INTRODUCTION

As a part of MBA curriculum research is based on “A STUDY ON THE

WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT AND MATERIAL HANDLING PROCESS AT
MIV LOGISTICS PVT LTD COCHIN”. Logistics is the art of managing the supply
chain and science of managing and controlling the flow of goods information and
other resources like energy and people between the point of origin packaging in and
the point of consumption in order to meet customer’s requirements. It involves the
integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, and material
handling and packaging. Supply chain management is the process of planning,
implementing, and controlling the operations as efficiency as possible. Supply chain
management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in process
inventory, and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumptions.

Warehouse management is the management of the flow of goods. It includes the

movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished
goods from point of origin to point of consumption. Interconnected or interlinked
networks, channels and node businesses are involved in provision of products and
services required by end customers in a supply chain.

Material handling involves short-distance movement within the confines of a

building or between a building and a transportation vehicle. It utilizes a wide range
of manual; semi-automated, ad automated equipment’s and includes consideration of
the protection, storage, and control of materials throughout their manufacturing,
warehousing, distribution, consumption, and disposal. Material handling plays an
important role in manufacturing and logistics. Almost every item of physical
commerce was transported on a conveyor or lift truck or other type of material
handling equipment in manufacturing plants, warehousing and retail stores.

The logistics industry contributes significantly to our country economy and support
many other economic activities. Warehouse management is the act of organizing and
controlling everything within your warehouse- and making sure it all runs in the
most optimal ways possible. This includes: Arranging the warehouse and its
inventory, having and maintaining the appropriate equipment, managing new stock
coming into the facility, picking, packing and shipping orders, tracking and

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improving overall warehouse performance. The systems also direct and optimize
stock put away based on real-time information about the status of bin utilization. A
WMS monitors the progress of products through the warehouse. It involves the
physical warehouses infrastructure, tracking systems, and communication between
product stations.

More precisely, warehouse management involves the receipt, storage and movement
of goods, to intermediate storage locations or to a final customer. In the multi-
echelon model for distribution, there may be multiple levels of warehouses. This
includes a central warehouse, a regional warehouse and potentially retail
warehouses.

This study is based on the warehouse management and material handling process
used at MIV Logistics Pvt Ltd.

BACKGROUND OF PROBLEM

A warehouse is a commercial building for buffering and storage of goods, or an

intermediate area for storage of raw materials or products until they are needed for
production or consumption. Warehousing is an essential component for most
businesses and government organizations. In any supply chain, inventory
management and warehousing form a part of operations intensive function and si of
the key building blocks in the entire chain and the efficiency of the warehouse
opertaions will determine the further supply chain efficiency.

This study intends to compare the present warehouse management practices at MIV
Logistics with industry best practices which will eventually identify the non-
performing areas and limitations of warehouse management through the research
methodology. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to identify the scope of
improvements in MIV Logistics’ warehouse management and material handling
process. In general, this study is expected to help the policy makers of MIV
Logistics to improving the existing performance of warehouse management.

NEED FOR STUDY

The project concentrated on the problem in the warehouse management like material
receiving and dispatching of the goods and their effect in the working environment.

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Goods and materials might be stored or transported through logistics facilities. It is
important that operatives can deal with these, know how to handle them, and know
what to do in the case of emergencies. Equipment downtime is another factor which
can be avoided through the appropriate use of safety procedure. This project will
explore the area where the company concentrate and the solution. So that the
company can make the use of efficient manpower.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of the study is to have a practical bright of the working of the
organization. Its decisions, its brief historical background and its future prospects.
The following can be said to be the major objectives of the study.

 To recommend the most suitable warehousing methods of the goods.

 Provide solution for packaging & receiving and dispatching material
problems.
 To know the various modern trends in material handling and its impact on
warehouse management.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The main scope of the study is to ascertain the various methods to increase the
warehouse management of the concern. The methods include regular information
and also to increase the effectiveness to receiving and distribution of the material.
And also to know different factors and to develop the ability of decision making &
decision always is taken at right time.

Main scope are:

 Distinguishes one company’s goods from those of another local & other
countries company.
 Check the quality for the material as well as the receiving and stuffing
formats
 Protects both supplier and customers satisfaction
 Time should be maintained
 Check and balance is very important for every steps in warehouse

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Like all discipline research also has got its procedure to be adopted in completing a
rewards study. Research is a systematic method of exploring, analyzing and
conceptualizing human life in order to rate correct and verify the test of old facts.
Research is a systematic approach towards purposeful investigation. This needs
formulating hypothesis, collecting data on relevant variables analyzing and
interpreting the results and reaching conclusion either in the form of solution or
generalization. It is academic activity and systematized effort to gain new
knowledge. This chapter is engaged in research methodology which consists of
certain scientific steps for successful execution and objectivity. Research method of
any study would help in planning, executing bringing relevance’s and in receiving
the purpose of the study. Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the
research problem.

It is considered as a blueprint for research dealing with at least for problems; which
data are relevant, what data to collect, and how to analyze the result. The best design
depends on research questions as well as the orientation of the researcher. Every
design has its positive and negative sides. A research design is the arrangement of
condition for collection and analysis of data and manner that aims to combine
relevance to the research purpose with economy. A good research design has the
characteristics, problem definition, specific method of data collection and analysis,
time required research project and eliminate of expenses to be incurred this is never
a single standard and correct method of carrying out of piece of research. Therefore
don’t wait to start your research until you find the problems approach, because there
are many ways to tackle a problem some good some bad but probably several good
ways.

Research design are:

1. Exploratory research design

As the term suggest, exploratory research is often conducted because a
problem has not been clearly defined as yet or its real scope is as get
unclearly. It allows the researcher to familiarize himself with the problem or
concept to be studied and perhaps generate hypothesis to be tested. It is the

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 initial research before conclusive is under taken it helps to determine the best
research design, data collection method and selection of subjects and
sometimes it ever concludes that the does not exist.
2. Casual research design
It explores the effect of one thing on another and more specifically, the effect
of one variable on another. The research is used to measures what impact a
specific change will have existing norms and allows market researchers to
predict by potential scenarios upon which a company can base its business
plan.
3. Descriptive research design
It is also known as satirical research design data and characteristics about the
population being studied. These design research answer the question who,
what, where, when and how, although the data description is actual, accurate,
and systematic the research cannot describe what caused a situation, thus it
cannot be used to create a causal relationship, where one variation affects
another, the description is used for frequencies, averages and other statistical
calculations. Quantitative research often has the aim of descriptive and
researches may follow up the examinations of why the observation exist and
what implications of the feelings are it is testing of hypothesis on the cause
and effect within a given market.

RESEARCH DESIGN

A research methodology is a structured plan for conducting. Sociologists draw in a

variety of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Including experiments,
survey research, participant observation, and secondary data. Quantities methods
aims to classify features, count them, and create statistical and explain observations.
Qualitative methods aim for a complete, fact description of observation, including
the context of events and circumstances.

For the study, the descriptive methods were used to describe, classify and drive raw
scores through calculation of mean values, standard deviation. In this method safety
measures for effective material handling of hazardous product at MIV Logistics has
been investigated. Statistically software Microsoft excels was used to analyze the
data.

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POPULATION

The entire aggregation of items for which samples can be drawn is known as
population, it refers to any collection of individuals or their attributes or results of
corporation that can be numerically specified, the attributes that are the object of
study are referred as characteristics and the units elementary units, the aggregate of
such units is generally described as population. Thus all units in any field of enquiry
constitute universe and all elementary units constitutes population.

Population can be finite/ infinite, a population containing a finite number of items is

called population and a population contain infinite number of items is called infinite
population. A population is a group composed of all members of the same species
hat live in a specific geographical area at a particular time.

The study was conducted in MIV LOGISTICS PVT LTD there is only 60
employees so the population is finite.

