CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

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1.1 INTRODUCTION

Kerala a narrow strip of land wedged between the Western Ghats of the East and Arabian Sea on
the west is the home of Coir. Coir is a versatile natural fibre extracted from the husk of coconuts.
After trashing the coconut husk the long fibre is removed and used for the manufacturing a
variety of products of multifarious use including home décor, furnishing of luxury apartments
and industrial purpose.

COIRFED Alappuzha is one of the leading manufacturers of Coir products in Kerala, even
though they haven’t been able to take full advantage of the current technologies. COIRFED
produce the finest quality of product in a proper way and if they use new technologies in
production, then within a short period they can easily gain monopoly in the markets. The aim of
study is to find the inventory management in COIRFED Alappuzha.

Inventory is the most important asset in any company. The term inventory refers to the stockpile
of the products a firm is offering for sale and the components that make up the product. The
word inventory was first recorded in 1601. The French term inventory, or “detailed of goods”,
dates back to 1415. In other words, inventory is composed of assets that will be showed in future
in the normal course of the business operations. The assets which firms store as inventory in
anticipation of need are:

 Raw materials
 Work in process (Semi finished goods)
 Finished goods

The raw materials i.e., inventory contains item that are purchased by the firm from others and are
converted into finished goods through the manufacturing (production) process. They are an
important input of the final product .The work-in-process inventory consists of items currently
being used in the production process.

Inventory management is one of the most important business processes during the operation of a
manufacturing company as it relates to purchases, sales and logistic activities. It is concerned

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with the control of stocks throughout the whole supply chain. Inventory control sits at the data
level where the day-to-day business is organized. Activities here are data driven and are
primarily concerned with short-term planning and recording of events. Inventory control is
concerned with maintaining the correct level of stock and recording its movement. It deals
mainly with historic data.

Inventory is a central process in manufacturing unit. This inventory concerns to all departments
i.e., from planning department to selling department in which it passes though production
department, HR department, logistic department, finance department, costing department, and
commercial department etc. So managing of inventory is having wide scope in manufacturing
company.

They are normally semi-finished goods that are at various stages of production in a multi stage
production process. A finished goods represented final or completed products which are
available for sale. The inventory of such goods consists of items that have been produced but are
yet be sold.

The objective of inventory management is explained in detail in the fourth coming sections. In
this project more attention is given to the basic concepts relevant to the management and control
of inventory. As a matter of fact, the inventory management. But a familiarity with them is of
great help to the financial managers in planning and budgeting inventory.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Inventories constitute the most significant part of current asset in majority of companies in India.
On an average, inventories are approximately 60% of current asset in public Ltd companies in
India. The amount of investment is some times more in inventory than in other assets. It is
necessary for every management to give proper attention to inventory management. There are
conflicting interests of different departmental heads over the issue of inventory. The finance
manager should try to invest less in inventory because for him it is an ideal investment; whereas

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production manager will emphasis to acquire more and more inventory, as he does not want any
interruption on production due to shortage of inventory. The purpose of inventory management is
to keep the stocks in such a way that neither there is over- stocking nor under stocking. Over
stocking will result in a reduction of liquidity and starving of other production processes. On the
other hand under stocking will result in stoppage of work. The investments in inventory should
be kept in reasonable limits.

In this context it is felt to undertake a study to highlight the inventory management .The present
study is an effort to analyse THE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT IN KERALA STATE
COOPERATIVE COIR MARKETING FEDERATION (COIRFED).

1.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study on inventory management will help in understanding the method used for the same by
the organization and also to get a practical idea regarding how the inventory, raw materials,
finished products as well as semi-finished products are maintained and managed within the
organization.

1.4 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Review of literature is the part and parcel of the scientific investigation, which would enable the
researcher to understand the research gap, which will justify the study. A brief review of
available literature on various topics related to the study is attempted to add in this section. The
objective of the review is to get acquainted with ideas, concepts and methodology covered in the
existing literature and to develop an analytical framework based on past studies and reviews.

Inventory is a list for goods and materials, or those goods and materials themselves held
available in stock by a firm. It is also used for a list of the contents of a household and for a list
for testamentary purpose of the possessions of someone who has died. In accounting inventory is
considered an asset.

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 L.Vinesh (1943) articulated the fact that based on the study how to plan an inventory
management, says that we keep all of our sales histories by month, and this data is all we
need to make good forecast for inventory planning.
 Hari R. Swami(l954) in his research work "Materials Management in Public
Undertakings" has evaluated the performance of materials management in the central
public undertakings in Rajasthan such as, Instrumentation Limited, Kota unit:
HMT,Ajmer unit: Hindustan Zink Limited, Debari unit; Hindustan Copper Limited,
Kerri unit and Sandbar Salts Limited. The study covered various aspects of materials
management in these enterprises from 1977-78 to 1981-82. The research opined that,
materials management should not cover the inspection function, as it requires an
autonomous and independent status in the organization. The study revealed that the lead-
time in the selected public enterprises was considerably long and suggested to reduce
administrative lead-time by expediting purchase files. The study also revealed that the
inventory of selected public enterprises had been accumulated due to the following
reasons; faulty purchases, heavy rejections, high lead time, uncongenial organization,
lack of scientific and modern techniques of materials management, defective inventory
control and inflationary tendencies in the economy. He suggested that the inventory
holdings could be reduced by adopting integrated system of materials management,
appointing qualified and trained inventory managers, reducing lead time, setting and
regulating consumption and stocking norms of raw materials and other goods, applying
modern techniques of materials management and identifying slow and non-moving items
 Krishnamurthy's study (1964) was aggregative and dealt with inventories in the private
sector of the Indian economy as a whole for the period 1948-1961. This study used sales
to represent demand for the product and suggest the importance of accelerator. Short-
term rate of interest had also been found to be significant.
 Dcshayis study (1965) a study on inventory management system explains. The more
expensive a software system is, the better it will help us to control over inventory.
 Trinky.M (1965) articulated the study that, inventory management is not limited to
documenting the delivery of raw materials and the movement of those materials into
operational process. The movement of those materials as the) go through the various
stages of the operation is also important. Typically known as a goods or work in progress
inventory, tracking materials as they are used to create finished goods also helps to

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 identify the need to adjust ordering amounts before the raw materials inventory gets
dangerously low or is inflated to an unfavorable level.
 Krishmamurthy and Sastry's study in (1970) was perhaps the comprehensive study on
manufacturing inventories. They collect the comprehensive manufacturing inventory
data and consolidate balance sheet data of public limited company published by RBI
they say that material management is needed both micro and macro levels of an
organisation.
 K.Rajakumar(1976) in his study on sales data and inventory management. the sales
data that we have in our company records, is all we needed for inventory management.
 Rajesh Sharma (1976) in his study ,Just-in-Time is an inventory management
philosophy that aims to reduce inventories by implementing systems and processes to
supply a product or service exactly when it is needed, and how it is needed in the
production process.
 In the year (1976) Shameela Raj in his study "Inventory" to many small business
owners is one of the more visible and tangible aspects of doing business. Raw materials,
goods in process and finished goods all represent various forms of inventory.
 Rosenblatt (1977) says: "The cost of maintaining inventory is included in the final price
paid by the consumer. Good in inventory represents a cost to their owner. The
manufacturer has the expense of materials and labour. The wholesaler also has funds tied
up". Therefore, the basic goal of the researchers is to maintain a level of inventory that
will provide optimum stock at lowest cost.
 Paniswara (1985) produced a research work entitled to inventory management in
Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation. He mainly suggests the
reclassification of stores items based on the criticality, the reification of reorder level and
reorder quantities. The study also showed the wastage caused by maintenance of
unnecessary stock records relating to items, which were no longer used.
 Basel G.D., (1987) in his study on Material Management, A Case Study of Bharat
Heavy Electrical Limited, Bhopal unit, (BHEL)', has evaluated the existing systems of
inventory management. He emphasized the need for automatic replenishment system in
the undertaking. He also studied the application of ABC analysis and EOQ technique of
inventory control. He also pointed out the accumulation of surplus stores and non-
moving items in the organization. He recommended that the surplus and obsolete stores,
which are no longer required, should be disposed off as early as possible at the best

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 available price. Further, he has suggested the preparation of monthly class wise
statements on inventories for effective control over them. And he suggested the
introduction of reconciliation of stores' ledgers with account ledgers to avoid
misappropriation of stores. The study also revealed that raw material, components and
Stores, and spares for production and operation are above their actual consumption level.
The inventories in general are found to be above their routine requirements. The
holdings of stores and spares generally are of the order of two to three years
requirements and these are considered as excess.
 Rakhav (1987) articulated the fact that Inventory management is the process of
efficiently overseeing the constant flow of units into and out of an existing inventory.
This process usually involves controlling the transfer in of units in order to preventthe
inventory from becoming too high, or dwindling to levels that could put the operation of
the company into jeopardy. Competent inventory management also seeks to control the
costs associated with the inventory, both from the perspective of the total value of the
goods included and the tax burden generated by the cumulative value of the inventory.
 Rama Krishna Rao B study in (1987) articulated the fact that, in his thesis inventory
management in Heavy Engineering Industry a case study of Bharath Heavy Plate and
vessels limited evaluated the performance of inventory. He has evaluated the existing
purchase system and lead-time involved in procurement of inventory and suggests that
the long lead-time should be avoided.
 According to K.Poli (1989) from its article inventory management is a science primarily
about specifying the shape and percentage of stocked goods. It is required at different
location within a facility or within many location of a supply network to precede the
regular and planned course of production and stock of material.
 Keith (1994) in their text also stated that the major objective of inventory management
and control is to inform managers how much of a good to re-order, when to re-order the
good, how frequently orders should be placed and what the appropriate safety stock is,
for minimizing stock outs. Thus, the overall goal of inventory is to have what is needed,
and to minimize the number of times one is out of stock.
 Morris (1995) stressed that inventory management in its broadest perspective is to keep
the most economical amount of one kind of asset in order to facilitate an increase in the
total value of all assets of the organization human and material resources

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 Sastry's study (1996) was a cross-section analysis of total inventories of companies
across several heterogeneous industries using balance sheet data of public limited
companies in the private sector. The study brought out the importance of accelerator
represented by change in sales. It also showed negative influence of fixed investment on
inventory investment.
 Drury (1996) defined inventory as a stock of goods that is maintained by a business in
anticipation of some future demand. This definition was also supported by Schroeder
who stressed that inventory management has an impact on all business functions,
particularly operations, marketing, accounting, and finance. He established that there are
three motives for holding inventories, which are transaction, precautionary and
speculative motives. The transaction motive occurs when there is a need to hold stock to
meet production and sales requirements. A firm might also decide to hold additional
amounts of stock to cover the possibility that it may have under estimated its future
production and sales requirements. This represents a precautionary motive, which
applies only when future demand is uncertain. The speculative motive for holding
inventory might entice a firm to purchase a larger quantity of materials than normal in
anticipation of making abnormal profits. Advance purchase of raw materials in
inflationary times is one form of speculative behavior.
 In the year (1996), Pamela Devi did a research work entitled "Materials Management in
Public Sector Heavy Engineering Industry. A Case Study of Bharat Heavy Plates and
Vessels Limited, Vishakhapatnam." She did a comparative study of inventor}
management practices of BHPV with the public sector heavy engineering units. She also
observed that the number of items in the inventory is on the increase and she suggested
that enforcing strict control on the delegation of powers should curb it. For determination
of the appropriate quantity to be procured and minimum capital without any delay in the
production is of importance, in satisfying the conflicting interests. For it, she gave some
solutions like SIM (selective inventory management) which consists of Pareto analysis
(ABC analysis), criticality analysis (VED analysis), movement analysis (FSN analysis)
and availability analysis (SED, GOLF, SOS etc.). Adoption of inventory control methods
like classification, codification, and standardization, variety reduction, value analysis,
ABC analysis is not systematically implemented. Economic order quantity was not
adopted. Vender rating techniques and value analysis were not followed. Materials
management manuals were not even prepared in BHPV. Buying cost or inventory

