DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN AUTOMATED INVENTORY CONTROL SYSTEM FOR A MANUFACTURING ORGANISATION

ABSTRACT This research work is concise and generally summarizes the activities duly carried out in the design and implementation of an automated inventory control system for a manufacturing organization. The system is designed to efficiently handle the movement and tracking of goods through the replacement of human workers by technology. The manual method or intervention is labour intensive, costly, and error prone and cannot ensure the inventory remains up-to-date due to oversight and internal shrinkage. With the proposed new system, inventory can be updated in real time without product movement, scanning, or human involvement. The automated system allows inventory status to be determined and shipping and receiving documents to be generated automatically triggering automatic orders for products that are low in inventory. The study outlines the main concepts of the analysis and design methodology of the proposed system, compares it to the existing and goes further to explain the design and implementation of the system using Visual Basic 6.0 for the database. The fact finding techniques employed is interview, observation, online and library research. vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS Title page i Approval Page ii Certification Page iii Dedication iv Acknowledgement v Abstract vii Table of Contents viii List of Figures xiv List of Tables xv
CHAPTER ONE 1.0 Introduction - - - - - - - 1 1.1 Background of the Study - - - - - 2 1.2 Statement of the Problem - - - - - 3 1.3 Purpose of the Study - - - - - - 4 viii 1.4 Significance of the Study - - - - - 4 1.5 Objectives of the Study - - - - - - 4 1.6 Scope of the Study - - - - - - 5 1.7 Limitations of the Study- - - - - - 6 1.8 Definition of Basic Concepts - - - - - 6
CHAPTER TWO 2.0 Literature Review - - - - - - 9 2.1 Comprehensive Overview - - - - - 9 2.1.1 Purpose - - - - - - - - 10 2.2 Types of Inventory Control Systems - - - - 10 2.2.1 Four types of inventory control systems - - - - 11 2.2.1.1 Manual Inventory Management System - - - 11 2.2.1.2 Barcode Technology - - - - - - 12 ix 2.2.1.3 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) - - - 13 2.2.1.4 Warehouse Management System - - - - 14 2.3 How Inventory Control Systems Really Work - - 16 2.4 What Industries Use Inventory Control Systems - - 19 2.4.1 Application of Inventory Control Systems - - - 20 2.4.2 Importance of Inventory Control Systems - - - - 21 2.5 Warehouse Management Systems - - - - 22 2.5.1 Warehouse Management Rules Engine - - - 24 2.5.1.1 Rules Workbench - - - - - - 25 2.5.1.2 Warehouse Management System Strategy - - - 25 2.5.2 Importance of Warehouse Management Systems - - 25 2.5.3 Inventory Control Systems vs. Warehouse Mgt Systems - 27 2.6 Automated Inventory Control System Software - - - 28 x
CHAPTER THREE 3.0 System Analysis and Design - - - - - 30 3.1 Methodology - - - - - - - 30 3.2 Data Collection - - - - - - - 30 3.3 Analysis of the Existing System- - - - - 31 3.4 Limitation of the Existing System - - - - 32 3.5 System Design - - - - - - - 33 3.6 Data Base Design - - - - - - - 35 3.7 Organizational Structure - - - - - - 38 3.8 System Flow Chat - - - - - - - 42 3.9 Top down Design Diagram - - - - - 44
CHAPTER FOUR 4.0 Implementation, Testing and Packaging - - - 46 xi 4.1 Choice of Development Tools - - - - - 46 4.2 System Requirements - - - - - - 46 4.2.1 Software Requirements - - - - - 46 4.2.2 Hardware Requirements - - - - - 47 4.3 Implementation - - - - - - - 48 4.3.6 Implementation of the Login Form - - - 53 4.3.7 Implementation of the Main menu form - 54 4.3.8 Implementation of the Receive Supply Form - 55 4.3.9 Implementation of Sales Form - - - - 55 4.4 Implementation of Supplier Record Form- - - - 57 4.4.1 Implementation - - - - - - 58 4.5 Testing - - - - - - - - 58 4.5.1 Unit Test - - - - - - - - 60 4.5.2 System Test - - - - - - - - 60 xii 4.6 Packaging (Integration) - - - - - - 60
CHAPTER FIVE 5.0 Summary, Limitations, Recommendations, Beme &Conclusion 61 5.1 Summary - - - - - - - - 61 5.2 Limitation - - - - - - - - 63 5.3 Recommendation - - - - - - - 63 5.4 Bill of Engineering Measurement & Evaluation (BEME) - 65 5.5 Conclusion - - - - - - - - 66  References - - - - - - - - 67  Appendix 1 - - - - - - - - 70  Source Code - - - - - - - 70  Appendix 1 Supply Form - - - - - - 78  Appendix 2 Sales Invoice - - - - - 79