DATA COLLECTION METHODS

There are mainly two types of data:

1. Primary Data
Primary data is the data which is collected by researcher himself for the first
for the specific purpose and they original character. Primary data is collected
but researcher data is collected by researcher for the problems that are
currently being studied therefore, data obtained pertains specifically to the
current study considerations the sources are:
 Questionnaire
 Observation
 Personal interview
Data collected from employees in MIV LOGISTICS through observation,
discussion, personal interview and questionnaire. The questionnaire consists
of 20 questions.
2. Secondary Data
It is information collected from those data which have already been obtained
from secondary sources. The data has not been collected for this purpose of

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 this research however this information is already available in the market
while the current research begins the sources are:
 Brochures of organization
 Internet
 Magazine
 Books

Data collected from company internal records, publications, journals, company

websites etc.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Both the scope and methodology of this study may hinder the research quality. The
limitation of this study is that, the MIV Logistics have different warehouses and
each of them may have separate set of warehouse management issues and limitations
to be addressed, so this study is only based on the general issues on the warehouse at
MIV and its present warehouse management practices. Scopes for improvements are
identified and recommendations are also made accordingly.

The respondents are selected by those who are mainly available at the head office
and from warehouse. The accuracy of results depends on the data collected from
workers, CHA and Labors. The study is based on the information provided by the
employees and there are changes of biased information provided by them. On the
personal interview, respondents were requested to answer based on their own
perception. For the reason, the perception may be different from different
respondents. Besides, some of the respondents did not provide time for interview
due to their preoccupation, which all might be a major limitation of this study.

However, the time constraint for completion of the research was also one of the
major limitation of the study to some extent.

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 INDUSTRY PROFILE

Logistics management is a supply chain management component that is used to meet

customer demands through planning, control and implementation of the effective
movement and storage of related information, goods and services from origin to
destination. Logistics management helps companies’ reduce expenses and enhance
customers’ services. The logistics management process begins with raw materials
procurement to the final stage of delivering goods to the destination. By adhering to
customer needs and industry standard, logistics management, there will be
adaptation of major resources. In developing countries like India projects do not
success because of lack of attention to logistics management. Due to this there is a
delay in an implementations of the projects, there is also uneven distribution of
goods and services. In certain areas, there is excess of goods and services available,
while in certain other areas, they are scares. There is general inefficiency,
uncertainty and instability in rendering services to the public. Depending on the type
of business the expenditure on logistics can be anything between 5 and 35
percentages of the scales. The cost of logistics management is therefore found to be
high by certain industries. Because of this logistics suggests the use of efficiency
means of transport, locating areas where cheaper materials are available, determine
the correct qualities to be dispatched.

WAREHOUSE AND LOGISTICS INDUSTRY

This sector comprises establishment primarily engaged in transporting and

warehousing goods as well as providing logistics services. It includes the four
transportation modes (trucking, rail, air, and marine) as well as postal services,
couriers and messengers, and warehousing and storage.

 The Indian logistics industry is estimated at US$ 125 billion in 2010

 Generated employment for 45 million people
 The industry is expected to grow annually at the rate of 15-20%, reaching
revenues of approximately $ 385bn by 2015
 Highly unorganized with organized sector responsible only for 6%
 Market share of organized logistics players is also expected to double to
appropriately 12% by 2015

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  The size of the 3pl industry is estimated to be US$ 1.5billion in FY11 (1% of
logistics cost)
 The share of 3pl service is expected to increase from 6% in FY06 to FY11, at
a CAGR of 25%
 Logistics costs are 10- 20 of GDP
 Indian infrastructure is rated 54th among the 59 countries- road 56/59, rail
25/59, seaport- 51/59, Airport- 40/59

Several factors helped the growth of logistics industry over the decades that includes
changing tax system, rapid growth in industries such as automobiles,
pharmaceutical, FMCG and retail. However, major sectors that are investing huge
amounts in logistics industry are aviation, metals & mining and consumer durables.
With increasing competition and costs, focus on outstanding, entry of foreign
players is having positive impacts on the industry. Three major contributors for the
growth of the logistics industry are; emergence of organized retails increases in
foreign trade and India becoming soon the manufacturing hub. As per the World
Bank logistics performance index 2010, India is places at 47th position out of 155
countries.

HISTORY OF LOGISTICS

Logistics can be defined as providing the right type of products and/or services at
the right price, time and in the right condition. A quick look at some logistics history
may prove very lightening. The birth of logistics can be tracked back to ancient war
times of Greek and Roman empires when military officers titled as ‘Logistikas’ were
assigned the duties of providing services related to supply and distribution of
resources. This was done to enable the soldiers to move from their base position to a
new forward position efficiently, which could be a crucial factor in determining the
outcome of wars. This also involved inflicting damage to the supply locations of the
enemy and safeguard one’s own supply locations. Thus, lead to the development of a
new system which can be related to the current day system of logistics management.

During the Second World War (1939-1945), logistics evolved greatly. The army
logistics of United States and counterparts proved to be more than the German army
could handle. The supply locations of German armed forces were inflicted with

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serious damages and Germany was not able to wreak the same havoc on its enemy.
The United States military ensured that the services and supplies were provided at
the right time and at the right place. It also tried to provide these services when and
wherever required, in the most optimal and economical manner. The best available
options to do a task were developed. This also gave birth to several military logistics
techniques which are still in use, at best in a more advanced form. Logistics has now
evolved itself as an art and science. However, it cannot be termed as an exact
science. Logistics does not follow a defined set of tables nor is it based on skills
inherited from birth. A logistics manager performs his duties responsibilities based
on his educational experiences and intuition. These skill are nourished by a constant
application of the same by him for betterment of his organization. The logistics
manager ensures that the company is benefited by an effective and efficient system
of logistical management. He also needs to ensure that the right kind of product and
services are provided at the right time and for right price, whether inside the
organization’s premises or delivery of the shipment outside the premises of the
organization. Logistics has come to be kind of relief for many organizations that
formerly looker upon it as a burden. Companies nowadays are hiring people with the
requisite knowledge to deliver sustainable enhancements in the field of supply chain
management. As has been the case throughout most of logistics history, the task of a
logistics manager involves a clear vision and a drive within to deliver results under
strict deadlines in addition to his usual responsibilities.

LOGISTICS MARKET

India’s railways carry daily an average of twelve million passengers and over a
million tons of freight traffic on a network spread over 62,725 km, covering 7068
stations. It operates on three gauges i.e. broad gauge (1676mm), meter gauge
(1000mm), and narrow-gauge (762 and 610mm). Although broad gauge forms only
64.5% of the route, it generated 96% of freight output and 8.6% of the passenger
output during 2007-08. In the same year, total passenger traffic was 4018 million.
19.5% (12306 km) of the total network and 30% of the broad gauge network is
electrified. The railways are the largest employer in the country, with over 1.6
million employees. Operating revenue in 2007-08 was approximately 3.7 billion.
The 6000 km long Indian coastline has eleven major ports (managed by the port

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trust of India under central governments) however, as regards capacity, productivity
and efficiency Indian ports do not compare well with some of the international ports.

In 2007-08, the total cargo handles at major Indian ports was 251.19 million tons,
and growing demand has meant that the average ship turnaround time at these ports
is increasing dry & liquid bulk account for around 80% of the port traffic in volume,
while general cargo constitute the remaining traffic. India’s road network of almost
3 million km is one of the largest in the world. With the staggering increase in the
motor vehicle population in recent years, the Indian government recognized the
urgent need to develop adequate road networks across the country, and has
introduced a series of far-reaching measures investment in the network. The
reduction of trade barriers, both on the domestic as well as international front, has
led toe rapid growth of the logistics market throughout the world. Items such as
Swiss cheese, Chinese gadgets and Italian fashion goods that were earlier limited
only to the place of manufacture have now crossed the geographical boundaries to
take their place in the international market. This has indeed globalized the area of
operations and has benefited several economies.

How that is made possible? Obviously, apart from favorable governmental policies,
it is the growth of logistics that has made all this possible. The boundaries have been
minimized due to advances in the modes of transportation. Logistics not only deals
with delivery of goods at the right time, for right price, and in right condition, but
also has extended its role in globalizing the sphere of the products and services.