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 carrying cost of materials was not worked out systematically. Computerization was not
extensively done.
 According to Keller (2000), inventory management refers to all the activities involved in
developing and managing the inventory levels of raw materials, semi-finished materials
(work-in- progress) and finished goods so that adequate supplies are available and the
costs of over or under stocks are low.
 Julius A. Sharma, Danish K. Sharma and Hari P (2004) discussed Supply Chain (SC),
which involves the configuration, coordination, and improvement of sequentially related
set of operations in establishments, integrates technology and human resource capacity
for optimal management of operations to reduce inventory requirements and provide
support to enterprises in pursuance of a competitive advantage in the marketplace. This
paper addresses the structures of supply chain management (SCM) and the activities
involved in SCM decisions that help promote profound improvement in efficiency and
effectiveness in business operations. In broader context, the paper examines the types of
activities involved in SCM decisions; the dynamics of the traditional SCM, the
complementarities of technology in achieving effective management of Operations
through enablers of electronic data interchange (EDI) and quick response (QR)
disciplines to implement Just-in Time (JIT) management techniques; and integrated SC
and inventory control as it relates to capacity imbalances and transaction costs.
 BJ. Grablowsky, (2005) in his paper "Financial management of inventory" surveyed
small business inventory management practices and compared with techniques
commonly employed by large corporations. It appears that smaller firms rely on simple
controls. Large businesses rely more on quantitative techniques, such as EOQ and linear
programming, to provide additional information for decision-making, while small firms
are more likely to use management judgment without the quantitative back-up. Of those
small firms which did not use quantitative methods for determining inventory order and
stock levels, the most common qualitative methods were "past experience" and
"executive judgment,".
 Vikram Tiwari and SrinagcshGavirncni, (2007) in their article "ASP, The Art and
Science of Practice: Recouping Inventory Control Research and Practice: Guidelines for
Achieving Synergy" focused on the widening disconnect between inventory control
research and practice, people debate the value of incremental theory building. While

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 practitioners make decisions in a complex and uncoordinated environment, researchers
often adopt a simplistic environment for the sake of rigorous analysis. The stakeholders
mismatched objectives and motivations may cause this lack of synergy. Controlling and
reducing this disconnects would benefit both practitioners and researchers. The existing
empirical analysis of companies E3 business improvements based on academic
inventory-management theories is in conclusive. Even so, some businesses have
successfully implemented inventory theory; however in most cases, they have greatly
modified the inventory models developed by academics.
 Brent D. Williams and Travis Toker, (2008) in their study "A review of inventory
management research in major logistics journals: Themes and future directions",
discussed that logistics researchers have focused considerable attention on integrating
traditional logistics decisions, such as transportation and warehousing, with inventory
management decisions, using traditional inventory control models. Logistics researchers
have more recently focused on examining inventory management through collaborative
models.

1.5 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

 Primary Objective
 To analyse the inventory management system of Coirfed in Alappuzha.
 To understand and measure the economic order quantity of the raw materials.
 To perform ABC&VED analysis with regard to the raw materials of Coirfed .

 Secondary Objective
 To check the purchasing activities of COIRFED
 To provide recommendations for efficient and effective inventory management
 To analyse proportion of inventories, which need close supervision out of various
inventories.

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1.6 SCOPE OF STUDY

This project study is attempted to analyse inventory management of coirfed, Alapuzha. It

focuses on the analysis of inventory management procedure. There can be a substantial costs
involved in staying above and below the optimal range, careful inventory management can make
a huge difference in the right balance. It is a complex and time consuming task without the right
technology.

Inventory management is very important for the coirfed in Alapuzha. It enables the business to
meet or exceed expectations of the customers by making the readily available.

The scope of the study includes the Economic Order Quantity , ABC analysis and VED analysis
of raw materials, work in progress and finished goods of one year.

This study provide insight to the management of high value items and also bring attention of
management towards movement of A class items and the effect of inventory over last year.

1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research methodology followed in this study broadly includes formulating the objectives of
study thorough review of existing literature articles on the related topics to understand the theory
behind the inventory management, collection of data, processing and analyzing data and arriving
at a conclusion after analysing the report writing. The study based on secondary data and the
main tools used are EOQ, VED and ABC analysis.

1.8 LIMITATIONS OF STUDY

 Data are collected only from purchases department and finance department.
 Most of the data are collected from secondary sources. So its accuracy may be
questioned.
 Only a few years financial data are taken into consideration.
 Study was confined only to the selected components in the store department.
 Detailed study about the entire inventory was not possible.

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1.9 SOURCES OF DATA

 Primary data

The primary data are those which are collected for the first time and thus happen to be
original in characters. The primary data required for the study has been collected by personal
interaction with employees, officers, interviewing with managerial persons, discussion with key
persons and other concerned persons from finance department and purchase department.

 Secondary data

The secondary data are those which have already been collected by someone for some purposes.
Secondary data is the major source of information used here. The secondary data has been
collected from

 Annual reports
 Company journals
 Websites

1.10 TOOLS OF DATA ANALYSIS

 EOQ (Economic Order Quantity)

 ABC analysis
 VED analysis

1.11 DURATION OF STUDY

The study was conducted at Kerala State Co-Operative Coir Marketing Federation Ltd:No: 679
(COIRFED), Alappuzha, from 1st April,2019 to 31th May,2019 .

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1.12 CHAPTERISATION

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 

The introduction brings out the importance of the study ,objectives of the study ,scope of the
study ,limitations of the study and also the review of literature ,tools of data analysis and source
of data.

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY

A quick look on subjective well-being of inventory management is carried in the theoretical

framework of the study

CHAPTER III: INDUSTRY PROFILE AND COMPANY PROFILE

In this chapter deals with profile of world scenario, Indian scenario and state scenario of
Coirfed industry and also including the company profile.

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 

In this chapter which includes the analysis part and interpretation of data of EOQ, ABC analysis
and VED analysis.

CHAPTER V: FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

In this chapter which includes findings from the company is noted and giving suggestions to the
company and also conclusion is mentioned in this chapter.

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 CHAPTER-2
THEORETICAL FRAME WORK OF THE STUDY

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 2.1 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY

Every enterprise needs inventory for smooth running of its activities. It

serve as a link between production and distribution process. Generally there is a time lag
between the recognition of need and its fulfillment. The greatest time lag, the higher will be the
requirements for inventory. The unforeseen fluctuations in demand and supply of good also
necessitate the need for inventory. It provides a cushion for future price fluctuation.

Inventories constitute the most significant part of current assets of a large majority of
companies in India. Thus it is very essential to have proper control and management of
inventories. The purpose of inventory is to ensure the availability of material in sufficient
quantity as and when required and also to minimize investments in inventories. The reduction in
excessive inventories carries a favorable impact on a company’s profitability.

2.1.1 DISADVANTAGES OF OLD SYSTEM

As we know the manual processing is quite tedious, time consuming, less accurate in comparison
to computerized processing. Obviously the present system is not is exception consultant
encountering all the above problems.

 Time consuming.
 It is very tedious.
 All information are not placed separately.
 Lot of paper work.
 Slow data processing.
 Not user-friendly environment.
 It is difficult to find records due to file management system.

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2.1.2 ADVANTAGES OF NEW SYSTEM

In new computerized system I tried to give these facilities.

 Manually system changes into computerized system

 Friendly used interface
 Time saving
 Save paper work
 Connecting to database so we use different type of queries, data report
 Give facility of different type of inquiry
 Formatted data
 Data’s are easily approachable

2.2 MEANING OF INVENTORY

Inventories are the stock of a product, a company is manufacturing and sale and component that
make up a product.

Simply, inventory means the stock of goods or a list of goods. But inventory includes
finished goods only in relation to accounting language. Inventories constitute the most
significant part of the current assets of a firm. In other words, any stock that a firm keeps to meet
its future requirements of production of sale is called inventory. The basic reason for keeping
inventory is to keep up the production activities unhampered. There are three principal types of
inventories they are:

 Raw materials and supplies

 Goods in process, i.e., work in progress and
 Finished goods

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  Raw Materials:

Raw materials represent goods kept by a manufacturing firm prior to their being utilized in the
production process. These are the basic inputs that are converted in to finished product through
the manufacturing process. Supplies generally include tools, and consumables, which are
consumed in the production of goods and services.

 Goods in process

It represents the semi-finished goods; they include those materials that have been
committed to production process, but have not been converted into finished goods. These are
also known as work-in-progress.

 Finished Goods:

Finished goods are completed goods awaiting sale. In a manufacturing concern, they are
the final output of the production process. Stock of raw material and work-in-progress facilitate
production, while stock of finished goods is required for smooth marketing operations. Thus
inventories serve as a link between the production and consumption of goods.

 Spares

Spares also form part of inventory. The stocking policies of spares are different from
industry to industry. Some industries like transport will require more spares than the other
concerns.

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2.3 BASIC REASONS TO KEEPING AN INVENTORY

There are three basic reasons for keeping an inventory:

 TIME

The time lags present in the supply chain, from supplier to user at every stage, require that you
maintain certain amount of inventory to use in this ‘lead time’.

 UNCERTAINTY

Inventories are maintained as buffers to meet uncertainties in demand, supply and movement of
goods.

 ECONOMIES OF SCALE

Ideal condition of ‘one unit at a time at a place where user need it, when he needs it

Principle tends to incur lots of costs in terms of logistics. So bulk buying, movement and storing
brings.

2.4 OPERATING CYCLE OF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Operating cycle is the time duration to convert sales after the conversion of resources into
intervention, into sales there is different between current assets and fixed assets. A firm required
many years to recover initial invests in fixed assets such plant and machinery or land buildings or
furniture and fixtures etc. On the contrary, investment in current assets such as inventory and
books debts are realized during the firms operating cycle, which in usually less than a year. The
operation cycle can be said to be the heart of the working capital. The need for working capital
or current assets cannot be over emphasized as already observed. The main motive of many
business firms is to achieve maximum profits, which can be earned depending upon the
magnitude of the sales among other things. However, sales do not convert in to cash instantly.

There is invariable time lag between sale of goods and receipts of cash. Therefore the need of
working capital in the form of current assets to deal with the problem arising good sold.

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Therefore, sufficient working capital requires sustaining sales activity. Technically this is refer to
as the operating cash cycle. The continuous flow form cash to supplies to inventory to accounts
receivable and back into cash what is called operating cycle.

2.4.1 The operating cycle of manufacturing company has three phases

namely
 Acquisition of resources
 Manufacturing products
 Sale of product

2.4.1.1 Acquisition of resources

In the phase of first operating cycle, includes phases of raw materials, fuel and power etc, which
are totally required or manufacturing product.

2.4.1.2Manufacturing products

In the phase 2 of the operating cycle includes conversion of raw material in to work-in progress
and the work in progress is converted into finished goods.

2.4.1.3 Sale of products

In the phase of 3 the operating cycle may sale the product either for credit is made to customers.

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2.5 IMPORTANCE OF HOLDING INVENTORY

(PURPOSE / BENEFITS)

From the point of view of a firm, it is very difficult to make purchases as soon as it receives
orders. So it should keep adequate inventories to meet the requirements of the firm. Proper
system of holding inventory helps to reduce ordering costs and avail quality discounts, etc.
mainly, there are three purpose of holding inventories. They are;

 Transaction Motive

In order to make timely execution of sales orders, a firm will have to hold inventories,ie., the
firm can use the holded inventory quickly for the production and thereby making sales, sufficient
inventory holding does not make any delay in production ie, it facilitates continuous production.

 Precautionary Motive

Future is uncertain. It may be more demand in the future. So adequate inventory should be
kept in store in order to overcome the unpredictable changes in demand and suppliers of
materials.

 The Speculative Motive

This motive indicates the opportunity for taking the advantages of price fluctuations form one
time to another, (or present situations to future situation). Speculative motive of holding
inventory helps to make savings in re-ordering costs and quality discounts, etc.

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2.5.1 Valuation of Inventory

The methods of valuing inventory are combination of the actual cost and replacement cost plans.
The chief advantage of the cost or net realizable value rule is that it is conservative. Hence the
methods of valuation of inventory are quite independent of system of mincing. In balance sheet
closing stock is shown under current assets and it also credited to manufacturing or trading
accounts. The inventories are valued on the basis as follows:

 Cost of raw materials in stock may include freight charges and carrying costs. But such
cost should not exceed market price.
 Work-in-progress is generally valued at cost, which include cost of materials, labour.
And the proportionate factory overhead, as it is reasonable according to degrees of
completion.
 Cost of finished goods wound normally to the total or full cost it includes prime cost plus
appropriate amount of the overhead. Selling and distribution cost is deducted on the other
hand work in progress may be valued at work in progress may be valued at work cost,
marginal cost, prime cost or, even at direct materials.

