| dc.description.abstract | This study was set to investigate the factors affecting effective stores management in Kitui juice manufacturing company situated in Kitui town Kitui County. The researcher used descriptive survey research design which is recommended as a good method for fact-finding study. A sample of eighty four (84) workers was selected to participate in the study which was thirty percent (30%) of the target population as is recommended for research studies. Stratified sampling technique, was used to group the workers according to their job titles. Simple random sampling was applied to get 30% of each stratum. Efforts were put to ensure gender balance. The study revealed that 60%of the respondents were male while female constituted 37% the company meets the constitutional affirmative action requirement of 30% of either gender; however the gender disparity was still wide. It was also observed that majority of the workers 45% were aged between 31-35 years .those under 25 years were 11% while those over 40 years were 12% .The Company seemed to have balanced the old and the young employees. It was evident that half of the workers (50%) were form four leavers while those with degree and above were 18% .Surprisingly there was 3% of the participants who had no certificate at all. Most of the work involved general work which was manual in nature and probably that was why the company had engaged a lot of KCSE/KCE holders. The study further revealed that the company was interested in engaging only a few professionals (18%) and a lot of general work workers (53%).There was 29% of the respondents who are diploma holders. This cadre could be used as middle level managers, supervisors and machine operators as well as accountants. It was also revealed that a whopping 70% of the respondents supported the use of IT while a worrying 11% were not sure. Those were probably the conservatives who were anti change and were never ready to adapt to changing trends such as new technology (IT).The 19% of respondents who said no could have been part of the conservatists or they could be part of the general workers who could not have understood the advantages of IT. It was found that 94% answered on the affirmative while only 1% said no, though 5% claimed not to be sure. Concerning the job titles, the study found out that majority (38%) were general workers, managers consisted 9% machine operators (20%), cleaners and supervisors each 12% secretaries and security were 4% and 5% respectively. As far as the workers’ experience in the then job title was concerned, the researcher found out that only 10% had less than 5 years’ experience in the position they held at the time of the study.39% had over 10 years’ experience which was very ideal for effective and efficient performance. Over half (51%) had 6-10 years’ experience again very recommendable for high performance. The study further showed that the workers had positive attitude towards the terms and conditions of service of the company since 82% either agreed or agreed strongly. The 18% who either disagreed or claimed not to know were the usual small percentage of workers who are normally complaining of this or that. 58% of the respondents disclosed that the MHE were effective and efficient. The 8% who said they were not sure were probably the cleaners and the securities who were less concerned with the happenings in the company.34% of the respondents said that the MHE were not effective and efficient and probably might be people who are not involved in that department
The study found that the company had adequate storage space as was confirmed by 65% who answered on the affirmative. The study established that EOQ was mostly used although JIT was also used for some specific materials depending on their perishability and rate of usage. 81% of the respondents affirmed that the inventory
management techniques were strictly followed while a worrying 4% said that they were not sure and 15% said that the techniques were not strictly followed. Based on the majority (81%) it was obvious that inventory management techniques were strictly followed. On the other hand, it was also revealed that the distance from the stores to the manufacturing plant was between 50m to 100 m which was fairly a long distance that could affect the production efficiency and effectiveness. If care was not taken spoilage and damage could have occurred during transportation of materials from the stores to the manufacturing plant. | en_US |