The growth is eminent in the Asia – Pacific region with China emerging as a global
economic power with a seismic effect on the global market of logistics. India is
steadily following china’s footprints by consistent marching into the field of
logistics due to favorable market trends, outsourcing and government policies and
are keen to outsource from China, India and Asia-Pacific due to the cost factor.

In the current business scenario, there are ample job opportunities for people in the
field of logistics and slowly and steadily the area and scope of logistics is on the
upswing. With the increase in demand for logistics professionals, logistics
organizations are raising their sphere of influence to unparalleled heights. The

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growth and development witnessed in the logistics sectors sector is likely to fuel
further growth for many more years to come.

Thus it would be right to conclude that the logistics market finally has its due share
with ample job opportunities available and logistics being considered as an internal
part of most savvy organizations.

WAREHOUSE

A warehouse may be defined as a place used for the storage or accumulation of

goods. The function of the storage can be carried out successful with the help of
warehouse used for storing the goods. Warehousing can also be defined as
assumption of responsibility for the storage of goods. By storing goods throughout
the year and releasing them as when they are needed, warehousing creates time
utility.

WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT

Warehouse management is the management of the flow of goods. It includes the

movement and storage of raw materials, work-in process inventory, and finished
goods from point of origin to point of consumption. Interconnected or interlinked
networks, channels and node businesses are involved in the provision of products
and services required by end customers in a supply chain. Supply chain management
has been defined as the “design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of
supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a
competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply
with demand and measuring performance globally”.

FUNCTIONS OF WAREHOUSING

1. Storage
This is the basic function of warehousing. Surplus commodities which are
not needed immediately can be stored in warehouse. They can be supplies as
and when needed by the customers.
2. Price stabilization

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 Warehouses play an important role in the process of price stabilization. It is
achieved by the creation of time utility by warehousing. Fall in the prices of
goods when the supply is in abundance and rise in their price during the
slack season are avoided.
3. Risk bearing
When the goods are stored in warehouses they are exposed to many riskers in
the form of theft, deterioration, exploration, fire etc. warehouses are
constructed in such a way as to minimize these risks. Contract of bailment
operates when the goods are stored in wave-houses. The person keeping the
goods in warehouses acts as boiler and warehouse keeper act as boiler. A
warehouse keeper must take the reasonable care of the goods and safeguard
them against various risks. For any loss or damage sustained by goods
warehouse keeper shall be liable to the owner of the goods.
4. Financing
Loans can be raised from the warehouse keeper against the goods stored by
the owner. Goods act as security for the warehouse keeper. Similarly, banks
and other financing institutions also advance loans against warehouse
receipts. In this manner warehousing acts as a source of finance for the
businessmen for meeting business operations.
5. Grading and packing
Warehouses nowadays provide the facilities of packing, processing and
grading of goods. Goods can be packed in convenient as per the instructions
of the owner.

IMPORTANCE OF WAREHOUSING IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE

AND COMMERCE

Warehousing or storage refers to the holding and preservation of goods until they are
dispatched to the consumers. Generally, there is a time gap between the production
and consumption of products. By bridging this gap, storage creates time utility.
There is need for storing the goods to make them available to buyers as and when
required. Some amount of goods is stored at every stage in the marketing process.
Proper and adequate arrangements to retail the goods in perfect condition are

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essential for success in marketing. Storage enables a firm to carry on production in
anticipation of demand in future.

A warehouse is a place used for the storage or accumulation of goods. It may also be
defined as an establishment that assumes responsibility for the safe custody of
goods. Warehouses enable the businessmen to carry on production throughout the
year and to sell their products, whenever there is adequate demand.

Need for warehouse arise also because some goods are produced only in a season
but are demanded throughout the year. Similarly, certain products are produced
throughout the year but demanded only during a season. Warehousing facilities
production and distribution on a large scale.

TYPE OF WAREHOUSING

1. Public Warehousing
2. Private Warehousing
3. Contract Warehousing
4. Multi- client Warehousing
5. Bonded Warehousing

The global warehousing concept has gained popularity over the last decade as stock
pre-positioning becomes one of the strategies for ensuring a timely response to
emergencies. They are usually purpose built or purpose designed facilities operated
by permanent staff that has been trained in all the skills necessary to run an efficient
facility or utilizing 3PL staff and facilities. For such operations, organizations use,
information systems that are computer based, with sophisticated software to help in
the planning and management of the warehouse. The operating situation is relatively
stable and management attention is focused on the efficient and cost effective
running of the warehouse operation. Numerous organizations have centralized pre-
positioning units strategically located globally. Some of these offer extended
services to other humanitarian organizations on a cost plus operating charges basis.

Field Warehouse are usually temporary in nature. They may be housed in a building
which was not designed to be used as a warehouse or in a temporary
building/structure, in mobile units such as rub halls, Wii halls and sometimes are

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little more than a tent in a field. The initial staff may be a casual workforce that has
never worked in a warehouse before and the inventory system is more likely to be
paper based. Often the situation is initially chaotic, sometimes dangerous coupled
with a humanitarian goods available as quickly and efficiently as possible, butyet at
the same time accountable.

NEED FOR WAREHOUSING

1. Seasonal Production – Agriculture commodities are harvested during certain

seasons, but their consumption or use takes place throughout the year.
Therefore, there is a need for proper storage or warehousing for these
commodities, from where they can be supplied as and when required.
2. Seasonal Demand – There are certain goods, which are demanded
seasonally, like woolen garments in winters or umbrellas in the rainy season.
The production of these goods takes place throughout the year to meet the
seasonal demand. So, there is a need to store these goods in a warehouse to
make them available at the time of need.
3. Large-scale Production – In case of manufactured goods, nowadays
production take place to meet the existing as well as future demand of the
products. Manufacturers also produce goods in huge quantity to enjoy the
benefits of large-scale production, which is more economical. So, the
finished products, which are produced on a large scale, need to be stored
properly till they are cleared by sales.
4. Quick Supply – Both industrial as well as agriculture goods are produced at
some specific places but consumed throughout the country. Therefore, it is
essential to stock these goods near the place of consumption, so that without
making any delay these good are available to the consumers at the time of
their need.
5. Continuous Production – Continuous production of goods in factories
requires adequate supply of raw materials. So, there is a need to keep
sufficient quantity of stock of raw material in the warehouse to ensure
continuous production.

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POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

The policies contain hard and fast rules and regulations that define the general
conduct of the warehouse operation. Examples of the types of policies that
organizations will define are as follows:

 Organizational specific
 Health and safety
 Human resources management
 Security
 Pest control
 Warehouse maintenance and cleaning
 Quality control
 Record keeping and reporting
 Reverse logistics – Return of goods and exit strategy in the event of
downscaling or shutting down operations
 Disposal of obsolete and damaged goods.

The procedures’ document defines step by step how the activities in the warehouse
should be carried out and clearly defines the processes to be adopted. These can be
adopted as ‘best practice’. The procedures provides visibility of the operations for
managers and donors. However, in creating such procedures, care must be taken to
avoid constraining the use of local initiative which might be required to deal with
local conditions. Procedures should be considered as streamlining the business
processes and providing checks and balances. They provide guidance to warehouse
managers and must have some level of flexibility to cater for unique situations, than
to be rigidly adhered to. This can be achieved by limiting the level of detail that the
procedures document defines, allowing more flexibility and/or by arranging
‘dispensations’ to allow departure from the procedures in order to optimize local
performance, especially in emergencies.

The procedures will normally provide the step by step guidance on how to manage
each aspect of warehousing and may cover:

 Receiving and issuing of supplies;

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  Quality control and verification;
 Storage of goods; documentation flow;
 How to control stock movement (stock control);
 How to detect and deal with stock losses; how rejected material will be
managed;
 How to deal with unwanted, obstacle and scrap, disposal

TYPES OF WAREHOUSE SPACE

 Commercial: in rented building used for business

 Government or state: such as at the ports or harbors. This is common in
emergency situations.
 Transit: for temporary storage of goods destined for different locations and
need storage for a very short time
 Bonded warehouse: for storage of goods whose duty is unpaid and especially
where the goods are destined to another country. Pre-positioned stock is
often held in bonded warehouses so that export is quick and can be stored for
long period sometimes.
 Open storage: not ideal for perishable products but in emergencies,
sometimes the only alternative
 Space that is owned and managed by the organization
 Pre-fabricated warehouses where there are no permanent structure available.
This is common practices in emergencies.