2.5.2 RISKS AND COSTS OF HOLDING INVENTORIES

Certain costs and risks are always related to holding of inventories. The various costs and risks
involved are as follows,

 Capital costs

The firm has to arrange additional funds to meet the cost of inventories. Maintaining of
inventories results in blocking of the firm’s financial resources . The firm can arrange funds form
own resources or from outsiders, but the firm incurs a cost in both the cases. In the former case,
there is an opportunity cost of investment, while in the later case; the firm has to pay interest to
the outsiders.

 Holding / storage costs and maintaining cost

Storing of inventory involves certain costs. The inventory should be kept in a safe place in
order to avoid destruction of inventory. Various storage are rental of the go down, insurance
changes etc. maintaining cost involves checking costs, refreshment costs, etc.

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  Risk of price decline

There is always a risk of reduction in the prices of inventories by the suppliers in holding
inventories. This may due to increased market supplies, competition or general depression in the
market, etc.

 Risk of obsolescence

Development of technology may leads to destruction or disappearance of the held inventory, ie,
the inventory used today may be valueless tomorrow. Inventory may become obsolete due to
change in customer taste also.

 Risk of deterioration in quality

There is a risk involved in holding of inventories connected to deterioration in quality of

inventory, ie, the quality of materials may deteriorate, while the inventories are kept in stores.

2.6 MEANING OF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Inventory management means systematic management and regulation of purchase and

storage of materials in such a way so as to maintain a flow of production (continuous production)
and to meet emergency sales requirements. An efficient system of inventory management
includes questions such as:

 What to purchase?
 How much to purchase?
 From where to purchase?
 Where to store? Etc.

The main purpose of inventory management is to keeps the stocks in such a way that
neither is overstocking, nor understocking. Overstocking means reduction of liquidity and
starving of other production processes. Under stocking will leads to stoppage of work.

22
2.6.1 OBJECTIVES OF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Various objectives of inventory management are as follows:

 To facilitate continuous production and thereby meet sales requirements by continuous

supply of materials and finished goods.
 To avoid both overstocking and under stocking of inventory.
 Proper handling of inventory reduces the wastage of material through deterioration,
pilferage, wastage and damage etc.
 To keep material cost under control, so that they contribute in reducing cost of production
and overall cost.
 To maintain inventories at the optimum level as required by the operational and sales
activities.
 To ensure perpetual inventory control, so that materials shown in stock ledgers should be
actually lying in the stores.
 To ensure right quality of goods at reasonable prices.
 To make furnishing of data for short-term and long-term planning and control of
inventory.
 To give complete and up to date accounting information about availability of materials.
 To determine various stock levels.

23
2.6.2 ADVANTAGES OF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

 Inventory allows customers to be served quickly and conveniently.

 Inventory can be used so that a company can buy in bulk, which is usually cheaper.
 Inventory allows operation to meet unexpected surges in demand.
 Inventory is insurance, if there is an unexpected interruption in supply from outside the
operation or with in the operation.
 Inventory allows different parts of the operations to be decoupled. This means that they
can operate independently to suit their own constraints and convenience while the stock
of items between them absorbs short-term differences between supply and demand.
 Reduces cost and provide detailed reports for reference or checking purpose.
 Increase account saturation and maintenance
 Provides a flexibility to suit individual needs of customers
 Customer’s profitability improvement and demonstrating that product price is only part
of the cost of doing business with a supplier.
 Manages item specifications and stock levels.
 Management of cycle and physical counting
 Multiple warehouse support
 Support a multi-bin system
 Serial/ lot trace ability from raw materials to finished product
 Auto create purchase orders for reorder point item
 It improves the liquidity position of the firm by reducing un necessary tying up of capital
in excess inventories.
 It ensures smooth production operations by maintaining reasonable stocks of materials.
 It facilitates regular and timely supply to customers through adequate stocks of finished
products.
 It protects the firm against variations in raw materials delivery time.
 It facilitates production scheduling, avoids shortage of materials and duplicates ordering.
 It helps to minimize loss by obsolescence, deterioration, damage.

24
2.6.3 DISADVANTAGES OF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
 It is expensive.
 Keeping inventory means the company has to fund the gap between paying for the stock
to be produced and getting revenue by selling it. This is known as working capital. There
is also the cost of keeping the stock in warehouses or containers.
 Items can deteriorate while they are kept; clearly this is significant for the food industry
whose products have a limited life. However it is also an issue for any other company
because stock could be accidentally damaged while it is being stored.
 Products can become obsolescent while they are being stored. Fashion might change.

2.6.4 SCOPE OF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

 To obtain the materials and suppliers in the required quantity at the
 Lower cost at the proper time and to meet the continuous production program.
 To keep the inventories as low as possible, consistent with the market conditions.
 Forecast market and economic conditions of supply and availability of materials.
 Work with the potential suppliers for finding new materials
 Product research and development
 Participation in the make or buy decision of the company
 Maintain proper records
 Ensure a continuous supply of materials to facilitate uninterrupted
 Production
 Minimize the company cost and time
 Need of inventory management
 To study the basic concepts of inventory management
 To study the detail description of how inventory management is being implement in
companies.
 To analyze the effect of inventory management in organization.
 To study the step-by-step process of inventory management and its practical application
in organizations.
 It is the responsibility of the firm’s management to reduce the cost of inventory
management.

25
  To know the areas from where the high turnover can be achieved.
 To access various techniques in order to analyze the inventory management in
organizations.
 To study how supply continuity can be maintained.
 To study how quality of purchases can be maintained.
 To know how cordial relations can be maintained with suppliers.
 To study how actually are the scenario of inventory management is organizations.

2.7 TOOLS AND TECHNIQUE OF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Effective inventory management requires an effective control system for inventories. A

proper inventory control not only helps in solving the acute problem of liquidity, but also
increases profit and causes substantial reduction in the working capital of the concern. The
following are the important tools and techniques of inventory management and control.

 Determination of stock levels

 ABC analysis
 VED analysis
 FNSD analysis
 JIT inventory control
 EOQ
 Effective purchasing, storing and issue procedure
 Classification and codification of inventories
 Standardization and simplification
 Inventory turnover ratio
 Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS)
 Perpetual inventory system
 Periodic inventory system

26
2.7.1 Determination of stock levels

One of the important objective of stocks control is to avoid overstocking and under
stocking of materials. The different stock levels are:

 Reorder stock levels

This level lies between maximum and minimum levels. It is the point at which the storekeeper
should initiate purchase requisition for fresh supply of materials. This point will be higher than
the minimum stock level and lower than the maximum stock level. The difference between the
reorder level and minimum level will be usually the consumption of materials during the reorder
period. The factor to be considered for fixing the reorder level are lead-time rate of consumption,
minimum level and economic ordering quantity.

Reorder level=Maximum Consumption x Maximum reorder period

 Minimum stock level

it represents the minimum quantity of an item of material to be kept in the store at any time.
Material should not be allowed to fall below this level. If the stock falls below this level, there
will be stock outs and production stoppages. This stocks works as safety stock level or buffer
stock. In determining the minimum level, the following factors are to be considered. They are
lead-time, rate of consumption and nature of materials.

Minimum stock level= Reorder level- [Normal consumption x Normal reorder period.

Normal consumption and average consumption means the same.

 Maximum stock level

It represents the maximum quantity of an item material that can be held in stock at any time.
Stock should not exceed at this level. If the quantities of materials go beyond this level it may
lead to overstocking.

27
While fixing the maximum stock level, the following factors are to be considered

i .Availability of working capital

ii. Rate of consumption of material

iii. Spares available in stores

iv. Reorder level

v. Reorder period

vi. Price changes of material

vii. Cost of carrying the stock

viii. Possibility of changes in fashion

ix. Seasonal nature of supply

x. Economic ordering quantity

Maximum stock level= Reorder level + Reordering quantity – [ Minimum consumption x

Minimum reorder period]

Advantages

1.Unnecessary blocking up of working material

2.More space is needed

3.Loss due to obsolescence

4.Danger of depreciation in value

 Danger level

This is below the minimum quantity of materials. It is a level at which the normal issue of
materials are stopped, but issued under special instruction. When the material reaches below
minimum level, i.e.danger point, the storekeeper must make special arrangements to get fresh
issues, so that production may not be interrupted due to non-availability of materials.

28
 Danger level= Average consumption x emergency supply time

 Average stock level

This stock level shows the average quantity of materials kept in the store. This is regarded as
the average of maximum and minimum stock levels.

Average stock level = minimum level + ½ Reorder quantity

2.7.2 ABC analysis

It is a selective material control system. It is based on the principle that more care and
control is necessary for costly items of materials. ABC analysis, popularly known as always
better control, classifies the stores in to three categories on the basis of their value, viz. A, B, C.

ABC analysis is used for different degrees for control over inventory. ’A’ category items,
which are high value items, need strict control. ‘B’ category items, which are medium value
items, need only moderate control. ‘C’ category items, which are low value items, need less
control.

ABC analysis is a system of inventory control based on the relative economic importance of
different category of materials. ABC analysis classifies high value items as ‘A group’, medium
value items as ‘B group’, and low value items as ‘C group’. This method is also known as HML
analysis (High Medium Low value analysis). It is also known as proportional value method,
selective inventory control method, control by importance and exception etc.

ADVANTAGES

 Management by exception is possible since top manager’s time is spend only on ‘A’
items, whereas ‘C’ items and ‘B’ items can be handled by clerical staff with least
managerial supervision.
 Minimum investment in inventory. It helps in reducing investment in inventory as
only a reasonable quantity of ‘A’ items representing major portion of the material
cost is purchased.
 Storage cost is reduced to be minimum.

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 2.7.3 VED analysis

VED analysis is a device used to control of spare parts. On the basis of the relative
importance and not value spare parts may be classified into three categories, namely ‘V for vital,
‘E’ for essential and ‘D’ for desirable.

Vital spare parts are those spares, which are very critical for production. Non-availability of
vital spares may lead to stoppage of production. These parts may not be expensive.

Essential spares are those, which are not very critical for production. Production may not be
stopped due to the non-availability of ‘Essential’ spares for one hour or one day.

Desirable spare parts are those spares, which are needed but their absence for a week or so
may lead to stoppage of production. VED analysis concentrates on one important point, the
importance of certain low value spares, which are vital to production.

2.7.4 Just In Time [JIT] Inventory control

JIT inventory control simply means that a firm should maintain only a minimum level of
inventory and rely on suppliers to provide stores just in time to meet its production requirements.

In companies, which follow JIT inventory control, there is no need to maintain minimum or
maximum stock levels. JIT requires:

 Strong and dependable supplies

 A reliable transportation system
 A reliable telecommunication system
 A convenient storage space

 Advantages

The following are the major advantages of the JIT inventory control system:

1.The right quantities of material are purchased or produced at the right time.

2.Investment in inventory is reduced.

3.Wastes are eliminated.

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4.Carrying or holding cost of inventory is also reduced because of reduced inventory.

 Objectives

1. Minimum/ zero inventory and its associated costs.

2. Elimination of non-value added activities and all wastes.

3. Minimum batch/ lot size.

4. Zero breakdowns and continuous flow of production.

5.Ensure timely delivery schedules both inside and outside the firm.

6.Manufacturing the product at right time.

2.7.5 Economic Order Quantity [EOQ]

Economic order quantity refers to that quantity of materials to be purchased at one time to
optimize the costs there on. At this point of quantity, the total of carrying costs and ordering
costs will be lowest. It is known by different names like ‘optimum quantity’, economic lot
quantity of ‘ideal quantity of purchase’, etc.

a. Ordering cost

ordering costs are the expenses incurred for the placement of purchase of order and other related
expenses. More quantities of materials ordered at one time reducing the ordering costs and if the
quantity ordered is less, more frequent purchases are to be made and the ordering cost will
increase. It includes:

 Rent for the space used by the purchase department.

 Salaries and usages of staff in the purchase department.
 Depreciation on the equipment and furniture used by the department.
 Cost of stationary postage, telegram, telephone charges etc.

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 b. Carrying costs

Carrying costs are the expenses incurred for holding the inventories. Higher quantities of
materials purchased increase the carrying cost and vice versa. It includes:

 Rent for the storage space

 Salaries and wages of the store keeping department. Any loss due to obsolescence.
 Insurance, taxes, etc. on inventories.

i. Tabular method [Trial and Error method]

Tables can also be used for determining EOQ. Ordering cost and carrying cost under varying
order, sizes are presented in the table. The optimum quantity to be ordered will be that size
where the total cost of ordering and carrying is the minimum.

ii. Formula Method

EOQ = 2AO/C

Where A-Annual consumption

O-Ordering cost

C-Carrying cost

Assumptions of EOQ

While calculating EOQ, the following assumptions are made:

i. The supply of goods is satisfactory. The goods can be purchased whenever are needed.
ii. The quantity to be purchased by the concerns certain.
iii. The prices of goods are stable. It results to stabilize carrying costs.

