DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN AUTOMATED INVENTORY SYSTEM FOR A MANUFACTURING ORGANIZATION (A STUDY OF NIGERIAN BREWERIES PLC)

Background of the Study
Nigerian Breweries Plc., incorporated in 1946, is the pioneer and largest brewing company in Nigeria. Its first bottle of beer, STAR Lager, rolled off the bottling lines of its Lagos Brewery in June 1949. Other breweries were subsequently commissioned by the company, including Aba Brewery in 1957, Kaduna Brewery in 1963, and Ibadan Brewery in 1982. In September 1993, the company acquired its fifth brewery in Enugu state, and in October 2003, its sixth brewery, sited at Ama in Enugu (Bolton, 2011). Ama Brewery is the largest brewery in Nigeria and one of the most modern worldwide. Operations at Enugu brewery were discontinued in 2004 leaving the company with five operational breweries. The company has a portfolio of high-quality brands, including Star Lager Beer (launched in 1949); Gulder Lager Beer (1970); Maltina (1976); Legend Extra Stout (1992); and Amstel Malta (1994). The company also re-launched Heineken Lager into the Nigerian market in June 1998.Justifiably, the company has the problem of keeping adequate record of goods transfer and since it is done manually, associated problems of insecurity, high cost of operation and delay in supply arise. Data processing in Nigerian Breweries PLC is presently carried out using people, pens, and paper to control stock and inventory therefore, I decided to embark on this project to design automated inventory control system software that will help eradicate these ugly measures (Gonroos, 2001). An inventory control system contains a list of orders to be filled and then prompts workers to pick the necessary items, and provide them with packaging and shipping information. Inventory control may be used to automate a sales order fulfilment process and also manage in and outward material of hardware. Automation is the replacement of human workers by technology. For optimal sales and inventory management process, robust functionality is needed for managing logistics facilities (Harry, 2015). Warehouse management functions for inventory control cover internal warehouse movements and storage and its support helps in the recording and tracking of materials on basis of both quantity and value. This application takes care of all supply orders reducing cost for warehousing, transportation while improving customer service. It significantly improves inventory, optimizes flow of goods and shortens routes within warehouse and distribution centers. It also improves cash flow, visibility and decision making providing efficient execution of tasks using this fast and reliable computerized method. The design and development of an automated inventory control system for the Nigerian Breweries PLC will no doubt bring immeasurable relief from the problems associated with the manual system (Zenz, 2014).

1.2 Statement of the Problems
The Nigerian Breweries PLC is to an extent manually operated and reveals a number of problems which include:
i. The recording of sales and cash received are done manually on a book that appears rough. Thus, the books are exposed to physical damage, information can be lost and dust particles are accumulated.
ii. The long list of supply orders waiting to be attended to on daily basis. The control system is time consuming, less accurate and less efficient, and the environment is not user friendly.
iii. Inaccuracies often ensue from human error.
The manual system is quite tedious and can be reduced or eliminated with the introduction of the proposed system.

1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of this study is to improve current operational process in the Nigerian Breweries PLC to its full capacity by developing efficient computer software that can handle inventory in a computerized fashion.
The objectives of this study are to develop a computer based inventory control system that can:
i. Provide total asset visibility.
ii. Allow reduced inventory stocking levels giving full inventory history.
iii. Reduce lead time, shelf space, and errors due to damage, fatigue of staff and overall cost of operations.
iv. Facilitate just in time deliveries.
v. Provide full process control for products.
vi. Provide higher level security as the system would be pass worded to prevent unauthorized access.
vii. Shorten cross docking time and speeds up sort/pick up rate.
viii. Help the management plan, monitor, optimize resources and ascertain their financial position at any time.