BASIC PRINCILES OF WAREHOUSE AND INVENTORT MANAGEMENT

 Planning inbound receipt procedures

 Storage formalities e.g.: location management , inventory control,
occupational health and safety
 Outbound delivery procedures.

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 COMPANY PROFILE

ABOUT MIV LOGISTICS

MIV Logistics private limited, a joint venture of MFAR- INKEL- VKL GROUP
(MIV) INKEL LTD, Bahrain – based VKL Group and resort chain MFAR Hotels &
resorts Ltd has formed a joint venture company named a MIV ltd to develop a
Container Freight Station (CFS) at Vallarpadam. International Container
Transshipment Terminal (ICTT). The joint venture, initiated by INKEL, called MIV
Logistics private limited, has developed the CFS on 18.5 acres at Vallarpadam
ICTT.

INFRASTRUCTURE: Spread over 18.5 acres’ landscape, the CFS boasts of a total
capacity of 80000 TEUs per annum. Amongst others, some of its key infrastructure
highlights are; 50000 sq. ft. export and import warehouse with dedicated labor for
stuffing and de-stuffing especially suitable for agricultural commodities 12 reefers
plug points, Advanced yard and container handling equipment.

SOME CLEAR ADVANTAGES THAT THIS FACILITY OFFERS INCLUDE:

public bonding facility spread over an area of 15000 sq. meters, private bonding
facility of 50000 sq. meters. The only import bonding warehousing facility in Kochi
empty container yard of 5 acres ensures it provides integrated solutions to its
customers. Fully automated system for cargo & yard management. Trucking-first
mile/ last mile giving you single point contact. Import container storage – cost
saving from unexpected port storage costs.

VISION

To be the leading private sector inland container logistics service provider in South
Asia: most profitable, preferable and the biggest.

MISSION

 To provide quality, safety and security, cost effective & reliable service.
 To remain forever committed to excellence.
 To achieve each “END” tempered by “QUALITY” means.
 To make constructive contribution to the society at large.
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Customer’s centricity: With an aim to provide best-in- market services that meet
global standards, the CFS has various thoughtful and customer centric features
which ensure convenience of interaction and carrying out business. Technology and
process excellence initiatives are leveraged to ensure that;

 CHA facilitation office with internet EDI connectivity.

 Separate inspection area for general & scarp cargo.
 Multiple carting points.
 Capability to ramp up infrastructure to handle increased reefers.
 Option of extended customs working hours.
 Customs examination – Team of 4 customs officials posted at CFS to cater to
the customer’s needs.

Area of Expertise include:

 Expertise in handling over dimension & HAZ cargo.

 Expertise in refer container handling.
 Capability to complete large number of En-bloc movement per day due to
our close proximity.
 Pre-staging for export refer & dry boxes.
 Expertise in GOH boxes for garment exports.
 Logistics/ supply chain consultancy.

Among the industries that the facility can cater some prominent ones include
agricultural commodities, news print, scrap, chemicals and pharmaceuticals,
automotive. The Container Freight Station partners with shipping lines, importers/
exporters, governments, business leaders and the global supply chain to provide
solutions that help business/ communities lift global trage and are dedicated to
conducting business only at the highest standards of ethical, safety environmental
and social responsibility.

SERVICES

 Import container storage

 Full container loads movement

19
  Customs inspection facilitation
 De-stuffing / stuffing operations
 Warehouse storage
 Import bonding
 En-block movement of import containers
 Empty container depot
 Container maintenance & repair (M&R) service – Reefer & dry
 Reefer maintenance & repair service inside port – ICTT, vallarpadam
 PTI at port
 Malfunction (Loaded at ICTT, Port)
 Long standing container management / auction facilitation
 Transportation solutions
 Hazardous cargo handling
 Customs examination facilitation
 On-time reports and updates
 Dedicated customer service team

FACILITIES

 RFID- Radio Frequency Identification tracking (proposed)

 Token management Kiosks.
 Mobile tracking (proposed)
 Online tracking
 Export on wheel examination
 Equipment & maintenance depot
 Reefer plug points
 IT systems, EDI connectivity
 Canteen for visitors
 Restroom for Truck drivers

SAFETY AND SECURITY

 24X7 CCTV surveillance manned by trained security personnel.

 Regulated entry of visitors to the gate

20
  24X7 security guards at the gate and across the facility
 Safety marshals
 Firefighting systems
 High mast lights for enhanced visibility in the yard
 Pilferage free CFS
 Provision of personal protective equipment for visitors to the yard
 IMDG norms followed for hazardous goods
 Emergency management system vehicle safety training for all trailer drivers
 Perimeter wall across the facility
 Barricaded pedestrian safety zone

DOCUMENTATION IN SHIPPING OPERATION

 Bill of lading
 Shipping bill
 Bill of Entry
 Invoice
 Packing list

COMPETITORS PROFILE

1. GATEWAY DISTRIPARKS KERALA PVT LTD

GDKL brings vast resources and expertise to work, order to support our
customers with comprehensive logistics solution. Gateway Distriparks Ltd
60% subsidiary, Gateway Distriparks Ltd commenced CFS operations on 8th
may 2012, handling exports containers through the international container
terminal in Kochi and GDKL’s Container Freight Station will help facilitate
EXIM trade in the region.

2. FALCON CONTAINER FREIGHT STATION

The Container Freight Station of Falcon group commissioned in the
integrated Logistics services facility at Kalamassery, Kerala in the year 2007
is the state’s first-fledged CFS in private sector. The facility has the most
advanced amenities for stuffing and de-stuffing of containers, bonded

21
 warehousing, in house customs clearance and banking, computerized
operations and a host of other most modern facilities and services.
3. COCHIN INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER FREIGHT STATION
Cochin International Container Freight Station (CICFS) first of its kind in
the public sector segment with state of the srt facility is another prestigious
project of Kerala state industrial Enterprises limited (a Gov. of Kerala
Undertaking). CICFS is set up in 85 acres, situated at Eloor hardly 14Kms
away from the Vallarpadam international container transshipment terminal
abeam container road reaching premier junction (Kalamassery). As a part of
our continual improvement CICFS are at the receiving ISO 9001:2008
certificates. CICFS provision facility management for export, import,
warehousing, logistics, weighing, packing, baggage, Reefer plug-in, and
container stacking.

22
 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Warehouse Design and Control (W.H.M. Zijm December 1998)

In this paper, a reference framework and a classification of warehouse design and

control problems. Based on this framework, reviewed the existing literature on
warehousing systems and indicate important gaps. In particular, emphasize the need
for design oriented studies, all opposed to the strong analysis oriented research on
isolated sub problems that seems to be dominant in the current literature.

Design and Control of Warehouse Order Picking (Rene de Kosher

January 2006)

Order picking has long been identified as the most labor-intensive and costly activity
for almost every warehouse; the cost of order picking is estimated to be as much as
55% of the total warehouse operating expense. Any underperformance in order
picking can lead to unsatisfactory service and high operational cost for its
warehouse, and consequently for the whole supply chain. In order to operate
efficiently, the order picking process needs to be robustly designed and optimally
controlled. This paper gives a literature overview on typical decision problems in
design

and control of manual order- picking processes. Here focus on optimal (internal)
layout design, storage assignment methods, routing methods, order batching and
zoning. The research in this area has grown rapidly recently. Still, combinations of
the above areas have hardly been explored. Order-picking system developments in
practice lead to promising new research directions.