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 2.7.6 Effective purchasing, storing and issue procedures

Purchasing should be centralized, inventory should be properly stored and disused by using
FIFO, LIFO, Average price method, standard price method, etc…

Classification and codification of inventory

The inventories of a manufacturing concern may consists of raw materials, work in process,
finished goods, have their sub-divisions. The raw materials used may be of 3-4 types. For a
proper recording and control of inventory, a proper classification and codification of various
types of items is essential. The assignment of a number, or symbol or any other identification
mark is called codification.

METHODS OF CODIFICATION

 Alphabetical method

An alphabet is used to identify a particular item of material. For eg; aluminium items may be
allotted the alphabet ‘A’ and ‘S’ may be allotted to steel items.

 Numerical method

A distinct number is allotted to each item of inventory subgroups may be identified by decimals.
For eg: 01 is allotted to paper, 02 is allotted to ink, etc.

 Alphabetical cum-numbering method

 It is a combination of alphabetical and numerical method. Along with alphabets a number
is also used to identify a product. For eg; steel wire 1 is identified as SW1 copper wire 2 I
identifies as CW2.

2.7.7 Standardisation and simplifications

Standardisation and simplifications are the important methods of controlling the size of the
materials by reducing the number of varieties stocked in the store.

33
Simplification aims at reducing the number of items carried in the store so that carrying cost if
materials and investment in materials may be reduced.

2.7.8 Inventory turnover ratios

Inventory turnover ratios are also calculated to minimize the investment in inventories.

Inventory turnover ratio = cost of goods sold/average inventory

Following are the different types of inventories.

a. Slow moving inventories

These are inventories, which have a low turnover ratio. An attempt should be made to
keep those inventories at the lowest level.
b. Dormant inventories
Inventories, which at present no demand, are classified as dormant inventories. A
decision should be taken by the finance manager in consultation with the storekeeper,
cost accountant that whether to retain these inventories because of good chance to future
demand or to cut loses by scarping them while they have some market value.
c. Obsolete inventories
These are inventories, which have no longer in demand because of becoming out of
date. They should be immediately discarded or scrapped.
d. Fast moving inventories
These are inventories which are very much in demand, special care should be taken in
respect of this items of inventories so that production do not suffer an accountant of their
shortage.

2.7.9 Flexible Manufacturing System [FMS]

In case of this system two or more automated machines within a company are grouped
together. Each such grouping is called a cell. These machines are controlled by a computer and
they are programmed to change quickly from one production and reduce the processing time. All
this resulted in reducing inventories improving quality, cutting delivery time.

Periodic inventory system

34
In period inventory system stock taking (stock verification) is done usually at the end of an
accounting year for the, preparation of final accounts. During this stock taking the factory will be
closed for a few days. Advantages

i. Accurate checking is possible

ii. Less expensive as checking is done only once or twice
iii. Proper checking of inventory of raw material work in process and finished goods
facilitate exact valuation of stock.

Disadvantages

i. It leads to unnecessary interruption to work

ii. Discrepancies cannot be rectified in time as this are disclosed only at the end of
the year.
iii. Verification may not be correct due to hurried checking.

35
 CHAPTER 3

INDUSTRY PROFILE

36
3.1 INDUSTRY PROFILE

Coir industry is of great importance to coconut producing countries like India ,Sri
Lanka ,Malaysia ,Philippians and Thailand etc. India stood first in the production of coir in the
world with a production of around 70% of the total . there is two major types of fibre namely
white fibre and brown fibre or retted fibre ,which is more suited for spinning yarn , is extracted
from husk after a process known as retting. This method is commonly followed in the state of
Kerala where lagoons and backwaters resources are available in abundance.

Retted fibre available is converted into different varieties of coir yarn for further process into
finished products like rope, doormats, matting, carpet etc for export and import consumption .
Coir fibre extracted from unrated husk by a process of mechanical decortication is called
brown fibre . Brown fibre comprises of bristle fibre , which is thicker, coarser and long stapled
and mattress fibre, which is finer and short stapled.. Brown fibre is mainly used for stuffing
,manufacturing of curled coir urbanization in the rubberized coir manufacturing . Coir dust, a
waste product in the industry constitutes as much as 70% of the husk . It is an excellent surface
in all kind of soil. The pith in combination with cement has been an excellent insulating material.

Coir is the only natural fibre that does not get cultivated solely to extract the coir whereas jute
and sisal are grown only to produce the fibres and in turn, the spun and woven products. Fibres
like jute, sisal, cotton etc. are derived from short cropping plants whereas coir originates from the
near perennial coconut palm. Today Coir Industry has come up with many innovative products
apart from the traditional products like ropes and coir mats.

India accounts for more than two-thirds of the world production of coir and coir products. Kerala
is the home of Indian coir industry, particularly white fibre, accounting for 61 percent of coconut
production and over 85 per cent of coir products. Although India has a long coastline dotted with
coconut palms, growth of coir industry in other coastal States has been insignificant. Not more
than 28 per cent of the coconut husks are utilised in the coir industry, the remaining being used
as fuel or as a waste material in rural areas. Productions in the cooperative fold and in the private
sector are not encouraging too. The already undertaken development programmes aimed at
revitalisation of coir cooperatives, creation of entrepreneurship, quality improvement and

37
diversification products ranges. Since the development of coir sector contributes towards the
sustainable development agenda in terms of creation of environment friendly products, its
application for domestic use along with the usage in housing, building, agriculture, horticulture,
and infrastructure production are significant. The world population is becoming more and more
conscious about the need of preserving the nature with an increasing number of people opting for
environment friendly products. This is the opportune time to promote the case of coir to replace
synthetic furnishings and certain wooden building materials. It is therefore extremely important
that, a major collective initiative may be taken up to promote the cause of coir by identifying the
thrust areas involving a quantum jump in coir sector development. The assessment of the current
status of the coir industry is of much importance prior to the implementation of the National Coir
Policy.

Coconut husk is the basic raw material for coir husk is used to produce given for expansion for
home market through publicity and advertisement, product diversification, adoption of new
technology, research and development, training for the ARTISIANS including women and social
welfare measures for the coir workers most of whom are SC/ST and women saltine dotted with
coconut palms. Growth of coir industry is other coastal state has been significant. India accounts
for more than two third of the coir and products. Kerala is the home of Indian coir industry,
particularly white fiber accounting for 61% of coconut production and over 85% of coir
products. The Coir Industry has a very long history in India. Rope and Cordage made out of
coconut fibre have been in use from ancient times. Indian navigators who sailed the Seas to
Malaya, Java, China, and to the Gulf of Arabia, centuries ago, had 4 been using coir as their
Ships Cables. Arab writers of the eleventh century 5 referred to the extensive use of coir as ship
cable, fenders and riggings. The remarkable intentional correspondent of ancient times, Marco
Polo commented on the uses to which coir was put in ship building in the Persian Gulf. He later
saw the land where Arabs bought their coir and recorded how it was made out of the fibre
extracted from the coconut husk.6 The Arabs have been trading with the Malabar Coast of
Kerala in India even in 13 century and there is evidence that they were familiar with the use of
coir in ship building and also as cord and tug rope. There are legends establishing the trade of
coir from Kerala by the Europeans. The Portuguese merchants, who arrived in Kerala, purchased

38
coir and exported it to their own country. The increased demand for coir in the European market
forced the merchants to make large scale purchase of the product to satisfy European market
requirements. The increase in the demand for coir in Europe compelled the Dutch merchants also
to concentrate in this business. In the 14th century, both the Portuguese and Dutch merchants had
purchased and exported about 1400 tones coir yarn from Kerala. Following the Portuguese and
Dutch, the English merchants also entered the market. Facts record that there was Coir Industry
in U.K before the 2'* half of the 19Ih century. In 1840, Captain Widely, in co-operation with
Captain Logan and Mr. Thomas Treloar founded the well-known carpet firms of Treloar and
Sons in Ludgate Hill, England for the manufacture of coir in to various fabrics suitable for floor
coverings.' This was the first coir carpet factory in the world. The initial capital investment was1
35 pound with only three workers. he himself and his two children. The capital investment
increased over period of a decades to 2 lakh pound and the number of workers increased to 104.
The coir yarn required for his factory was purchased from Kerala and Sri Lanka.Treloar's
business success prompted Captain Want to start another factory in England to produce Coir
Mats. However the product did not have any market and thus the factory was forced to 8 be
closed down. Hand spinning of coir yam was prevalent in India as a cottage industry even before
the 11 th century. Production of coir Yarn on the spindles of rat was a later development possibly
in the 15 th century. The coke manufacturing industry producing coir mats, mattings and other
floor coverings was started in India on a factory basis, over a hundred years ago when the first
factory was set up in Alleppey in 1859 by the late Mr. James Darragh, an adventurous Irish born
American national enterprising Indian followed the trial blazed by this foreigner. Ever since this
humble beginning, coir products have been improving in quality, quantity and variety. Now this
Industry is flourishing and known everywhere in the world. For historical reasons, cultivation of
coconut and the Coir Industry have taken deep roots in Kerala state. The rapid expansion of
coconut cultivation in nontraditional areas increased the production of coconut and the industry
has also developed in a significant way in the state of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,
and Orissa. West Bengal, Gujarat, Goa, Assam, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Island,
Pondicherry and Tripura.

39
 The scope for the future expansion of the Coir Industry is closely related to the availability of
coconut husks. This is because the coir is made from the fibre extracted from coconut husks. The
development of Coir Industry was, therefore, mainly associated with the production of coconut.
The coconut palm, more appropriately called "Kalpavriksha" has been in cultivation in India
from time immemorial. The mention of the palm indicates that coconut was found in India only
during the Post Vedic Period. But, from where exactly it was bought in to 10 India was not
known. Some people say that the coconut drifted in the sea from Polynesia and found new homes
in many parts of the world. According to the early Greek chronicles it was Megasthenes,
Ambassador of Seluces Nicator, who told the Indian King Chandragupta about the palms he
found in Ceylon in 300 B.C Three theories are prevalent about the origin of the coconut: The
first one is that, the palm is believed to have originated in the northern end of the Andes in South
America. The second theory is that it must have originated on the coasts of Central America
from where the nuts might have been carried by the equatorial ocean countries to the Pacific
Island. The third theory which is widely accepted, assign the origin of the coconut to South Asia
or Malaysia from where 12 it might have accidently reached America. The coconut cultivation
was started for the first time in Kerala by the 'Shanar' community which is supposed to be one of
the earliest tribes in Kerala. The earliest information regarding coconut cultivation can be
collected from the description of an ancient Arabian traveller Ibanu Adheer who visited the
ancient I3 Kerala.Indian coir industry is an important cottage industry contributing significantly
to the economy of the major age industry coconut growing state and union territories .Coir is the
fibre extracted from the husk of coconut. Coir industry is the largest cottage industry in India. lts
history goes back to 1859.During this year Spanish born American the first coir factory in India
his name was James Darrogh.

The coir sector has a strong co-operative footing with nearly 2.5lakh workers being members of
the primary co-operatives.

 The husk retting and fibre extraction sector.

 The yarn spinning sector.
 The products manufacturing

40
3.2 WORLD SCENARIO

In the 1980 and 1990 global exports of coir fibre fell by almost half, as western
consumers shifted to foam and fibres . Then since 1990 ,rapidly growing domestic demand in
India more than doubled global production benefiting exclusively the Indian coir industry.
Finally , since 2001 , a rising Chinese demand for coir pith as a peat moss substitute in
horticulture has further pushed .

The coconut palm has been the subject of great adulation and admiration across the world
and down the ages. This is perhaps the only tree, which has a systematic recorded history dating
back to nearly 3000 years before the birth of Christ. Botanists say that the coconut was
domesticated in Neolithic, Stone Age, times. When the 1st Ice Age has frozen much of the
waters of the world reducing the distance between the islands and continents, seafaring tribes
found it easy to move between landmasses. They carried coconuts for food and water during
their voyages and planted whatever was left over in their new home.

There are several legends associated with the origin of this wonder palm in many
countries. The origin of coir industry dates back to pre- historic times, but it is only during the
19th century that coir products were increasingly introduced to the other parts of the world from
the countries of their origin. In Indian mythology, it is believed that this is one of the five wish
giving trees that emerged after the churning of the might oceans by the Gods.

