Computerised inventory management for a manufacturing industry: A case study in Nigeria

Various authors have suggested that the cost of purchasing and holding inventory can account for as much as 60%–80% of the total cost of a product or service. Usually, only some of the inventory (about 10%) contributes to 70%–80% of locked up inventory or has 70%–80% consumption value or their availability is vital for maintenance of the manufacturing process. Hence, the need for an effective and efficient inventory management is germane to any manufacturing industry. This paper presents the software, ‘manInvent’, an interactive system developed using visual basic 6.0, with a view to reduce manual interaction with the inventory management of a Nigerian manufacturing industry. Working with 5 years’ production data for the industry, the objective of the software ‘manInvent’ was validated with respect to the manual inventory system of the industry, and the result is shown.