Complexity of order-picking systems (based on Goetschalckx and Ashayeri

1989)

The most common objective of order-picking systems is to maximize the service

level subject to resource constraints such as labor, machines, and capital
(Goetschalckx and Ashayeri 1989). The service level is composed of a variety of
factors such as average and variation of order delivery time, order integrity, and
accuracy. A crucial link between order picking and service level is that the faster an

23
order can be retrieved, the sooner it is available for shipping to the customer. If an
order misses its shipping due time, it may have to wait until the next shipping
period. Also, short retrieval time imply high flexibility in handling late changes in
orders. Minimizing the order retrieval time (or picking time) is, therefore, a need for
any order-picking system.

Typical Distribution of an order picker’s time (Tompkins et al. 2003)

For manual-pick order-picking systems, the travel time is an increasing function of

the travel distance (for example, Jarvis and McDowell 1991, Hall 1993, Petersen
1999, Rood Bergen and De Kosher 2001a, b, Petersen and Aase 2004).
Consequently, the travel distance is often considered as a primary objective in
warehouse design and optimization. Two types of travel distance are widely used in
the order-picking literature: the average travel distance of a picking tour (or average
tour length) and the total travel distance. For a given pick load (a set of orders),
however, minimizing the average travel distance (or, equivalently, total travel
distance) is only one of many possibilities. Another important objective would be
minimizing the total cost that may include both investment and operational costs.

Warehouse performance measurement (Carlos M. Taboada Rodriguez 27 Jan

2015)

As the supply chain get more complex, the variety of indictors and tools to measure
warehouse performance has also increased. Furthermore, the metrics that are used
for performance evaluation are assessed in different manners and hence there is not
clear definition for some of these metrics. To address these issues, this literature
review focuses on operational warehouse performance measurement, for which the
warehouse managers need to carry out periodic analysis. Using the content analysis
method, performance indicators are acquired from selected papers and are classified
according to time, cost, and quality and productivity dimensions. The contributions
of this literature review are as follows: we present a synthesis of the literature on
operational warehouse performance, we provide the definitions for the performance
indicator and a framework to demonstrate their boundaries and, finally, based on the
literature analysis, we also provide some discussions on current trends in

24
warehouses and propose future research directions on warehouse performance
evaluation.

Ruston et al (2000): According to Rushton et al, the success of the warehouse or the
position of the warehouse in supply chain depends upon the size, location, and
capacity of the warehouse and the amount of inventory and inventory reduction are
the key factors.

Saxena (2003): According to Saxena, materials have to be handled very carefully

and allocate the proper space for the right product or goods and certain measures
have to be taken to store the delicate the goods.

De koster.R, Le-Duc.T,Roodbergen.K.J (2007): According to them order picking

is an important aspect to satisfy its customer and it has to be steadily designed and
have to be controlled optimally and it also focus on the layout design and routing
methods.

Tommy Blomqvist (2010): According to Tommy Blomqvist, warehouse acts as a

connection point or an end point in supply chain that links material flow between
suppliers and the customers. In order to meet customer demands they have to
customize their value proposition.

J. Gonda Tozay (2011): According to Gonda Tozay, manufacturing firm must

make a key decision on the location and design of warehouse and quantitative and
qualitative factor. It also increase corporate profit and customer satisfaction based on
the location of the warehouse.

Dr. Vipul Chalotra (2013): According to Vipul Chalotra, warehouse provides a

incessant supply of goods and services in bigger markets and also factors affecting
the warehouse by poor warehouse layout, improper demand forecasting.

Ferdoush Saleheem, Mahadi Hasan miraz, Md. Mamun, Zurina Hanafi (2014):
According to them the effects of warehouse and supply chain can play a significant
role and it identifies the external factors, market trends, and possible barriers which
affects the performance of a warehouse.

25
Taylor & Francis (2015): According to them there are variety of tools and
indicators to measure warehouse performance and also focuses on the performance
indicators like time, cost and quality.

Jochem Sprengers: According to Jochem Sprengers, firm should manage the

warehouse activities by planning and controlling by customers demand and high
level service requirements and it should also adapt new approaches to reduce time in
order to maintain warehouse performance.

V. Venkatraman (2015): According to Venkatraman, the Indian logistics market

has evolved from traditional to full-fledged logistics services provider. The change
towards providing customized service or being outsourced emerged the concept of
3PL. 3PL can customized their operations based on market conditions and
requirements of their clients.

Inmon (1997): Inmon says, that data warehouse is a data collection oriented to a
subject, integrated, changeable in time and not volatile, to provide support to the
decision making process.

Harjinder and Rao (1996): Harjinder and Rao argue, that data warehouse is a
running process that agglutinates data from heterogeneous systems, including
historic data and external data to attend the necessity of structure queries, analytical
reports and decision support.

Barquini (1996): Barquini defines the data warehouse as a collection of techniques

and technologies that together provide a systematic and pragmatic approach to solve
the end user problem in accessing information that is distributed in different systems
inside organization.

Kimball et al. (1998): Kimball et al. argue that, data warehouse is a source of an
organization data, formed by the union of all corresponding data marts. “Two basic
elements of data warehouse are related to integration: data stage, while the
integration in the legacy systems occurs in the operational data storage”.

26
Barker (2000): One of the data warehouse requisites is to be able to answer to fast
queries. For this, data warehouse must have an architecture that allows gathering,
manipulation and presentation of data quickly and efficiently.

Robert M. Bruckner et al. (1986): Robert M. Bruckner et al. identified intelligent

and comprehensive data warehouse systems as a powerful instrument for
organizations to analyze their business. The implementation of such decision
systems for an enterprise- wide management and decision support system can be
very different from traditional software implementations. Use cases are generally
used as standard notation for object oriented requirement modelling. In this paper
the term showed how use cases can enhance communication between stakeholders,
domain experts, data warehouse designers and other professionals with diverse
backgrounds. Three different abstraction levels namely business, user and system
requirements of data warehouse requirements were introduced and discussed.

R.G. Little and M.L. Gibson (1982): In this study, they have surveyed data
warehouse implementation prospective. Project participants were consulted to record
their perceptions, which may further contribute to the data warehouse
implementation process. The respondents include: functional managers/staff, IS
managers/staff, and consultants. The study identified eight significant factors that
according to participants may impact data warehouse implementation.

William Inmon (1999): According to William Inmon, data warehouse is a “subject-

oriented, integrated, time variant, and non-volatile collection of data in support of
the management’s decision-making process”. Data warehouse is a database
containing data that usually represents the business history of an organization. This
historical data is used for analysis that support business decisions at many levels,
from strategic planning to performance evaluation of a discrete organizational unit.

Barquin and Edelstein (1996): The emergence of cross discipline domain such as
knowledge management in finance, health and e-commerce have proved that vast
amount of data need to be analyzed. The evolution of data in data warehouse can
provide multiple dataset dimensions to solve various problems. Thus, critical
decision making process of this dataset needs suitable data warehouse model.

27
Kimball (1996): Pioneered the designed and architecture of data warehouse with
unions of data marts which are known as the bus architecture or virtual data
warehouse. Bus architecture allows data marts not only located in one server but it
can be also being located on different server. This allows the data warehouse to
functions more in virtual mode and combined all data marts and process as one data
warehouse.

Hackney (2000): According to Hackney, federated data warehouse is an integration

of multiple heterogeneous data marts, database staging or operational data store,
combination of analytical application and reporting systems. The concept of
federated focus on integrated framework to make data warehouse more reliable.
Jindal, 2004, conclude that federated data warehouse are a practical approach as it
focus on higher reliability and provide excellent value.

Thilini and Hugh (2005): They concluded that hub and spoke and centralized data
warehouse architectures are similar. Hub and spoke is faster and easier to implement
because no data mart are required. For centralized data warehouse architecture
scored higher than hub and spoke as for urgency needs for relatively fast
implementation approach.

Bunger, Colby, Cole, McKenna, Mulagund, and Wilhite (2001): Data warehouse
architecture process begins with ETL process to ensure the data passes the quality
threshold. According to Evin(2001), it is essential to have right dataset. ETL are an
important component in data warehouse environment to ensure dataset in the data
warehouse are cleansed from various OLTP systems. ETLs are also responsible for
running scheduled tasks that extract data from OLTP systems. Typically, a data
warehouse is populated with historical information from within a particular
organization.