According to the Indian Coconut Committee’s “History and Home of Coconut” published
in September1954, the coconut palm originated in Sri Lanka. In another view, the coconuts
drifted in the sea from Polynesia and found new homes in many parts of the world. According to
early Greek Chronicles, it was Megasthenes, Ambassador of the Seluces Nicater, who told the
Indian King, Chandra Gupta about the Coconut Palm, he found in Sri Lanka in 300 BC. Arab
writers of 11th century AD referred to the uses of coir as ships cables, fenders and rigging.
“Marco Polo’s celebrated travelogue of the 12th century mentioned on the uses to which coir
fibre and mats were put in use in the sailing vessels of Arabs. He later saw the land where Arabs
brought their coir and recorded how it was made out of the fibre from the coconut husk.

Currently, the global annual production of coir fiber is about 350,000 metric tons (MT).
Yet, even in the world’s top two producers, India and Sri Lanka, which account for about 90% of

41
global coir fiber production, combined, this renewable resource is underutilized; local coir mills
process only a fraction of the available husks, which accrue more or less year round as a waste
during coconut processing.

Traditional uses for the resilient and durable coir fiber include rope and twine, brooms
and brushes, doormats, rugs, mattresses and other upholstery, often in the form of rubberized coir
pads. In the 1980s and 90s, global exports of coir fiber fell by almost half, as Western consumers
shifted to synthetic foam and fibers. Then, since 1990, rapidly growing domestic demand in
India more than doubled global production benefiting exclusively the Indian coir industry.

Finally, since 2001, a rising Chinese demand for coir, an expanding market for coir-
based erosion control products, and the spread of coir pith as a peat moss substitute in
horticulture has further pushed up global production and prices. In turn, other coconut growing
countries, including Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are now expanding their production and
export of coir fiber. These changes are also reflected in the international trade in coir.

Historically, Sri Lanka had been the world’s largest exporter of various fiber grades,
whereas India exports largely value added products – yarn, mats, and rugs. While in 1990 about
80% of global production was exported, growth of the Indian domestic market dropped that rate
to below 40%. Global trade volume for coir fiber, value added products – yarn, mats, rugs – and
coir pith now stands at about $140 million per year with India and Sri Lanka respectively
accounting for about $70 and $60 million of that amount. This may not seem much but in the
coconut regions of producing countries coir is an important economic factor. In Sri Lanka, coir
related exports account for 6% of agricultural exports, over 1% of all exports and 0.35% of GDP.

Moreover, coir milling and value addition, mostly spinning and weaving, are important
regional employers, particularly in rural Southern India and coastal Sri Lanka. They give work to
500,000+ people, many of them women working part-time. Yet, working conditions and
productivity are generally poor. The challenge for industry is to sustainably expand markets for
this versatile renewable resource while maintaining its role as employer for the rural poor. This

may require producers to innovate production, improve product consistency, and in particular
develop novel applications – jointly with their customers in importing countries. Businesses,

42
public agencies and research institutes are now addressing this challenge in multilateral projects
worldwide – setting examples that global trade can be beneficial to all parties involved.

The challenge for industry is too sustainable expands markets for this versatile renewable
resource while maintaining its role as employer for the rural poor .This may require producers
top innovate production , improve product consistency , and in particular develop novel
applications-jointly with their customers in importing countries.

Business public and research institute are now addressing this challenge in multilateral projects
worldwide –setting examples that global trade can be beneficial to all parties involved Sri Lanka
had been the world’s largest exporter of various fibre grades , whereas India exports largely
value added products- yarn ,mats and drugs.

3.3 INDIAN SCENARIO

India coir industry is an important cottage industry contributing significantly to the economy of
the major coconut growing states and union territories that is ,Kerala ,Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa etc. India accounts for more than 80% of the world
population of coconut fibre. The exports from this industry are around Rs 70cr.

Coconut husk is the basic raw material for coir products. Around % of the available coir husk is
used to produce given for expansion of home market through publicity and advertisement,
product diversification, adoption of new technology , research and development ,training for the
artisans including women and social welfare measures for coir workers ,most of whom are
SC/ST and women saltine dotted with coconut palms. Growth of coir industry in other coastal
state has been in significant.

Coir industry employs more than 5.5lakh people and majority of them are women from rural
areas belonging to the economically weaker section in the society . nearly 80%of the coir
workers are in the extraction and spinning sectors . Apart from India, SriLanka, Thailand,
Indonesia, etc. are the other coir producing countries in the world.

India accounts for more than two third of the coir and coir products. Kerala is the home of
Indian coir industry, particularly white fibre accounting for 61% of coconut production and over
85% of coir products. Exports are being done to more than 67 countries in the world.

43
 The major importing counties of coir products include USA, European Union Industries,
Canada, Australia, Russia etc. USA is the largest importer with a share of nearly 19%. The major
products exported from India include coir fibre, yarn, matting, coir rugs, geo textiles, rubberized
coir, coir pots etc.

The eight plan for the coir industry aimed at increased utilization of coconut husk for production
of coir fibre, growth of domestic market, strengthening of research and development to find out
new uses of coir fibre especially in the areas of geo fibre, fire retardant, cement and gypsum
polymer development, acquiring of new technology like PVC tufted coir products, civic
amenities and medical facilities to coir workers.

3.4 STATE SCENARIO

Coir industry occupies a unique place among the rural traditional cottage industry in India. Coir
industry in Kerala is a traditional industry. The state of Kerala also known as the land of
coconut,is the largest producer of coir in India.It accounts for more than 70% of the total
production. It is the most important employment generators among traditional industries in the
state employing around 3.83lakhs of which over 76% women. Besides it earns foreign
exchange of over 300crores per year with potential for phenomenal growth. In spite of
consecrated efforts of the state and central government, the coir industry still remains as
backward one, due to the competition from the products of other natural as well as synthetic
fibres both in domestic and international market. Coir industry is second to agricultural as a
source of employment in kerala providing employment to 3.83lakhs, of who 3.25lakhs are
women.

The coconut output is estimated as 5759 million nuts annually. Co –operativesation scheme in
the coir sector was originally started by the government of erstwhile Travancore state in 1950
and ever since then the government have been extending all helping hands to the sector for its

growth for support and welfare measures for the workers . Alapuzha is the nerve center of
Kerala’s famous coir industry. Here we can see coconut husks being beaten into fibre for making
beautiful mat and other coir products . Both men and women are actively involved in the
production of the coir. The women are mainly involved in the yarn spinning sector and the men

44
in the product weaving sector. Coir industry enjoys the status as the largest cottage industry in
the state of kerala ,giving employment to over 6 million people.

As on 31st March 2015, there are 15235 industries / units registered with the Coir
Board. The study reveals the industries / units are concentrated in two states i.e., Kerala and
Tamilnadu. Out of the total 15235 units, 7 units are public sector units. The public sector units
are found in Kerala (3 units), Karnataka (2), Odisha (1) and Tamilnadu (1). Although there is an
incremental growth but in overall terms, spatial growth has happened in the country and efforts
must be taken by the Coir Board to expand the industry in all coconut producing states. Out of
the total, Kerala represents 57.85 percent while Tamilnadu’s share is 25.83 % of total industries.
Three more states are coming up in the Coir business. They are Odisha (share 5.28% of total
industries), Karnataka (4.52%) and Andhra Pradesh (5.04%). The number of coir industries in
other coconut producing states is very less looking at the potentials of the state. The study
wanted to assess the trend in setting up of the coir industries. A comparison is made with the
Coir Board data of 2009-10. The Annual Report of Coir Board shows the share of South India
was 93.89 percent in 2009-10 and this has decreased marginally to 93.46 percent in 2014- 15.
The share of Eastern states in 2009-10 was 5.07 percent, increased to 5.48 percent.

During the 13th century there was evidence of coir yarn being used in building ships in the
Persian Gulf. When Portuguese Admiral Vasco da Gamma sailed in to Kerala, in the late 15th
century, he must have seen this multipurpose fibre. Somewhere in the historical archives in
Lisbon, there should be reference to coir. Coir is used for caulking, for sealing the space between
the planks and for making ropes for sails and hawsers to tie ships and hold them during the tidal
waves.

The coir industry was in U.K before the 2nd half of the 19th century. In 1840 Captain Widely, in
co-operation with Captain Logan and Mr. Thomas Treolar founded the well-known Carpet firm
of Treolar and Sons in Ludgate Hill. It is likely that both India and Sri Lanka were the first
countries in the world to have the multiple uses of coconut fibre coir.

Coir fibre and yarn was therefore, known beyond the shores of India from ancient times. The coir
industry, which forms the main plank of the economy of the coastal areas of Kerala, is one of the
oldest and most traditional industries in the state. The geographical location of this area
providing a salubrious climate for the large scale cultivation of coconut palms and the winding
network of rivers, canals, lakes, lagoons and estuaries is an enormous inter connected, web of

45
water ways, Virtual forests of coconut palm spread across these flat, green lands which is
providing further a unique and distinct facility for the retting of coconut husks, that constitute the
basic raw material for the industry, have helped in concentrating this industry in and around
coastal area. These natural facilities, which do not seem to exist as such anywhere in the other
large coconut producing countries, have been fully made use of by the generations of men and
women who inhabit this part of the country.

Not that coir was something new to Alleppey, Coir had been in use in various forms and coir
making was prevalent around the world from Belgium Congo to Guam and from Venezuela to
Eritrea, a long time before Darrah’s factory came up in Alleppey. The hop fields in England that
provided raw material to the beer industry used coir ropes in large quantities on the farms, so did
the olive oil presses in Turkey, bringing out the versatility of the coconut fibre. The manufacture
of coir fibre and coir yarn was traditional old industry in the coastal areas of the native states of
Travancore and Cochin and the coir was purchased and exported by the traders from the Calcutta
port. Using handlooms used the yarn so exported for the manufacture of cheap floor coverings in
the schools for the blind.

The golden textured Indian Coir Fibre, which earned it the unofficial brand name ‘golden fibre’,
captured European and world markets in no time. Since coir yarn and fibre could be most
economically moved by well-developed water transport to Alleppey, a thinly populated, with
communication facilities by road was sparse, but had facilities for shipping the product, with two
canals connecting the port and backwaters. , Coir industrial units came to be concentrated in and
around Alleppey due to the availability of cheap labour and the abundance of raw material.

Convinced by the potentiality of the fibre and yarn, Mr Darragh, came to Alleppey, which was
the chief port of the state and started a manufacturing unit with the establishment of the first coir
factory in India at Alleppey in 1859 by Mr James Darragh, an American of Irish Origin. He
Responded the help of the foreign trader called Henry Smail and the factory known as “Darragh
Smail& Company”.

From then on, there was no turning back. The big corporate of that era soon established coir
factories in Alleppey, Kollam, Kozhikode, Kochi and other parts of Kerala. Success of Darragh
Smail brought many other Europeans in to Alleppey and industrial heavy weights of the time,
including, Pierce Lesley & Co, William Goodacare & Sons, Madura Co., Coir Yarn Textiles,
Bombay Co., Volkart Brothers, Aspin wall & Co moved in to tap the potential offered by the

46
golden fibre, and Alleppey was soon a house hold name all over Europe. The royal family of
Holland formed the Royal United Carpet Factory at Aroor and the royal family of Travancore
became the major shareholders in the Aspin wall & Co., which employed large number of
workers. Native entrepreneurs were not far behind and large Indian firm also took shape.

Alleppey Co., C. George Peter & Sons, Pitchu Iyer & Sons, Coir Floor Furnishing Co., Empire
Coir Works, Commercial Emporium, Charankattu Coir Mfg. Co, Travancore Mats & Matting
Co., Devaswomchira Coir Fabrics, Kochu Pillai & Sons, Koncherry Coir Factories were a few of
the large establishment of native origin established then.

This was perhaps what established the industry so firmly in India and particularly, in Kerala,
even though coconut production was significantly high in several other countries like Indonesia,
Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The need for a cheap insulate to maintain comfortable living environment in residential buildings
in UK and elsewhere in the continent and the linkage of India with British rule endeared
investors from England to expand the product sector of the Industry at a suitable location in the
southernmost part of India – Kerala – the home of coir. In fact, a key factor that helped the
establishment of the coir spinning industry in Kerala is the presence of brackish backwaters and
lagoons. Brackish waters had to be replenished by fresh water at frequent intervals to wash away
the water contaminated in the process of retting of husks, and Kerala was naturally endowed with
this facility also.

By 1967, a little over a hundred years after the first coir factory was established, as many as,
1402 of the 1831 coir units in Kerala were in Alleppey, establishing the coastal town as the
unchallenged headquarters of the coir industry.

