The wordcount is 10,000 words in total. (10% leeway is permissible on this, but no more). Sections required and a very rough breakdown of the wordcount is as follows. Please note that the suggested word count allocation is just a guideline – different project topics may require a different word count allocation to each of the main sections:
1000 words: Introductory sections including: rationale, project aim, research objectives, scope, timescales
2000-3000 words: Literature review
1500 words: Research Methodology (This is where you document the approach taken to research your project, underpinned with theory.)
1500 words: Research Findings/Results
2000 words: Analysis and Discussion
1000 words: Conclusions and Recommendations
Reference and bibliography lists must be provided, but do not form part of the overall wordcount.
Your research instrument should be included in the appendix section. Appendices do not form part of the overall wordcount.
Title
The first page or outer cover is the Title page of the dissertation. It gives the first impression of your dissertation so it must be very succinct, specific, decent, and formal. It contains the following information
Title of the dissertation (both main and sub topic)
Name of the University
Course: FdSc in Management Practice-Retail Specialism
Module: BUS315 Work Based Learning Group Project
Name of the students and their stores (with location)
Date of submission
Acknowledgements:
This page is meant for acknowledging and thanking to the individuals who helped you along your research and dissertation. By and large, it is discretionary, yet it is academic best practice to incorporate this. There’s no requirement for extensive meandering aimlessly. Simply state who you’re appreciative to and for what (for example much obliged to you to my line manager, John Doe, for his interminable persistence and mindfulness) – be true. As far as length, you should hold this to a page or less.
Abstract or Executive Summary (300-400 words)
The abstract or executive summary provides the summarized view of your research. It must be written in a way that it covers all the important aspects and key points of your research or dissertation so that a reader can get the information on what your dissertation is about. Through executive summary or abstract a reader can get the whole information about the purpose and results of your dissertation or research. The abstract or dissertation must include the following points;
Research Project Aim
Research objectives
Research methodology
Findings and results
Conclusion
It is better to write the abstract at the end so that you have clear idea about what your dissertation has otherwise you will have to change or edit it every time after completing other sections of dissertation and you will not be able to finish the abstract portion on time.
Table of Content:
In every document, report, or research paper the table of content tells about the content present in the document.
Introduction:
This section should make it clear to the reader (and marker) precisely what they are about to read, the reason why it is significant, and how you’ll be approaching the research.
Research Project Aim
Research objectives
Rationale
Research Methodology Adopted
Timescales
Scope
Literature Review:
In this section, you will analyse the existing research (typically academic journal articles and high-quality industry publications). The purpose of analysing the existing research knows what have been done so far in this field and what is missing. The missing gap will be covered by your research.
Research Methodology:
The methodology chapter or section describes how you conducted your research, allowing your reader to assess its validity. You should generally include approach and type of research, methods of collecting data, and methods of analysing data, and tools and materials you used.
Results:
This is where you discuss the end product of your research. You can structure this part around sub-questions, theories, or subjects. Only results that are applicable to your research objectives and should be included.
Discussion:
The discussion is the place where you investigate the importance and ramifications of your outcomes comparable to your research objectives. The narrative should reference other academic work to show how your outcomes fit with existing knowledge. You can likewise make proposals for future research or functional activity.
Conclusion:
The document end ought to compactly address the principle research objectives, leaving the reader with an unmistakable comprehension of your focal contention. It is important to show how your discoveries add to information in the field and why your research matters. What have you added to what in particular was at that point known?
Further information on these sections is available in any of the texts recommended for the module.
READING LIST Required:
Helyer, R. (2015) Work-based learning student handbook. 2nd ed. London Palgrave Macmillan. (ebook)
Raelin, J. (2008) Workplace learning: bridging knowledge and action in the workplace. Revised ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (ebook)
Recommended:
Bell, J. (2018) Doing your research project: a guide for first-time researchers. 7th ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press. (ebook)
Bissant, J. and Tidd, J. (2015) Innovation and entrepreneurship. 3rd edition. Chichester: Wiley. (ebook)
6
May 2020
Cook, P. (2016) Leading innovation, creativity and enterprise. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. (ebook)
Hair, J. (2011) Essentials of business research methods. 2nd edition. New York: M.E. Sharpe. (ebook)
Ng, W. and Coakes, E. (2014) Business research: enjoy creating, developing and writing your business project. London: Kogan Page. (ebook)
Saunders, M. (2018) Doing research in business and management: an essential guide to planning your project. 2nd edition. Harlow: Pearson. (ebook)
Useful Journals
A wide range of journals are available online through the University Library. For access off- campus students should use their student ID and network password to access thousands of online journals via the Portal or BBL. For a full list of online journals at Ulster see: http://library.ulster.ac.uk/electronic/fulltextejsa.htm
•Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning •Journal of Workplace Learning
Useful Databases for Research
There are a good range of business and management databases available to students for undertaking research for coursework. Some of the key databases include: ABI/Inform; Business Source Collection; XpertHR; Mintel; IBISWorld and Nexis.
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION
The Work-based Learning module allows students to fully investigate an issue relevant to their own role that will also ultimately benefit their organisaton. They will develop the skills necessary to complete a research proposal and a full report including analysis of key findings and recommendations for management practice enhancement.
