Inventory management practices of selected manufacturing companies in the Freeport Area of Bataan [manuscript] / Ofelia G. Miclat.

Includes bibliographical references.

In recent years, a number of manufacturing companies have faced numerous challenges especially in inventory management or material control, thus affecting their operational performance. There have been cases of materials overstocking, which eventually get expired or out dated, under stocking, lack of stock-taking, theft of materials by workers, delays in deliveries of materials into the organizations, and loss of production time among others. However, universality of inventory management challenges mentioned is widely recognized and researchers continue to seek optimal solutions across the globe. Research to date is diversified across many aspects that are basically directed at offering optimal solutions to such stock control problems, particularly timely delivery of needed materials for seamless delivery of goods, products, and services. More sophisticated mathematical tools and computational algorithms are constantly being discovered or proposed while traditional analytical techniques are being applied in new ways. While there are numerous studies in inventory management with diverse perspectives or emphasis, comprehensive research that attempt to integrate potential impact areas of emerging inventory management practices in today‟s increasingly complex society, is presently scarce. Consequently, a wide variety of inventory management opportunities are opening up to modern organizations but a holistic assessment of the impact of deployable tools appears to be currently lacking, thus with the aim of helping to fill this gap, this study proposes a conceptual framework designed to support the choice of the most adequate and appropriate inventory management model for particular manufacturing companies in the Freeport Area of Bataan which is considered the leading hub of investors not only in Region III but in Asia as well. Several manufacturing industries in the Freeport Area of Bataan are currently faced with the challenges of maintaining socio-economic progress amidst unprecedented plunge in crude oil prices and tightening of global financial conditions that had led to reduce export earnings and revenues. It is therefore imperative for manufacturing companies in the Freeport Area of Bataan to have sound, effective and well-coordinated inventory management systems because the business environment is rapidly changing, highly competitive and drastically affects the performance of the organization. With the application of proper inventory management techniques, the right materials will be available at the right time, with the minimum storage costs and investment. The researcher concentrated only on five (5) selected manufacturing companies solely in the Freeport Area of Bataan. These five (5) selected companies produce various types of products such as a tennis balls, lens, fiberglass and different designs of bags. Other companies were not included in the study due to limited time and financial resources of the researcher. Time is so tight for a two- month period in devising the survey questionnaire and has it validated by three experts in the area of the study to suit the current inventory management practices of the selected manufacturing companies in the Freeport of Bataan. It is fortunate that the 46 respondents were very accommodating and cooperative that the researcher easily retrieved the survey questionnaires. This thesis provides academic knowledge on the strategic role of inventory management adopted by the selected manufacturing companies in the Freeport Area of Bataan. Also, the various inventory management practices of five (5) selected manufacturing companies were assessed, the problems they encountered were identified and how these manufacturing companies complement ongoing campaigns to achieve an effective inventory management system sealing leakages in revenue and wastes in expenditure especially unnecessary inventories were determined. The results of the analysis based on related literature indicate that a proper inventory control system is closely associated with low storage costs, cost-reduction and timely delivery of requisite goods, products, materials and services to customers and stakeholders, thereby enhancing sustained profitability, competitive ability, and enhanced market diversification prospects. It can also be concluded that ineffective inventory management leads to incidences of overproduction, underproduction, excessive stocks, and obsolescence of stocks, production bottlenecks and delays in delivery of raw materials. The findings served as a benchmark for companies which are only starting and may prove practical and relevant to concerned companies.