BINUS Research on Controlling System for Inventory and Production Control

BINUS UNIVERSITY researcher and lecturer Mr Abba Suganda Girsang had his research published in the International Review of Mechanical Engineering in November 2017. Titled ‘Controlling System for Stock Raw Material for Production Planning and Inventory Control in a Pharmacy Company’, the research proposes the use of a data warehouse system that provides an accurate report on the needs of the production planning and inventory control system of a business. These reports can be accessed quickly which can mean businesses, especially those in the manufacturing industry, can adapt to customer demands more efficiently.

In conducting his experiment, Mr Girsang’s collaborated with Darya-Varia Laboratoria (DVL, a pharmaceutical company). The company’s production planning and inventory control (PPIC) division calculates the number of raw materials needed to produce its pharmaceutical products. This is done by attaining the data from several sources such as current customer demands, future customer demands, as well as recommendations made by upper management, before eventually being submitted as reports to the master production schedule (MPS) and material requirements planning (MRP) systems. Since these reports originate from a large number of sources, their accuracy can thus be questioned which can result in a delay in making important decisions by the company.

To solve this issue, Mr Girsang developed a data warehouse, a system used for data analysis, consolidation, and reporting at various aggregate levels. A company, for instance, will input information pertaining to its products, employees, salaries, customer information, invoices and sales to the data warehouse. The company will then analyze this to gain a better understanding of a variety of business challenges ranging from sales data by geographical region or market demand for specific products or cost-cutting measures. In the case of DVL, the data warehouse system enabled the PPIC to implement changes to the manufacturing planning process more efficiently due to the availability of this accurate and integrated data.

Mr Girsang’s research showcases the support BINUS UNIVERSITY provides to wide-ranging research initiatives. As such, the university’s lecturers are recognized by local and overseas institutions for their ability to propose effective solutions for a large variety of sectors.