Zhou et al. (1995): He states that’s during data integration process in data
warehouse, ETL can assist in import and export of operational data between
heterogeneous data sources using Object linking and embedding database (OLE-DB)
based architecture where the data are transform to populate all validated data into
data warehouse.

28
Elsevier B.V (2009): This paper presents a detailed survey of the research on
warehouse design, performance evaluation, practical case studies, and computational
support tools. This and an earlier survey on warehouse operation provide a
comprehensive review of existing academic research results in the framework of a
systematic classification. Each research area within this framework is discussed,
including the identifications of the limits of pervious research and of potential future
research directions.

Daskinetal (2005): Discuss the literature on warehouse design, performance

evaluation, case studies, and computational systems, respectively. The final section
gives conclusions and future research directions. The overall structure (or conceptual
design) of a warehouse determines the functional departments, e.g., how many
storage departments, employing what technologies, and how orders will be
assembled. At this stage of design, the issues are to meet storage and throughput
requirements, and to minimize costs, which may be the discounted value of
investment and future operating costs.

Yoon and Sharp (1996): Propose a structured approach for exploring the design
space of order picking systems, which includes stages such as design information
collection, design alternative development, and performance evaluation.

Meller and Gau (1996): This research assumes the definition of the departments is
given, and contemporary approaches remain challenged by the modelling of the
department interactions, particularly material handling. Warehouse design, in
contrast, is largely concerned with defining the departments, and a major issue in
resolving that decision is to understand the interactions. Thus, at this point, the
research on general facility design does not offer much to inform warehouse design.

29
 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Data analysis and interpretation is the process of assigning meaning to the collected
information and determining the conclusion, significance and implications of
findings. It is an important and exciting steps in the process of research. In all
research studies, analysis follows data collection. Analysis is the statistical methods
of interpretation, with describes the characteristics of the data and will give the
investigator an insight into the problem. It simplifies the masses facts and presenting
them in an understandable from in order to test the hypothesis. The research work is
incomplete without analysis and interpretation.

According to C.R. Kothari (1989), “The term analysis refers to the computation of
measures along with searching for patterns of relationship that exist among data-
groups”. Analysis involves estimating the values of unknown parameters of the
population and testing of hypothesis for drawing inferences.

This chapter includes the analysis and interpretation of data based on the survey
conducted among the employees in MIV LOGISTICS, Kochi. The data have been
analyzed and interpreted using percentage analysis method, descriptive analysis and
correlation method. Based on this analysis, the findings and suggestions for the
study are prepared.

TOOLS FOR DATA ANALYSIS

Tools being used for analyzing and interpretation of data with percentage analysis.

LIKERT SCALE

Likert –type or otherwise frequency scales used choice response formats and are
designed to measure attitudes or options of the employees or respondents. These
ordinal scales measure levels of agreement/disagreement of respondents on a
particular statement. A Likert –type scale assumes that the strength/intensity of
experience is linear, i.e., on a continuum from strongly disagrees and makes the
assumption that attitudes can be measured. Respondents may be offered a choice of
five to seven or even nine pre-coded responses with the natural point being neither
agree nor disagree.

30
PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS

One of the simplest methods of analysis is the percentage method. It is one of the
traditional statistical tools. Through the use of percentage, the data are reduced in the
standard form with the base equal to 100, which facilitates comparison. The formula
used to calculate percentage analysis as;

Percentage of analysis = Number of respondent * 100

Total number of respondents

31
TABLE NO 4.1: The employer must check the warehouse function and
effectiveness of the technical protective measures periodically.

RESPONSES NO: OF PERCENTAGE

RESPONDENTS

Strongly agree 48 80

Agree 12 20

Neutral 0 0

Disagree 0 0

Strongly disagree 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.1: The employer must check the warehouse function and effectiveness of
the technical protective measures periodically.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree Total
INTERPRETATION

From the above figure majority of respondent were strongly Agree and agree with
the statement and no one can neutral, disagree and strongly disagree the opinion. We
can say that majority respondents are strongly agree with the essential of checking of
the warehouse functions and effectiveness of the technical protective measures
periodically.

32
TABLE NO 4.2: Impact of strategic objectives on the warehousing.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

The most important effect 10 16.67

A large effect 29 48.33

A moderate effect 18 30

A slight effect 3 5

none 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.2: Impact of strategic objectives on the warehousing

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Most important A large effect A moderate A slight effect None Total
effect effect

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure majority of respondent state that the strategic objective have a
large effect (48.33%) on the warehousing and some of them state that it have most
important effect (16.67%), a moderate effect (30%) and a slight effect (5%) also.

33
TABLE NO 4.3: Customers satisfaction with warehousing practices that MIV
Logistics offering

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Strongly satisfied 26 43.33

Satisfied 33 55

Neutral 1 1.67

Not satisfied 0 0

Strongly not satisfied 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.3: Customers satisfaction with warehousing practices that MIV Logistics
offering

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Strongly Staisfied Neutral Not satisfied Strongly not Total
satisfied satisfied

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure we can clearly know that the most of the respondent state that
customers are satisfied (55%) with the warehousing practice at MIV Logistics. And
also some of respondents stated customers are strongly satisfied (43.33%) and some
are neutral (1.67%) and no one can not satisfied and strongly not satisfied the
opinion.
34
TABLE NO 4.4: Is company pursuing best warehouse management practices

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Strongly agree 21 35

Agree 35 58.33

Neutral 3 5

Disagree 1 1.67

Strongly disagree 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.4: Is company pursuing best warehouse management practices

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Total
disagree

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure majority of respondent are agree with the statement and some
of them are also strongly agree, neutral and disagree the statement. We can say that
majority of them are agree (58.33%) with that the company is pursuing best
warehouse management practices and some of them are strongly agree (35%) and
some are neutral (5%) and some of them are disagree (1.67%) with the statement.

35
TABLE NO 4.5: Under environmental uncertainties will company’s environment
factor affect warehouse management practices.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Strongly agree 0 0

Agree 0 0

Neutral 18 30

Disagree 28 46.67

Strongly disagree 14 23.33

Total 60 100

CHART 4.5: Under environmental uncertainties will company’s environment factor

affect warehouse management practices.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Total
disagree

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure majority of the respondent are disagree (46.67%) with the
statement that environmental uncertainty will company’s environmental factor affect
warehouse management practices. And also some of them are neutral (30%) and
some are strongly disagree (23.33%) the statement. And no one agree or strongly
agree on this statement.

36
TABLE NO 4.6: Is company’s warehouse maintain the quality of the goods

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Strongly agree 51 85

Agree 9 15

Neutral 0 0

Disagree 0 0

Strongly disagree 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.6: Is company’s warehouse maintain the quality of the goods

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disgaree Strongly Total
disagree

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure we can clearly state that majority of respondent are strongly
agree (85%) with the statement that the company’s warehouse maintain the quality
of the goods and also some of the respondent agree (15%) on that statement. No on
comment as neutral, disagree or strongly disagree.

37
TABLE NO 4.7: Company’s warehousing facilities are capable of keeping the
goods/ products long enough.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Strongly agree 48 80

Agree 12 20

Neutral 0 0

Disagree 0 0

Strongly disagree 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.7: Company’s warehousing facilities are capable of keeping the goods/
products long enough.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Total
Disagree

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure we can clearly state that majority of the respondents are
strongly agree (80%) and agree (20%) with the statement that the company’s
warehousing keep the product or goods long enough. And no one have commented
as neutral, disagree or strongly disagree on the statement.