By this time, the domestic coir industry had spread its wings, with coir factories coming up in
several states including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Goa, and there was
no doubting the fact that Indian Coir Industry was on broad footing. As K.R. Lawrence Bandey,
MBE who set up the William Goodacare operations in Alleppey reminisces, “Around the middle
of the 20th century, there was not a house in Europe that did not use some coir article.”

47
Inter-State Movement of Coir Fibres and Value Added Products

On movement of coir fibres, it is observed, Tamilnadu state is known as coir fibre generation
state in India. More than 70% of total production of coir fibre is being generated from the
Tamilnadu. Approximate 30-35% of coir fibre is being exported to the other countries from
Tamilnadu and rest 65-70% is being used for domestic consumption. Approximately, 10% of
total is being used for yarn and other coir products and rest 30% of total production is being sent
to the other states. Kerala is totally depending on Tamilnadu in terms of coir fibre. Very little
quantity fibre is being produced in Kerala and Kerala is procuring approximate 90% of coir fibre
from Tamilnadu of total consumption in the state. Fibre produced by the Karnataka is being used
by self in manufacturing of yarn and other coir products. Coir fibre is being used for yarn, curled
coir manufacturing and various value added coir products. In other words it may be said that
100% of coir fibre and yarn are being consumed by the state itself and 10-15% of fibre is also
procured from Tamilnadu as informed by various stakeholders. Andhra Pradesh is another state,
known as fibre generation state and act as a source to provide fibre to the north Indian states.
Approximate 60% of coir fibre is consumed by self for producing yarn and curled coir and 40%
of coir fibre is being sent to other north Indian states. Likewise, a very little quantity of fibre is
being produced in the West Bengal state and consumed by self in producing coir products.
Odisha is another state engaged in producing coir fibre and most of the quantity produced in the
state is being used in the state for the manufacturing yarn and other coir products. Only 20% is
being sent to the West Bengal and 10-15% to other states. Assam, Maharashtra, Tripura, Goa.
Lakshadweep etc where coir fibre is being produced in very little quantity is being consumed by
self for manufacturing of coir products as informed by the various stakeholders.

On movement of Coir Yarn, the study observed Kerala and Tamilnadu are major producers
of yarn and the varieties of coir yarn produced are Ashtamudi, Anjengo, Mangadan, Artary,
Vaikom, Koilandy, Arror Sp, Muppine and Rope Yarn. Tamilnadu is the major exporter of coir
yarn in India. After export the quantity available for domestic consumption 30-40% is being
consumed by the state and approximate 60-70% yarn are being sent to Kerala, Maharashtra, and
Karnataka etc. Yarn produced by Kerala is being used for value added coir products. Coir yarn
produced by Karnataka is being used for self consumption and approximate 20-30% being sent
to other States like Maharashtra, Gujarat etc. Andhra Pradesh is another source of yarn and
curled coir and about 10-20% is being used for self consumption and rest of the quantity is being
sent to West Bengal and other north Indian states. Odisha state is providing yarn and curled coir.

48
About 40-50% is consumed by the state and rest quantity is being sent to West Bengal and other
north Indian states. Other states like West Bengal, Maharashtra, Goa, Lakshadweep, Assam,
Tripura etc are producing yarn for self consumption. On movement of value added products, the
study reveals Kerala is known as the state of coir products in India and highly skilled manpower
is available for manufacturing of coir products. More than 50% of coir products are exported
from Kerala and rest value added products are sold in the domestic market. Kerala is supplying
coir value added products to all parts of the country. Tamilnadu and Karnataka are also
supplying value added products to all parts. About 80% of coir products manufactured in
Karnataka are being sale in Karnataka state only. Being a tourist state and state government
intervention, Karnataka is having more 30 state government coir show-room to sale coir product
in most of the city. Due to the demographical reason Karnataka is the main source for
Maharashtra and Gujarat and nearby states. Some of the value added products are being exported
from the Karnataka but extract data is not available and most of the products being sale in
Karnataka. As the coir fibre or yarn is not being produced in required quantity therefore Odisha
is become main source of coir products for West Bengal. Coir Products manufactured in
Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal, Lakshadweep, Assam, Tripura, Andaman & Nicobar Islands etc
is being used in the state only.

STRUCTURE OF COIR INDUSTRY

Yarn producers ,manufactures of products ,public sector companies ,exporters ,workers and co-
operative societies are the major players in the coir industry .

YARN PRODUCERS

This is a small scale as well as large scale yarn producers in the state. They buy coir fibre from
the private traders and give it to the spinners along with wages. They also produce fibre
themselves by immersing the husk into the water and then give it to the spinners.

PRODUCT MANUFACTURES

Coir products manufactures include nearly 10000 tiny and small units having looms ranging
between 1&10 tiny units supply to the products to the depot holders or the middleman ,while
small workers supply it to the deport holders as well as exporters.

49
PUBLIC SECTOR COMPANIES

Public sector companies in the sector include coir corporation foam matting India Ltd etc. The
main aim of these companies is to help the cooperative societies by marketing the products
produced by them.

EXPORTS OF COIR PRODUCTS FROM INDIA

Coir being and environmental friendly products has found its market in many European
countries.Exports are done to more than 67 countries in the world . The major importing
countries of coir product from India include USA is the largest importer with a share of nearly
19% the major products exported from India include fibre ,coir yarn ,coir mat ,coir matting ,coir
drugs,rubberizedcoir,coirpots,coir pith etc.

PROCESS OF DISINTEGRATION

Coir Industry in India is an export oriented one from very early days and the prosperity of the
industry is therefore dependent on the foreign buyers. It may appear quite paradoxical that where
in every other industry attempts are made towards greater modernization in production methods,
the coir industry has been the sad victim of a retrograde trend, the organized sector, which
comprised of the large scale factories began to disintegrate at an amazingly incredible pace.

After World War II, the organized factory sector had grown into a dimension,
which provided employment to the extent of nearly one lakh of workers. Several large scale units
were going through the process of establishing themselves in the export trade and it was hoped
that the industry was making headway towards increased productivity, greater employment
potential and rapid diversification. But this was not to be. In the decades that have gone by
subsequent to 1940’s the diminishing returns from coir manufacturing activity owing to
escalation in cost of raw material and increase in manufacturing costs resulted in the established
manufacturing units curtailing their manufacturing activities, with phased retrenchment of
workers engaged in the industry which led to the establishment of decentralized manufacturing
sector of the coir industry by the enterprise of the retrenched labour of one time established
centralized production sector.

In the beginning the small scale producers of coir products were given
encouragement and were financed by exporting companies. Now the Small-scale manufacturers

50
too have taken the path of the Trade Unions, forcing the industry to a standstill and that too, very
often, with disastrous consequences to the Coir Industry.

The large-scale units, a few of which still exists and all of who are exporters have to substantially
depend for the supplies on the small manufacturers. Repeated labour unrest and agitations,
absence of a strong co-operative sector, a steady decline in the export earnings and replacement
of coir products by more competent synthetic materials in the foreign markets have further
tended to undermine the existence and stability of Coir Industry in the 1980’s.

Coir Industry is exclusively a cottage Industry on its spinning side. On the manufacturing side
of finished goods, it is partly cottage wise and partly factory wise.The Co-operative Sector also
made its mark, organizing individual households involved in coir making activities and reaping
the benefits of organized buying of raw material and shared common facilities. Kerala alone has
620 primary societies and 43 manufacturing societies.

The Indian Coir Industry has been fortunate to get another boost in the form of the ever-
increasing awareness about eco protection. Coir, being a natural fibre that is environment
friendly in the strictest sense of the term, is now seen as the fibre of the future. The eco-friendly
quality of coir will help it to hold its ground even as it battles competition from synthetic fibres.

The Indian Coir Industry is now on the comeback trail, after the sluggishness over the past three
decades. The export Charts have moved up from Rs. 250 crores in 1997 to Rs 605.17 crores
during 2006-07. Those Charts may not look awesome in value terms, but the real significance
lies in the fact that the industry employs a staggering 6 lakhs people directly or indirectly.
Equally significant is the fact that most of these people are from the economically disadvantaged
classes, and as much as 80 % of the workers are women.

Mechanization is no more opposed by the labourers and the winds of liberalization are sweeping
the industry. The Indian Coir Industry, that many thought was breathing its last in the early
Nineties, is waking up to a new dawn.

51
3.5 COMPANY PROFILE

KERALA STATE CO-OPERATIVE COIR MARKETING FEDERATION

(COIRFED),ALAPPUZHA

The Kerala State Co-operative Coir Marketing Federation (Coirfed), the Apex Federation
of Co-operative Societies engaged in the manufacture of coir and coir products is entrusted with
the task of marketing the product of the Co-operative Societies. It was formed on 27 th October
1979. Its commercial production was started in December 28th 1979.

It provides sustenance to workers especially women. Coirfed and its member societies
provide higher employment, better wages and better living conditions to the coir workers by
eliminating middlemen. At present 628 coir primaries are affiliated to Coirfed. Coirfed has set up
an array of 47 showrooms and more than 100 retail outlets to sell the materials produced by the
member societies. The procurement of the produce of the member societies is done through four
regional offices and one central store. Coirfed has set up a number for state of the art factories
for the manufacture of Coir fibre, Rubberised coir products, Rubber backed coir products, and
PVC tufted mats and Pith briquette.

Coirfed is making efforts to sell the materials to serve a noble cause of providing substance to
around 4 lakh coir workers. Most of these workers are women. It is estimated that around 20
Lakhs people are indirectly supported by this industry. The product range of Coirfed include
Coir fibre, Coir pith fungus, Coir pith soil conditioner, 80 odd varieties of coir yarn, coir geo-
textiles, alluring range of coir products like mats, mattings, rugs, coir tiles and Rubberised coir
products like Mattress, Pillows, PVC tufted mats, Pith Briquettes, Garden materials like Pots,
Climbers etc.

52
 The products of Coirfed are marketed under the brands Cocofert, Cocoplus,
Cocogeofabric, Dustout and Deepsleep. Coirfed is facing stiff competition from the other natural
fibres and synthetic materials. At present Coirfed is making efforts to expand the reach of eco-
friendly and bio-degradable Coir products through the help and assistance of all good citizens
with care for nature and mankind Coirfed is instrumental in implementing the novel schemes of
Government of Kerala like Distress purchase scheme, Fibre subsidy scheme, Price fluctuation
fund, Purchase price stabilization scheme etc. Rs.2100 lakh Income support scheme and 145
lakhs SGSY scheme in coir industry.

Coirfed with its headquarters located in the coir capital Alappuzha has an exclusive coir yarn
division with four regional offices at Kollam, Kochi, Kozhikode and Alappuzha that handles the
Procurement and distribution of around 80 varieties of coir yarn. The central stores handle the
procurement and distribution of coir products is located in Alappuzha. It has 47 showrooms and
more than 100 retail outlets Coirfed has a number of factories for producing value added coir
products like rubber backed coir mats, tiles, Mats matting, Rubberized coir products like
Mattresses, cushion ,pillow etc. It has two divisions namely yarn division and product division.
Coirfed plays a seller role in finding market range of products including Geo –Textiles.

LOCATION OF COIRFED

Alappuzha district is known as the traditional home of coir industry in Kerala .Coirfed is situated
at Alappuzha which is blessed with bounty of coconuts and inland water ways . The ability of
skilled labours and availability of raw materials and enviable craftsmanship had led to the
shifting centres of coir products manufacturing to the coast of Alappuzha . The area of operation
is interstate and its head office at Alappuzha . The administrative staffs are working in the head
office.

FUNCTIONING OF COIRFED

Government of Kerala promotes coirfed and the director board governs it. Since it is the
apex federation of primary societies. Coirfed is responsible for the procurement and marketing
of coir and coir products produced by the primary societies.

The purchase price of the product from the primary societies is fixed based on the cost of
production. There is no direct sale from the head office. Coirfed setup 4 regional offices for the

53
procurement and 100 showrooms for sales and marketing out of that 44 are own showrooms and
56 are agency showrooms.

