CODING

CODING

It is the method of specifying unique identification to material in the store or in the inventory. Coding is essential for requisitioning material for the operational department, placing order, receiving material from the supplier and having unique records for each material in the store. It also helps in having a good control over inventory and preventive from pilferage of material kept in the store.
A good coding system has following characteristics:-

1. Flexibility
2. Precision
3. Brevity
4. Comprehensiveness

Method of coding: There are three type of method:

1. Scientific/group method: under this method items are divided in to number of groups and each group is given some code. Then further some grouping is done on the basis of classification of items in any group, its shape, function etc. In this method numbers are reserved for each group e.g. 001 might be one of the codes for inventory. In this code 00 might be a particular group such as raw material and 1 might represent a type of raw material such as fiber.

2. Mnemonic Method: Here alphabets closely associated with the name of the item are used for coding e.g. MT can be used for metallic items. This method is used when few types of items are stored. The only limitation in this method is that one code may be repeated for two items.

3. Hybrid/Random method: Here both alphabet and numbers can be used far assigning codes to items e.g. “001SK150” might represent fabric of silk material in red colour. In this code 001 represents fabric group, SK for silk and 150 is for red colour.