Roy M. Jenevein, Cecil M. Wells, and Louis M. Trefonasl Louisiana State university in New Orleans New Orleans, Louisiana 70122
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I I
A Computerized
The need for some semblance of order within a chemistry stockroom has long been apparent. The means of doing this while minimizing human error, costs, needless delays, depleted inventories, and the confusion resulting from all of these factors has not been as obvious. With the ready availability of computer facilities on practically all campuses, an obvious solution to the problem presents itself. The remainder of this paper will discuss a computerized approach to the solution of this problem presently being utilized by the Chemistry Department at Louisiana State University in New Orleans. Our campus has an IBM 1620 wmputer with 40K storage and a 1311 disc drive located in the Science Building. The program described is written in 1620 SPS language and utilizes the disc storage available. However, the program can he used without the disc storage and be almost as convenient. The program is presently being rewritten in Fortran language so that it may be utilized on any machine. For those interested in receiving a copy of the program itself or additional details, a limited number of listings and program decks are available. Operation
Our present system (the third modification) relies on pre-punched IBM cards to minimize human sources of error. The figure shows the block diagram for the system as it is presently used.
Block d i a g r m of system for o computerized stockroom
The key to the success of the present system is the pre-punched card. Every item in the stockroom is assigned a stock number, with those items which are present in more than one size (for example 1-lb bottles of sodium chloride versus 51h bottles in the same grade of purity) considered as separate types of items. An envelope containing a number of identical cards, each card specifying a unit quantity of the item, are stapled 1 We ask that interested readen address inauiries and reauesta for reprints or copies of the computer program to the department chairman, L. M. T.
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on the shelf ahove the item. When t,he customer r e quests an item the stockroom clerk removes the item and the IBM card from the envelope. The item is given to the customer and the card is put into a file previously assigned to the customer. In the event t,he customer returns an item to the stockroom, it is put hack onto the shelf and a pre-punched credit card for that item is inserted into the custon~er'sfile. The other necessary functions are just as readily serviced. Within each customer's account file there is a customer card identifying the customer and an endof-job card which follows the cards representing trausactions of that customer. At the end of each month (or on demand) the identification card, t,he item cards accumulated and the end-of-job card are brought to the processor. The program is run and it punches cards which are used to list the customer's statement. The customer receives this statement listing the items, unit cost per item, total cost per item, and an accumulated total bill. Three copies of the statement are made. One goes to the customer, a second remains in the stockroom, and the last copy goes to the Chemistry Office. Money is then transferred into t,he appropriate budgets. Kew items received by the stockroon~are transferred to their appropriate shelf location, pre-punched cards are inserted into the envelope ahove the item on the shelf and a duplicate card into the "items received" file. Previous to any transactions, the entire inventory had been punched onto cards and transferred to disc st'orage. In addition, each item within the inventory has a predetermined cut-off number listed with it. This specifies the minimum quantity of any item which will be allowed. Once a month, customer statements are made up as described previously. This takes about thirty minutes for all of the accounts involved. Upon complet'ion of the statements, the item cards are sorted appropriately, the cards representing new purchases are included and the inventory is revised to reflect the act,ual inventory as of that time. A variety of options are available in this inventory routine through the use of the proper control cards. First, it can rewrite an up-to-date and correct inveutory on the disc-pack. Secondly, it can punch on cards, suitable for listing, a complete inventory shoving each item, the quantity of the item available, the unit cost of the item, and the cut-off amount. Thirdly, it can list a similar inventory, hut involving only the transactions for that given month. Fourthly, it can list separately all those items which have dropped below
the pre-set cut-off point, their cost per unit, and a listing suitable for immediate reordering of these items. This total inventory program takes about fifteen minutes. Thus, once the storeroom operations have been computerized, less than one hour per month is required to bill all accounts, have permanent records available of transactions, have a complete and up-to-date inventory, and have a listing of items which need to be reordered! Customer Billing
The general term "customer" has purposely been used in the discussion of the operation of the system since a variety of such "customers" exist. Individual faculty members within the department may have one or more customer accounts. Faculty members may have two or more grants, each of which has supplies and equipment money allocated to it. Each of these grants would have an account number and the faculty member (or his graduate students) can charge items to a given account number. Or the department may have been required to put up a cost-sharing fraction of the research grant. This would be treated as a separate account and monthly records would then be available to the Federal Auditors showing that the department has fulfilled its costsharing requirements. Those faculty members who find themselves without grant support during a given period are also given an account number. The statements obtained by the d e partment in this category are particularly useful a t budget time within the University when it sometimes becomes difficult to convince Administrators of the enormous costs involved in carrying out graduate r e search in chemistry. Specific laboratory courses may be assigned account numbers so that one can gauge the costs of these courses in expendable supplies. Again, this information can be very useful when a departmental budget is being reviewed or when an experimental course is being tested. Faculty members from other departments, or even the departments themselves, may have account numbers and be treated as "customers." This saves making any actual cash transactions and simplifies the billing of other departments or individuals within those departments. Students, who themselves have outside support which includes supplies money, may have an account number. Thus, money received by the Graduate School (not the Department!) for NSF graduate traineeships, NSF fellows, NDEA fellows, etc., can be justifi-
ably transferred to the chemistry account to replenish supplies used by these students. Inventory
The system supplies the stockroom with accurate records of which items have been removed (or returned) to the stockroom. It also makes it relatively easy to discourage stockpiling tendencies which various faculty members may have had. (It is a simple task to check and see where the twenty vacuum pumps which had been available only a few days before have suddenly gone.) It provides useful background information to the chairman in answering complaints of individual faculty that they have been able to get "nothing" from the stockroom. More importantly though, it eliniinates or minimizes many of the difficulties encountered in operating a stockroom. Accurate records of the presently existing inventory (as opposed to that "inventory" previously taken once every two years) are immediately available. The operation of the stockroom is so simple that part-time student help can be used without completely obscuring the records of the stockroom. The tendency of certain supplies in high demand (solvents, for example) to disappear in an unfathomable manner are diminished. The reordering of items is greatly simplified. Unless an item has never previously been handled by the stockroom, the reordering of it is done almost automatically when the quantity of that supply reaches a predetermined cut-off point. Estimates of the quantities of various items which will be needed during, the year are easily made. This is particularly useful when the departmental budget must be made up and presented to the Administration. Having such information immediately at hand in hlack and mhite also serves as a strong visual argument during budget discussions. I n this same vein, being ahle to show the actual costs of the various laboratory courses and the various research programs is indeed a useful tool. Finally, the crises due to the depletion of an inlportant solvent a t a critical time, or the unavailability of "the" necessary chemical "nod' are greatlj- minimized. The efficiency and time of the Chairman and the faculty of the department are many-fold increased by the absence of such crises. Acknowledgment
The authors wish to acknowledge the financial assistance of the National Science Foundation (Grant Kumber GP-2964) for funds used in the purchase of the IBM 1620 Computer.
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