COIRFED UNITS

Production is being carried out at the following places;

 Rubberized Coir product unit (RCP)

 Rubber Backing Unit(RB)
 Rubber Backed Car Mats Unit(RBCM)
 PVC Tufted Coir Product

The RCP unit the RB and RBCM units are located near the head office and PVE Tufted Coir
product unit at Kanichukulangara. Coirfed has 4 regional offices at Alappuzha ,Kollam,Cochin
and Kozhikode. These offices have godown attached to it and they are responsible for
purchases ,storage of coir yarn and sale .They have their own sales and depots for marketing
coir.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Coirfed with its headquarters located in the coir capital Alappuzha has an exclusive coir
yarn division with four regional offices at Kollam, Kochi, Kozhikode and Alappuzha that
handles the procurement and distribution of around 80 varieties of coir yarn. The central stores
handle the procurement and distribution of coir products is located in Alappuzha.

It has 47 showrooms and more than 100 retail outlets Coirfed has a number of factories for
producing value added coir products like rubber backed coir mats, tiles, rubberized coir products
like mattress, pillows, cushions etc., PVC tufted mats, pith briquettes, coir fibre, coir pith and
garden materials.

MANAGEMENT

The board of directors consisting of 23 members . It include President,Vice President and

Director of coir development,Government nominees and elected members from primary co-
operative societies. The Board of directors select an executive committee of 7 members . It
consists of President, Vice President, Managing Director and other members from board of
directors. The board of directors meets at least once in three months.

54
OBJECTIVES OF COIRFED

Coirfed is not profit motive organization. The organization was formed with a view to help the
people working in the coir industry.

Main objectives of coirfed are:

 It aims to provide an enabling environment for the growth for coir workers
 It helps to avoid harmful rivalry among primary societies
 It is the moderator for the purchase of the coir fiber,yarn and other coir products from
affiliated societies and sales made through its agencies and showrooms.

 It aims better employment opportunities ,remuneration and the living standard for coir
workers
 Raising of the fund for the business.

WORKING PATTERN

The coirfed after its formation has taken up the tremendous responsibility of procuring the
entire products from the primary societies and marketing these products. The pricing committee
fixes the price of products based on the cost of production. The products are stocked in the
coirfed go downs and distributed to various showrooms. The payments for the societies are made
through the regional officers /head office

ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM

The unorganized coir workers are not able to market their products effectively.Coirfed is an
organization responsible for the marketing of coir and coir products produced by the primary
societies. It has a well-established pattern of administrative system. For its elegant functioning
coirfed have establishing Marketing,Financing,Personnel and Administration, Production and
electronic data processing departments.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF COIRFED

Before 1979 there existed four central coir marketing societies in Kerala at Kollam,
Alappuzha, Kozhikode and Kochi. These societies were responsible for the purchase and storage

55
of the product of the primary societies and arrange for their sales. The central coir societies have
enough godowns and sales depot for the storage and the sale of coir products. Kerala State Co-
operative Coir Marketing Federation limited N0.679 were formed on 27th October 1979 by
amalgamating the four central co-operative societies at Kollam, Alappuzha, Kozhikode and
Kochi with the head office at the coir capital Alappuzha. It was registered under the co-operation
Act 1969.

VISION AND MISSION OF THE COMPANY

VISION

“To act as a best agency of coordinating the technological, commercial and academic
developments in the entire fields of activities related to the coir sector in Kerala and emerge as a
centre of excellence, for research and deve10pment, industrial consulting and knowledge
dissemination globally”.

MISSION

“Enduring an appropriate place for global fibre and stock holders of the sectors in all walks of
life, and to consistently pursue, innovation and improvements in coir and coir related products
through continuous research ,education, training and extensive application”.

DEPARTMENTS OF COIRFED

 Personnel and Administration Department

 Finance Department
 Production Department
 Marketing Department

1. Personnel Department

The main objective of the personnel department is to maintain man power requires.
Other objectives are:

 To ensure statutory complaints of Provident Fund (PF), Employee State Insurance (ESI),
EPF etc.

56
  To claim salary, wages and travel allowance.

 To maintain the attendance and punctuality of employees.

2. Finance Department

Finance is the life blood of every business activity. It is one of the factors of
production in any business. Functions of Business Department are creating, maintaining and
controlling of working capital;

Financial Decision includes the following;

 Investment capital

 Working capital

 Sources and cost of fund

 Determination of capital structure

 Analyzing of risk and revenue.

Capital Budgeting

It is probably the most financial decision of a firm; it relates to the selection of an asset of the
investment proposal of a course of action whose benefits are likely to be a variable in future over
the life time of the project.

Purchase payment

The products which are coming from the primary societies purchased and stocked through
regional officers Even though the sales of products are showing downward trend. Coirfed is
obliged to purchase the entire product of the societies. the board of directors fixes the purchase
price. this is fixed after considering the cost incurred in the production of the item. The finance
department does not purchase payment activities by doing in financial matters and thus the firm
can go good reputation.

3. Production Department

57
 Production is the conversion of raw material into finished products. The production
department in Coirfed is known as RCP (Rubberized Coir Products.

The basic raw material used is raw fibre. The fibre is passed through spinning, curling machine
and made into ropes. These ropes are passed through untwisted machines and rope is untwisted.
The fibre is feed in the feeder conveyor of sheet foaming machine. The thick foams are sprayed
with latex. When it goes through heat chamber it get dry. The sheets are cut into prices according
to the required length, known as flees; latex is sprayed on that flees. The flees are present in
hydraulic process. For pressing 120C is used for this process. For 1 inch 35 minutes is required.
At one time 20 mattresses can be vulcanized foam take place.

The vulcanized foam is cut into necessary item by hand saw machine. The waste obtained from
the cutting process is known as comings, they are reprocessed in waste breaker. 15% of fibre is
obtained from waste breaker is added to fresh fibre which is used in the sheet foaming fibre. The
vulcanized foam which cut into necessary items by hand saw is taken for inspection. After the
inspection it goes to the furnishing section. In the furnishing section the foam is attached to
mattress using latex on one side and cloth on the other side.

4. Marketing Department

Marketing occupies an important position in the organization of business unit, marketing is

centered on customers. Marketing functions are not limited function by buying and selling but
they include all functions necessary to satisfy the customer such as financing, storage risk
bearing and after sales services etc. During marketing research customer needs are identified and
then making strategic decision about product design, pricing, promotion and distribution.

Coirfed apex federation of the coir co-operative societies was formed with a view to sale and
market the coir products because they themselves cannot sell this product due to intense market
competition and various other reasons. The main job of the marketing department is to obtain
orders and dispatch the required products. For this purpose coir fed set up 4 regional offices at
Kollam, Alappuzha, Kozhikode and Kochi and about 100 showrooms all over India.

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PRODUCT PROFILE

Coirfed is engaged in marketing of coir yarn , coir doormats, matting with purchase from
primary societies and in manufacturing and marketing of rubberized coir products like
mattresses, pillows cushions etc. the coir products in coirfed follows coir board standard. To
ensurequality it has double inspection. That is internal inspection and final product inspection.
Coirfed products are of high qualities and grades. The most popular among them are

1.COIR MATTING

Coir matting makes the ideal furnishing floors, stairs, corridors, wall paneling and ceiling lines.
The raw material for coir fibre is plenty in the state. They are available in natural bleached and
solid colours.

2.COIR YARN

The largest supplier of quality coir yarn, coifed specialises in the finest varieties. The skilled
workers, using their traditional therapy make the best in production.

3.COIR RUGS

Coir matting cuts to specified length and suitably finished are marketed as coir rugs. Coir rugs
can be in natural palm colour of the fibre or in different shades, in printed designs are
specifically produced for overseas market.

4.CARPETS

Coir carpets are commonly known as Alleppey Carpets. These are manufactured by the same
techniques as that of mourzouks, but for the different in the thickness and number of the wrap
stands. Mourzouks and carnetic pile carpets intricate, geometric or floral designs can be woven
on the mourzouks, which are very dense and highly durable.

5.COIR TILES

Coir tiles are innovative designs that gives you looks of a tiled floor with the natural goodness of
coir. That’s the magic Coirfed Coir Tiles. Strong and eco-friendly Coir Tiles come in innovative

59
designs so that it can make your floors look classy. A wide range of coir pattern is available. And
mixed with a wide variety of colours the choice is virtually limitless. Tiles are made of the strong
fibre of coconut husks that are soaked in water for several months to make it tough and
unyielding. Resistibility it insects makes each tile a hygienic option. They are extremely handy
and easy to maintain through all climates. As Coir Tiles have inherent strength for durability and
strength. One time investment on those robust products will prove to be a wise decision.

6.CAR MATS

To insulate the interior of vehicle from the noise, heat and pollution of its engine, there is no
alternative to coir mats. Cut the fit the latest models; this car mats are extremely handy and very
easy to maintain through all climates. Available with or without rubber backing.

7. DOOR MATS

Door mats one of the most popular and widely used of coir products, finds itself in finest of
interiors. Made from premium quality fibre, door mats from Coirfed economical and easy to use.
They are available in different shapes and sizes as per the customer’s requirement.

8. MATTRESSES

A combination of Natural Latex and coir gives you an opportunity to take advantage of the
unique properties of both these products. The mattress gives adequate support to your body
giving a cushioning comfort. The Rubberized Coir mattress is a natural remedy for ailing barks.
The strong but soft coir fibres give the needed support to the spine, relieving the pain

9. COCO PITH

The best alternative to soil conditioner, Coir Pith Tricks and Coir Pith Soil Conditioners. Coifed
has setup seven unit for processing Coir Pith. The range is marked under the brand ‘Cocofert’.

10. GARDEN MATERIALS

Coirfed represents a range of Garden Materials under the brand “Coco Green”. It includes Coco
put, Coco Basket, Coco Trey, Coco Climber, Coco Disk, Mulch Mat etc. Coirfed, the
government owned Federation is a one stop store for all eco-friendly coir products.

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11. FIBRE MATS

Fibre Mats, handmade by tufting coir fibre, is durable and attractive due to its superior designs
and pile height. Designs are either inlaid or painted. It will no doubt change the look of our
interiors and exteriors alike.

12. CREEL MATS

The piles of Creel Mats are formed by fine spun coir yarn. Designs are formed either by
stenciling or using dyed coir yarn. These mats are elegant, attractive and cost effective.

13. PVC TUFTED MATS

The mats made by tufting fine spun coir yarn in poly vinyl chloride using sophisticated
machinery in rolls. Coirfed enjoys a near-monopoly in fine spun coir yarn used in making this
mats.

14. RUBBERIZED PRODUCTS

Rubberized coir is a wonder product born out of magical properties of two of natures finest gifts-
rubber and coir. The rubberized coir mattresses a natural remedy for ailing backs. The cushions
which can be folded are available in different varieties like coir cushion and steel chair cushions
etc.

15. MOURZOUKS

To transform the look of room, to enhance its beauty and to create space where there is none,
there is no match for coir carpets such as Mourzouks (BMVR/BMVN) and Carnatic Pile Carpets
(VC8).

16.BATH MAT

This is an innovative product with washable cloth cover. It is ideal for our interior.

17.MATS

Coir mats is an exemplary comfort material accepted in the market for its functional utility and
fitness for the purpose. The brushing qualities of coir door mats and their ability to keep the dirt

61
away makes the products a unique one. The traditional of fibres from the husk is a laboratories
and time consuming process after separating the nuts, the husk are processed by various retting
techniques generally in ponds of brackish water for (3 to 6 months) or in backwaters or lagoon.
Fibre mats are available in stencilled or inlaid designs and any number of made to order designs.
The elegant carnatic mats are combinations of jute and coir. Green mats are made of coir rope.
Reversible non-brush sinnet mats made with coir brand, either in single /double chain are another
popular variety. Non brush mesh mats are available in natural bleached and multi-colour options.

18.COIR GEO-TEX

It is a natural coir fibre, spin into coir yarn. It is then woven into coir geo- textile, it holds in land
to prevent soil erosion. Coir geo-textiles are biodegradable are well suited to the world demand.
For an eco friendly products. Several field experiments have established the efficiency of geo
textiles, a soil erosion control slope stabilization and soil conversion. They are also used in road
construction, land scaling, desert control and variety of forestry uses.

MISCELLANEOUS

To those aesthetically inclined these are the factor products. Little trinkets in unusual designs, for
unusual purpose.

The most popular and widely used manufacturing goods are:

 Carpets
 Car mats
 Coir murals

Eco friendly products

 Mulch mats
 Coco pot top
 Coco disc
 Coco liner
 Coco pot
 Coco basket

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 Coco climber

CHAPTER 4
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

63
Inventory management is a systematic approach to obtaining, storing, and profiting from non-
capital assets (raw materials and finished goods). The right stock, at the right levels, in the right
place, at the right time, and at the right cost. The analysis for the inventory management of
Coirfed Alappuzha by using the Economic Order Quantity, ABC analysis and VED analysis.
Inventories constitute the most significant part of current assets of a large majority of companies
in India. Thus it is very essential to have proper control and management of inventories. The
purpose of inventory is to ensure the availability of material in sufficient quantity as and when
required and also to minimize investments in inventories. The reduction in excessive inventories
carries a favorable impact on a company’s profitability.

