking and accepting, from all sources (vendors,
production units, repair units etc.), all materials and parts which are used in the
organisation. These include supplies for manufacturing or operating processes,
plant maintenance, offices and capital installations.

Identification is the process of systematically defining and describing all items of

materials in stock. It includes the preparation of a Stores Code or Vocabulary,
the adoption of materials specifications and the introduction of a degree of
standardisation. In certain cases, part of this work may be done by the design,
planning or standards departments or sometimes the purchase department.

Inspection involves the examination of incoming consignments for quality. Very

often there is a separate Quality Control or inspection department, which
undertakes this work for most, materials. Otherwise goods are inspected by
Stores to ensure that the inspection procedures laid down are carried out before
materials are accepted into stock.

Storage and preservation involves items to be binged and kept in

storage bins and impounds; as usually indicated in the yard. The location is
usually indicated in the transaction card. The storage period may vary between
one day and one year or more, depending upon recoupment procedures/safety
stock required, etc. storage is the physical act of storing the materials. The
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A Stores manager ,therefore, is responsible for carrying out the following

functions :

Receive incoming goods

Supervise unloading of material Count, tally

Check for damage/shortage and prepare report

Fill Goods Inward / Day Book/ Daily Collection Register

Complete Vendors Consignment Note (Challan)

Arrange for inspection and complete the inspection

Prepare Goods Receipt Note (GRN)

Prepare Goods Rejection Memo (in case of goods rejected)

Send goods to stores

Send other documents to respective departments

Ensure all storage facilities are in proper working order e.g. check for
loose racks, damaged pallets etc.

Ensure goods housekeeping (i.e. check for spillage of oils, dirty walls,
obstructions).

Ensure all materials handling equipment are in goods condition

Check and count goods before issue

Make entries Bin/Kardex (stock) cards promptly

Ensure Receipts and Issues are correctly documented

Ensure that rules and regulations relating to physical custody and

preservation of stores are followed
Ensure correct accounting of stores