38
TABLE NO 4.8: Does company ensure the efficient shipment of the product/goods.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Strongly agree 21 35

Agree 28 46.67

Neutral 11 18.33

Disagree 0 0

Strongly disagree 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.8: Does company ensure the efficient shipment of the product/goods.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree Total

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure we can clearly state that majority of the respondents are
strongly agree (35%) and agree (46.67%) with the statement that the company
ensures the efficient shipment of the product or goods. Some of the respondent have
stated as neutral (18.33%). But none of them stated as disagree or strongly disagree
for the statement.
39
TABLE NO 4.9: Does company keep up-to-date inventory control and tracking
system to locate containers/cargo.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Strongly agree 13 21.67

Agree 38 63.33

Neutral 5 8.33

Disagree 4 6.67

Strongly disagree 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.9: Does company keep up-to-date inventory control and tracking system
to locate containers/cargo.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disgree Total

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure majority of respondent are agree with the statement. And
some of them are also strongly agree, neutral and disagree the statement also. We
can say that majority of them are agree (63.33%) with that the company keep up-to-
date inventory control and tracking system to locate container or cargo. And some of
them strongly agree (21.67%) and some are neutral (8.33%) also and some of them
are disagree (6.67%) with the statement.

40
TABLE NO 4.10: Does company ensure the first-aid measures inside warehouse.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Much better 47 78.33

Better 13 21.67

Equal 0 0

Worse 0 0

Much worse 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.10: Does company ensure the first-aid measures inside warehouse.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Much better Better Equal Worse Much worse Total

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure we can clearly state that the majority of the respondents’ state
that the first aid measures inside the warehouse are much better (78.33%) and some
of them stated as better (21.67%). And none of them stated as equal, worse or much
worse on the statement.

41
TABLE NO 4.11: Assessment on the safety in material handling.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Much better 51 85

Better 9 15

Equal 0 0

Worse 0 0

Much worse 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.11: Assessment on the safety in material handling.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Much better Better Equal Worse Much worse Total

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure we can clearly state that the majority of the respondents state
that the safety in material handling in the company is much better (85%) and some
of them state that it is better (15%). And none of them have stated that it is equal,
worse, or much worse for the statement.

42
TABLE NO 4.12: Assessment on the material handling quickness.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Much better 26 43.33

Better 31 51.67

Equal 0 0

Worse 3 5

Much worse 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.12: Assessment on the material handling quickness.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Much better Better Equal Worse Much worse Total

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure majority of the respondent have stated that the material
handling quickness in the warehouse is better (51.67%) and much better (43.33%).
And some of them have stated that it is worse (5%) for the statement. And none of
them stated as equal or much worse.

43
TABLE NO 4.13: Assessment on the route efficiency.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Much better 37 61.67

Better 14 21.33

Equal 6 10

Worse 3 5

Much worse 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.13: Assessment on the route efficiency.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Much better Better Equal Worse Much worse Total

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure majority of respondent stated that the route efficiency is much
better in the company. Some of them have also stated as better, equal, and worse on
this statement. So we can say majority of respondent state that the route efficiency
are much better (61.67%) and some of them stated better (21.33%) and some stated
equal (10%) and some of them stated as worse (5%).

44
TABLE NO 4.14: Company uses conveyor system in material handling.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Strongly agree 34 56.67

Agree 24 40

Neutral 2 3.33

Disagree 0 0

Strongly disagree 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.14: Company uses conveyor system in material handling.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Total
disagree

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure we can clearly know that most of the respondent are strongly
agree (56.67%) and agree (40%) on the conveyor system in material handling. And
some of the respondent stated as neutral (3.33%) on the statement.

45
TABLE NO 4.15: Assessment on the occurrence of mechanical shutdowns.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Much better 33 55

Better 24 40

Equal 3 5

Worse 0 0

Much worse 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.15: Assessment on the occurrence of mechanical shutdowns.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Mch better Better Equal Worse Much worse Total

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure we can clearly know that the majority of the respondents are
stated that the occurrence of mechanical shutdowns much better (55%) and better
(40%) in the company. And also some of them stated as equal (5%) on the condition.

46
TABLE NO 4.16: Assessment on providing training for the employees in material
handling.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Strongly agree 36 60

Agree 22 36.67

Neutral 2 3.33

Disagree 0 0

Strongly disagree 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.16: Assessment on providing training for the employees in material

handling.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree Total

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure we can clearly state that the majority of the respondents are
strongly agree (60%) that providing training for the employees in material handling
and some of them agree (36.67%) on the statement. And some of them are neutral
(3.33%). None of them are disagree or strongly disagree on the statement.

47
TABLE NO 4.17: Assessment on the operator’s autonomy.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Much better 25 41.67

Better 18 30

Equal 10 16.67

Worse 7 11.66

Much worse 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.17: Assessment on the operator’s autonomy.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Much better Better Equal Worse Much worse Total

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure majority of the respondent stated that the operator’s
autonomy is much better in company. Some of them have stated better, equal, and
worse for the condition. So we can say that majority of them feels operator’s
autonomy is much better (41.67%). Some of them stated that its better (30%) and
some stated that its equal (16.67%) and some of them stated as worse (11.66%).

48
TABLE NO 4.18: Assessment on operator’s performance and availability.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Much better 30 50

Better 17 28.33

Equal 8 13.33

Worse 5 8.34

Much worse 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.18: Assessment on operator’s performance and availability.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Much better Better Equal Worse Much worse Total

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure majority of respondent stated that operator’s performance and
availability at the warehouse are much better and some of them have stated that it’s
better, equal and worse. So we can say that the majority of respondent feels the
operator’s performance and availability are much better (50%) and some of them
stated as its better (28.33%), some stated its equal (13.33%), and some of them
stated as its worse (8.34%).

49
TABLE NO 4.19: Assessment on the agility of operations.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Much better 28 46.67

Better 28 46.67

Equal 4 6.66

Worse 0 0

Much worse 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.19: Assessment on the agility of operations.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Much better Better Equal Worse Much worse Total

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure we can clearly know that majority of respondents stated that
the agility of operations are much better (46.67%) and some of them stated as better
(46.67%) and some them have stated that as equal (6.66%).

50
TABLE NO 4.20: Assessment on evaluation of the cost of operations.

RESPONSES NO: OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

Much better 24 40

Better 32 53.34

Equal 2 3.33

Worse 2 3.33

Much worse 0 0

Total 60 100

CHART 4.20: Assessment on evaluation of the cost of operations.

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Much better Better Equal Worse Much worse Total

INTERPRETATION

From the above figure we can clearly know that the majority of the respondent
stated that the evaluation of the cost of operations are better (53.34%) and some of
them stated that as much better (40%). And some of them have equal (3.33%) and
some stated as worse (3.33%). None of them have stated as much worse on the
statement.

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 FINDINGS

 It has been found that majority of employees are strongly agree with
checking of warehouse function and effectiveness of the technical protective
measures periodically.
 Majority of employees also state that the strategic objectives of the company
have a large effect on the warehousing.
 In the case of customer’s satisfaction on the warehousing practices, a
standard majority of the employees comment it as they make sure the
customers are satisfied.
 Most of the employees strongly agree that the warehouse maintain the
quality of the goods as well as it keep the goods long enough without any
damage.
 In the case of shipment majority are agree that the company ensure the
efficient shipment of the goods.
 It has been found that the majority of the employee disagree on that the
environmental uncertainties will effect on the warehouse management
practices.
 When it comes to the inventory control majority agrees on keeping up-to-
date inventory details and also tracking system to locate cargo.
 Respondent comment that ensuring the warehouse safety first aid measures
are essential for it
 In the case of material handling majority states that safety and quickness in
material handling is better.
 When it comes to the opinion about the conveyor system, most of employees
are agree with conveyor system are used in material handling.
 It has been found that majority of employees are strongly agree on providing
training for the employees in material handling.
 About the performance and availability of the operator they have commented
as they are much better in their performance.
 In the case of route efficiency, respondent comment that it have much better
route efficiency.