In this analysis Economic Order Quantity of the raw material is determined and also analyzing
the ABC and VED analysis.

The basic inventories of coirfed Alappuzha are

 SK8 FANCY /RED/BLEACH/JASP

 M2BR2 SALOON STRIP
 SK8 NATIONAL MATTING
 SK8 SOLID MATTING
 SK8 BLEACH MATTING
 PL2 SHAFT FANCY(PANAMA NAT RED)
 FM2 FANCY(60*120)
 FM2 FANCY (45*90)
 FM2 FANCY (40*70)
 CRICKET MATTING (F*66)
 SK1 FANCY MATTING JASP /RED/BLEACH
 M4R3 BLEACH FANCY
 M2 FANCY(60*180)
 M2 FANCY (60 *90)
 SK1 NATURAL MTG

64
  CRICKET MATTING (8*33)

 FM2 FANCY (60*150)

 FM2 FANCY (90*180)
 FM2 FANCY (30*90)
 FM2 FANCY (90*150)
 SK1 SOLID MTG.RED/GREEN
 PL2 SHAFT FANCY(NATURAL)
 PL SK1 NATURAL
 VC8 FANCY( 45*90)
 FM2 FANCY (45*75)
 FM2 LETTER (60*120)
 PL (RIBBED)SK8 COIR MATTING NATURAL
 FM2 NATURAL (60*90)
 VC8 FANCY (30*90)
 FM2 FANCY( 35*60)
 VC8 FANCY (40*70)
 FM2 NATURAL (60*120)
 SK1 FULLY BLEACHED MTG
 VC8 FANCY (45*75)
 FM2PLAIN (60*120)
 VC8 FANCY (35*60)
 FM2 LETTER (60* 150)
 PL SK1 COIR MATTING

These above are the basic raw materials of Coirfed Alappuzha. All the inventories are collected
from different cooperative societies of Kerala basically from Alapuzha itself such as Aryad block
741,Indira priyadarshini 754,Modern 764,Punnapra and the most relevant supplier are Modern
mat & mattings and Good world. The mode of payment is done after the quality inspection
process and forward bill to the head office finance department and they provide cash or cheque
to the supplier. Some products are categorized on the basis of availability.

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4.1 ECONOMIC ORDER QUANTITY (EOQ)

EOQ = 2AO

Table 4.1 EOQ (RS IN LAKHS)

ANNUAL CARRYING
YEAR CONSUMPTION ORDER COST COST EOQ

2017-2018 7721.10 0.21 0.06 232.48

INFERENCE

Economic order quantity refers to that quantity of materials to be purchased at one time to
optimize the costs there on. At this point of quantity, the total of carrying costs and ordering
costs will be lowest.

The economic order quantity (EOQ) of COIRFED for the year 2017-18 is 232.48.it is the value
at which the total ordering cost and total carrying cost are at the lowest.

66
4.2. ABC ANALYSIS

Table 4.2 ABC analysis

ANNUAL ANNUAL PERCENTA CATEGORY

SL ITEM EXPENDIT CUMULATIVE GE VALUE
NO
URE VALUE %
1 SK8 FANCY 2838640 2838640 24.6 A
/RED/BLEACH/JA
SP
2 M2BR2 SALOON 933530 3772170 32.7 A
STRIP
3 SK8 NATIONAL 901340 4673510 40.5 A
MATTING
4 SK8 SOLID 725208 5398718 46.8 A
MATTING
5 SK8 BLEACH 638644 6037362 52.3 A
MATTING
6 PL2 SHAFT 594295 6631657 57.5 A
FANCY(PANAMA
NAT RED)
7 FM2 551250 7182907 62.3 A
FANCY(60*120)
8 FM2 FANCY 531900 7714807 66.6 A
(45*90)
9 FM2 FANCY 355830 8070637 70.01 A
(40*70)
10 CRICKET 317610 8388247 72.7 A
MATTING (F*66)
11 SK1 FANCY 289380 8677627 75.2 A
MATTING JASP
/RED/BLEACH
12 M4R3 BLEACH 259840 8937467 77.5 A
FANCY
13 M2 247248 9184715 79.6 A

67
 FANCY(60*180)
14 M2 FANCY (60 245856 9430571 81.8 B
*90)
15 SK1 NATURAL 233280 9663851 83.8 B
MTG
16 CRICKET 225606 9889457 85.7 B
MATTING (8*33)
17 FM2 FANCY 208926 10098383 87.6 B
(60*150)
18 FM2 FANCY 200850 10299233 89.3 B
(90*180)
19 FM2 FANCY 183210 10482443 90.4 B
(30*90)
20 FM2 FANCY 134198 10616641 92.1 B
(90*150)
21 SK1 SOLID 134940 10751581 93.2 B
MTG.RED/GREEN
22 PL2 SHAFT 98475 10850056 94.1 B
FANCY(NATURAL
)
23 PL SK1 NATURAL 96725 10946781 94.9 B
24 VC8 82720 11029501 95.6 C
FANCY( 45*90)
25 FM2 FANCY 82656 11112157 96.6 C
(45*75)
26 FM2 LETTER 54750 11166907 96.8 C
(60*120)
27 PL (RIBBED)SK8 50000 11216907 97.3 C
COIR MATTING
NATURAL
28 FM2 NATURAL 49700 11266607 97.7 C
(60*90)
29 VC8 FANCY 48300 11314907 98.1 C
(30*90)
30 FM2 45900 11360807 98.5 C
FANCY( 35*60)
31 VC8 FANCY 44750 11405557 98.9 C
(40*70)
32 FM2 NATURAL 28410 11433967 99.1 C
(60*120)

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 33 SK1 FULLY 22100 11456067 99.3 C
BLEACHED MTG
34 VC8 FANCY 21550 11477617 99.5 C
(45*75)
35 FM2PLAIN 14190 11491807 99.7 C
(60*120)
36 VC8 FANCY 13400 11505207 99.8 C
(35*60)
37 FM2 LETTER (60* 13257 11518464 99.9 C
150)
PL SK1 COIR 7875 11526339 100 C
38 MATTING

INFERENCE

The A-B-C system is widely used calcification technique to identify various items of inventory
for the purpose of inventory control. Under A-B-C analysis, the materials are divided into three
categories A, B and C. Of the total items 13 items belongs to class-A, class B consist of 10 items
and class-C with15 items.

TABLE NO:4.2 ABC ANALYSIS

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 Fig No :4.2.2 ABC ANALYSIS

The investment in these three categories as follow:-

 A, consisting of the items with the large investment

 C, with relatively small investment but fairly large number of items
 B, which stands mid- way between category A and C

4.3 VED ANALYSIS

VED analysis – vital, essential and desirable analysis is used primarily for the control of spare
parts. The spare stock-out of which even for a short time stop production for quite some time and
where the cost of stock-out is very high are known as the vital spares. The spares, the absence of
which cannot be tolerated for more than a few hours on a day and cost of loss of production is
very high and which are essential for the production to continue are known as essential spares.
The desirable spares are those spares which are needed but their absence for a week will not lead
to stoppage of production.

Table 4.3 :VED analysis of Coirfed

ANALYSIS
SL NO ITEM

70
1 SK8 FANCY /RED/BLEACH/JASP V
2 M2BR2 SALOON STRIP V
3 SK8 NATIONAL MATTING V
4 SK8 SOLID MATTING V
5 SK8 BLEACH MATTING V
6 PL2 SHAFT FANCY(PANAMA NAT V
RED)
7 FM2 FANCY(60*120) V
8 FM2 FANCY (45*90) V
9 FM2 FANCY (40*70) V
10 CRICKET MATTING (F*66) V
11 SK1 FANCY MATTING JASP V
/RED/BLEACH
12 M4R3 BLEACH FANCY V
13 M2 FANCY(60*180) V
14 M2 FANCY (60 *90) E
15 SK1 NATURAL MTG E
16 CRICKET MATTING (8*33) E
17 FM2 FANCY (60*150) E
18 FM2 FANCY (90*180) E
19 FM2 FANCY (30*90) E
20 FM2 FANCY (90*150) E
21 SK1 SOLID MTG.RED/GREEN E
22 PL2 SHAFT FANCY(NATURAL) E
23 PL SK1 NATURAL E
24 VC8 FANCY( 45*90) D
25 FM2 FANCY (45*75) D
26 FM2 LETTER (60*120) D
27 PL (RIBBED)SK8 COIR MATTING D
NATURAL
28 FM2 NATURAL (60*90) D
29 VC8 FANCY (30*90) D
30 FM2 FANCY( 35*60) D
31 VC8 FANCY (40*70) D
32 FM2 NATURAL (60*120) D
33 SK1 FULLY BLEACHED MTG D
34 VC8 FANCY (45*75) D
35 FM2PLAIN (60*120) D
36 VC8 FANCY (35*60) D
37 FM2 LETTER (60* 150) D
38 PL SK1 COIR MATTING D

71
INFERENCE

CATEGORIES TOTAL NO. OF ITEMS PERCENTAGE (%)

IN CLASSES

V 13 34.3

E 10 26.3

D 15 39.4

TOTAL 38 100
Table 4.3.1

Fig No:4.3.2VED ANALYSIS

72
INTERPRETATION

Category V contains 34.3% of the items i.e. 13 of the items. Category E contains 26.3% of the
items and category D with 39.4% of the items. The non-availability of vital spares will cause
heavy lose in the production. So it is mandatory to keep adequate vital spares.

CHAPTER 5

FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION

73
5.1 FINDINGS

 From the ABC analysis, it is found that among the 38 items 79.59% items fall into A-
category. 15.24% of total items are fall into B-categories items and balance 5.17% are
fall in C category.
 Here C category is having 15 products with which these items are not moving fastly.
 The economic order quantity (EOQ) of coirfed for the year 2017-18 is 232.48. It is the
value at which the total ordering cost and total carrying cost are at the lowest.
 Category V contains 34.3% of the items i.e. 13 of the items. Category E contains 26.3%
of the items and category D with 39.4% of the items. The non-availability of vital spares
will cause heavy lose in the production. So it is mandatory to keep adequate vital spares.
 Comparing ABC & VED it is found that all the A category items are same in the V
category and same as B and E, C and D.
 The movement of inventories such as raw materials, work-in-progress and finished goods
are high in every year because of highly availability of material.

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 5.2 SUGGESTION

Inventory management is an important and inevitable function of every organization. On the

basis of the above mentioned analysis and findings the following suggestions are made to
improve the efficiency of the inventory management system in COIRFED, Alappuzha.

 The company has to undertake periodic appraisal about the function of the inventory
management in order to find out the draw backs.
 The company has to adopt some tools and techniques in connection with inventory
management such as FSN analysis. it is helpful for inventory control.
 It is better to follow perpetual inventory system, as it helps to avoid the overstocking in
inventory.
 The company should take some care on inventory conversion period in order to avoid
over stocking and under stocking of materials.

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5.3 CONCLUSION

This study entitled to analysis of the inventory management system of COIR FED, Alappuzha
was aimed to make improvement in purchasing, storing of inventory and the effective utilization
of the same. For this study various tools such as ABC analysis and VED analysis are used in
order to find out the company's efficiency and effectiveness in performing all the functions in
relation to inventory management.

Now the company is in a good position because they had high amount of sales in the last year.
But by using the various tools of analysis, I have found that currently the firm is not following
any scientific techniques for its inventory management. If they adopt a proper and scientific
methods for managing inventory, then there is a possibility that the company can function not
only effectively but also with significant profits.

76
BIBLIOGRAPHY

77
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Donald Waters. (2009). Inventory Control And Management. Second edition. England :
John Wiley &Sons Ltd
 Suresh Kumar Khatik. (1999) inventory management in public sector undertaking. First
edition. New Delhi : Classical Publishing Co.
 Agarwal P.K. (2010). Inventory Management Practices. First edition. New Delhi : PHI
Learning Pvt. Ltd.
 Muller Max. (2011) Essentials of Inventory Management. Second edition. New York :
Amacom
 Chandra Boss. D. (1999). Inventory Management. First Edition Mumbai : PHI Learning
Pvt Ltd.

WEBSITE

 www.coir.kerala.gov.in
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/inventory_control

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APPENDIX

79