Store Management

Store Management is an important aspect in a construction site. Material requirement should be calculated and the orders should be placed in advance so that material is readily available when work begins. The site stores in this site mainly manage receiving, issuing and storing of material and the maintenance of plant & equipments.

Characteristics Of A Well Managed Store

Availability of materials whenever required

The storage quantity should neither be too much as it would increase the storage cost and the material may get deteriorated. On the other hand the stock levels should not be too low as a material shortage may lead to delays of the project. The optimum may vary from site to site, item to item or supplier to supplier. Yet it is a good practice to keep one week’s requirement in stock.

Material should be stored in such a manner that they are easily accessible, not subjected to environmental damages and would not obstruct the site traffic.

Using the FIFO basis in issuing materials whenever possible

A properly maintained recording system facilitating the preparation of usage reports, regular stock counts, monitoring the inward and outward movements.

Documents maintained in the system

Goods Received Note (GRN)

After receiving a stock of material the Store Keeper would issue a GRN acknowledging the receipt. This has to be authorized by the project engineer. The updating of the stocks ledger and the preparation of the weekly reports are done using this.

Gate Pass

A gate pass is raised every time a site vehicle goes out of the site. This is issued either by a storekeeper or by an engineer. Though the stores do not raise this strictly a gate pass would restrict unauthorized stock transfers.

Material Requisition Note (MRN)

The subcontractors and any other person have to produce a MRN to get material from the stores. The form has to be authorized by the supervisor in charge of the work. To facilitate the monitoring of the material usage the supervisors keep a record of all the material issues authorized by them and produce a summary to the engineer in charge. The details of all the issues are transferred to book on a daily basis and a summary is used to update the Bin cards.

Purchase Order / Request Order

When a particular work has to be started the engineer in charge of the work prepares a list of material required. If the list includes items that are not in the site stores it will either be transferred from another site or purchased by the head office and transferred. This requisition is placed by through a purchase order prepared by the engineer and includes all the details required to place the order.

Bin Card

This is maintained in the stores to record the movements of the stock level of all the items. A bin card is maintained for each item in the site. The purpose of a bin card is to record the receipts and issues and the stock level of the item at any moment can readily be found from this. The bin cards in this site serve the function of a stocks ledger. The updating of this is done using the entries of the material issues book.

Invoices

When a supplier directly supplies goods to the site he will produce a copy of an invoice raised by him. The invoices are filed and sent to head office for billing. The details are used to update a book of receipts as well as weekly material progress reports.

Material Storage.

More attention should be given to the material storage within the site premises. This should be done in order to prevent any damage, wastage and to maintain working delays. Each and every item should be labeled for proper identification and also to handle easily. These labels should contain a brief description such as the date of purchase, type, size etc. Every item at the store was insured. Also it should be easy to handle and transport the materials to the required job from where it is stored.

Storing Of Fine & Course Aggregates.

Storage of both fine and course aggregate should be related to the mixer position. And also it should be considered the transport facilities to that place and the area to be used.

The required concrete amount & the number of deliveries to the site will determine the size of the storage spaces. Various sizes of Course aggregates should be stored separately to avoid mixing them together.

Storing Of Cement.

Cement should be stored on a stage raised above the floor level to avoid hardening due to dampness of the floor. Cement bags should not be stored one over the other more than 8 bags. It is better to keep about 9” distance between cement stock and the walls. Cement stocks should use before 4 months. When using cement it should issue earlier stocks previously.

Storing Of Reinforcement.

Care should be taken when storing steel (reinforcement) to avoid mixing them with different sizes of steel bars and different sizes. The different diameter of steel bars & various types were placed in separately on racks. They should be prevention form corrosion & free oil and mud. For this purpose reinforcement should be stored in a covered place.

Storing Of Tools.

Tools and equipments should be stored with security. This is because of these items are small and valuable. Workers use tools and small equipments sequently. Therefore these should be stored inside the stores where it can be reached easily. These tools and equipments should maintain well otherwise they cannot be used for a long time.