52
 Respondents also state that warehouse manage about 60 different products
and categories its product into the range of up to 20-49 group.
 About the stock, employees comment that warehouse maintains stock of all
products.
 In the case of monitoring stock levels, it has been found that the
maximum/minimum stock levels have been set and monitored.
 About the main improvement that they have implemented in last year was
the expansion of warehouse area, a new warehouse for the steel sheet and
scrap and cargo handling using conveyor.
 Main evidence of improvements are cost saving, less time consumption and
high level of accuracy.
 The problems still identified after the implementation of the changes are on
material handling and water leakage, and also have labor issues

SUGGESTIONS

 Man power can be increased and also warehouse handling equipment’s like
forklift and hand trolley can be increased.
 Safety of employees have to be given importance.
 No of vanning lanes in the warehouse can be increased to reduce over stock
in receiving area.
 Inventory can be kept in a safe, secure (locked) place with limited general
access.
 Utilization of space to be concentrated and to be used in a proper way.
 A record can be maintained for each item in stock showing the quantity on
hand, quantity received, quantity issued, & location in the warehouse.
 Monthly, Quarterly, Half and yearly audit can be introduced for the purpose
of time consumption.
 Instruct the warehouse personnel what items to pick or put away and where
and when to perform those activities.
 In the case of material handling one of the important things to provide safety
is avoid excessive weights it can lead difficult to handling material.
 The success of a company depends on input formal of its employees or
teams, regardless of their roles in the logistics process. Carefully consider
53
 feedback and suggestions from staff concerning practices that could further
improve logistics efficiency.

CONCLUSION

From the discussion of the above research, it can be concluded that this warehouse
process can be improved by reducing or maintain the operation. With combination
of material handling process and time measurement it help to improve the current
work process. Warehouse management today are lifeblood of any industry and no
government industry or organization or private organizations operates without so
warehouse functions increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the manufacturing
organization since it have many significant contribution which is finally results the
reproduction costs.

Not only the warehouse function but also the material handling process contributes
to the betterment of the organization. By using material handlings the organization
can save the time, reduce the numbered labors, save the space, improving working
condition etc.

It is obvious that, in order to achieve those objectives and to increase the

organization performances the organization should set up the proper principles and
guidelines to be followed that will make the organization to increase the production
as well as to reduce the costs of production.

The improvements made by the company was successful to achieve the project goals
and objectives, which the improvements was included the processes of operation
that carries in the warehouse. The warehouse is a key component of the supply chain
in emergencies. It buffers uncertainties and breakdowns that may occur in the supply
chain. When properly managed and appropriately stocked a warehouse provides a
consistent supply of material when it is needed.

54
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

JOURNALS

 Olsen D. R. (2003) – Journal on supply chain management Vol.5

 Rushton Et Al (2000) - Journal on key challenges of warehouse.
 Tommy Blomqvist (2010) – Journal on warehouse design for industry
 J. Gonda Torzay (2011) – Journal on planning and controlling
 Dr. Vipul Chalotra (2013) – Journal on effective warehousing Vol.1(1)
 V. Venkatraman (2015) – Journal on production technology and
management Vol.6
 Saxena (2003) – Hazardous materials can be managed Vol.5(2)
 Taylor & Francis (2015) – Journal on effective decision Vol.3

WEB RESOURCES

 http://www.logisticsmanagement.com
 http://orginlogistics.co.in
 http://www.supplycahin24*7.com
 www.miv.com

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 APPENDICES

QUESTIONNAIRE

NAME: …………………………………………………

DESIGNATION: …………………………………….

DEPARTMENT: ………………………………………

1. The employer must check the warehouse function and effectiveness of the
technical protective measures periodically.

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral

Disagree Strongly Disagree

2. How much impact does the warehousing has on your strategic objectives.

The most important effect A moderate effect None

A large effect A slight effect

3. How do you evaluate the cost of operations?

Much worse Worse Equal

Better Much better

4. Are your customers satisfied with warehousing practices that your company
offering.

Strongly not satisfied Not satisfied Neutral

Strongly satisfied Satisfied

5. According to our opinion do your company is pursuing best warehouse

management practices

Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral

Strongly agree Agree

56
6. According to your opinion do your think that your company under environmental
uncertainties will company’s environment factor affect warehouse management
practices.

Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral

Strongly agree Agree

7. According to your opinion do your company’s warehouse maintain the quality of

the goods.

Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral

Strongly agree Agree

8. According to your opinion do your company warehousing facilities are capable of

keeping the goods/ products long enough.

Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral

Strongly agree Agree

9. Does your company ensure the efficient shipment of the product/ goods.

Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral

Strongly agree Agree

10. Does your company keep up-to-date inventory control and tracking system to
locate containers/ crago.

Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral

Strongly agree Agree

11. How do your company ensure the first- aid measures inside warehouse?

Much worse Worse Equal

Better Much better

57
12. How do you assess the safety in material handling?

Much worse Worse Equal

Better Much better

13. How do you assess material handling quickness?

Much worse Worse Equal

Better Much better

14. How do you assess the route efficiency?

Much worse Worse Equal

Better Much better

15. Does your company uses conveyor system in material handling?

Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral

Strongly agree Agree

16. How do you assess the occurrence of mechanical shutdowns?

Much worse Worse Equal

Better Much better

17. Do company need to provide training for the employees in material handling?

Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral

Strongly agree Agree

18. How do you assess the operator’s autonomy?

Much worse Worse Equal

Better Much better

19. How do you assess operator’s performance and availability?

Much worse Worse Equal

58
Better Much better

20. How do you assess the agility of operations?

Much worse Worse Equal

Better Much better

A STUDY ON THE WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT AND MATERIAL

HANDLING PROCESS AT MIV LOGISTIC PVT LTD, COCHIN.

NAME: ………………………………………………………….
DESIGNATION: ………………………………………………
DEPARTMENT: ……………………………………………...

PERSONAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What kinds of logistics services are provided by your organization?

A. Warehousing B. Forwarding & Clearing C. 4PL

D. outbound logistics E. SC Consultants F. Other

2. What are the primary means of communication that your organization is using to
communicate with customers?

A. Traditional communication such as telephone, email, fax etc.

B. Electronic Data interchange EDI

C. Internet based EDI

D. Do not know

E. others

INFORMATION ABOUT STOCK

1. Into how many categories (e.g., essential drugs, contraceptives, and educational
materials) does the warehouse group its products?

A. More than 50 categories of products

B. 20 – 49
C. 1 – 19
D. Dose not group products by type or category.

59
2. How many products does the warehouse manage?
[Approximate number of products.]_____________
3. For each product, does the warehouse use the same unit size during the
procurement, receiving and shipping stages? (E.g., if a product is procured by the
carton, is it distributed by the carton rather than by the piece?)
A. Yes, the unit size used to procure a product is the same as the unit size in
shipping the product out.
B. No, (specify)
____________________________________________________________________
____
____________________________________________________________________
_________________

4. Does the warehouse try to keep all products on hand, or dose it obtain products
only on demand?
A. Maintains stock of all products
B. Maintains stock of some products, but obtains other products on demand.
C. Does not keep stock on hand, but obtains everything upon demand.
5. Does the warehouse use a maximum/minimum system for monitoring stock
levels?
A. Maximum/ minimum stock levels have been set and monitored.
B. Max/ min stock levels have been set but are not monitored.
C. No max/ min stock levels have been set.

INFORMATION ABOUT MANAGEMENT

1. Does the warehouse record stock by lot?
A. Yes, lot numbers are recorded.
B. No, lot numbers are not recorded.
2. How does the warehouse keep track of quantities on hand of each product?
A. Bin cards
B. Ledgers
C. Spreadsheet
D. Database

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E. Combination of these options
F. other option
(Specify)
_________________________________________________________________.
3. Please provide information on the warehouse’s physical inventory process, if any.
A. Frequency of physical inventory (if irregular, write N/A):
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
___________________.
B. Date of last physical inventory report (month, year): _______/_______.
C. No physical inventory report exists for the past two years.

OPEN- ENDED QUESTIONNAIRE

1. What are the main changes/ improvement that happened in the material handling
process in last year?
2. What are the main evidences of the improvements?

3. What problems are still identified after the implementation of the change?

4. What are the main factors affected?

5. What are the main issues identified in each factor?

61