Literature review
Warehouses play a vital role in the overall performance of the supply chain by reducing bulk and assortment stock, and having products available and at their intended location (Perkimiene, 2022). Retail warehousing is a dynamic activity. It plays a strategic and operational role in the success of any business. Often, the warehousing process for individual retailers may differ depending on the size of the retailer and the type of products sold (Klodawski, 2017). However, there are common warehousing functions such as goods-in, cross-docking, stock storage and handling, and returns processing that are similar across all retailers. The role of the warehouse and the warehousing process itself has been changing over the years due to the demands of the consumer, which in turn has now made the retailer rethink their process and try to implement more efficient ways of handling and storage to reduce costs (Klodawski, 2017). For the purpose of this research, we will explore the goods-in process at a retail warehouse and the current storage and handling of stock. Goods-In is the area where stock is received from a carrier, often in the form of pallets, and moved into the warehouse. Goods-in will be considered as the starting point of the supply chain for the product. All previous stages are an external process for the logistics and warehousing company. This process involves checking the stock against a delivery note or invoice, unloading the delivered stock, and moving it into the warehouse ready for storage and handling. A study by Harb et al (2016) stated that about 60% of stock warehoused is stored as inventory due to an increase in storage time caused by the bullwhip effect and poor forecast information. This current and future increase in throughput at goods-in has meant increased storage density is required, and fast storage and retrieval of stock is necessary.
Warehousing operations are constantly under cost pressure due to increasing competition and shifts in the retail industry. The goods-in department is one of the more manual operations and is often involved in picking parts for the stores. Space is also shared on occasions with other departments resulting in a less than optimised layout. This paper believes there are opportunities to improve efficiency and productivity in this operation.
In the majority of the literature believes that automation of processes is often seen as the key, but little academic work has been done on actually improving the layout and available space in goods-in departments (Klodawski, 2017). The academic literature on warehouse improvement widely focuses on automated goods-in systems and there is a draw towards goods-to-man systems often involving costly Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) (Harb, 2016). This often leads to the neglect of improving manual systems and it is the automation of inefficient manual processes that often lead to less than perfect results (Perkimiene, 2022). This essays’ approach in solving this issue is to first determine what is the best method of improving the current manual process within goods-in operation. This study specifically focuses on the batching process, which involves grouping several tasks/jobs into an efficient order so as to minimise the total completion time. An example of a batch is the picking of all parts for orders destined for a specific store location. This paper believes that this is an area of its goods-in operation that can be greatly improved with minimal investment. A suggested improvement is to utilise the current Information Technology in the form of a Warehouse Management System (WMS) to reorganise and track incoming stock and jobs. According to the literature, this is a common method that is implemented in research of similar operational improvements (Sangsane, 2021).
Batching process in the goods-in department
The goods-in stage is when incoming goods from suppliers are received into the warehouse. Research indicates that a large percentage of warehouse inefficiencies occur within this department. Once goods have been checked for damage, they are put away into the warehouse. The put-away process involves moving goods from the goods-in department to their storage location within the warehouse. Ideally, the goods should move directly from the goods-in to a picking location. In a good batch process, goods are sorted to storage locations and then moved in a single transfer to these storage locations. This is done to minimize transportation time. If incoming goods are diverse and the received quantity of individual lines is relatively small, it may not result in a full batch of stock keeping units (SKUs) bound for the same storage location. In this situation, it is inefficient in terms of travel distance for put-away operators to attempt to move a single line to its location. The operator will often end up doing ‘random storage’, which is leaving stock in the nearest available location in order to avoid wasting time. This results in increased replenishment times due to the randomly stored goods and can lead to high stock levels if the goods are never moved to the intended location.
The batching process is the grouping together of similar items that arrive at the warehouse at the same time, creating uniform batches to move through the warehouse. The batching problem is defined as determining a sequence in which to form batches and determine which batch to assign at each transfer of an item such that the total tardiness is minimized. Tardiness is defined as the amount of time an item finishes its processing after its due date. This is an important concept in differentiating various batch methods, the results of which would be difficult to apply in goods-in. The batching problem usually refers to the movement of goods to a processing area and the due date is the time in which the goods should arrive at the area. An example in retail picking would be items arriving from goods-in. The processing area is the storage location and the due date would be the point in time the stock has been depleted to a predetermined level. The various methods of creating batches and the tactics to move the goods to their due date are out of the scope of this research and instead we refer to a more simple definition of a batch, that is the grouping of similar items. This grouping of similar products does not necessarily correlate with the complex optimization methods of batch scheduling, however, it is recognized that a considerable proportion of retail warehouse operations involving moving the goods to a due date could benefit from the various batch methods and scheduling.
Inventory labeling accuracy
Logistic management at a retail warehouse is a vital factor in ensuring high customer satisfaction by ensuring shelf availability and deliveries of the right products. There are several logistics methodologies and strategies that can be implemented into a retail warehouse in order to improve its efficiency and effectiveness. One such methodology to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of a retail warehouse is to consider the batching process of goods-in departments (Sangsane, 2021). This would serve as a significant factor in improving efficiency by shaping the method where products are recorded and put away.
Limited racking capacity and overstocking
Goods-in department is the first process in warehousing activity. This stage is related to the supplier and usually emphasizes more on physical movement and information transfer. Goods-in department is an important stage because when the goods are received in good condition and without any damage, it will make the next process easier and faster.
One of the problems in retail warehousing is overstocking (Harb, 2016). The causes of this problem are usually because the existing racking cannot accommodate the incoming goods, resulting in the remaining goods being placed in the corridor. It could also be due to limited racking, so the employer puts the goods in the second rack over the existing goods, making the space used not effective. This can cause confusion for the employer when they need goods because the goods are stored in different places. This will cause the stock clerk to spend a lot of time searching, and expenses incurred are greater when the stock clerk forgets that the goods were found and ends up buying the same item again.
Overstocking can lead to a variety of negative consequences. For example, goods left in the rack can get damaged because they are not taken again, and it also results in wasted costs incurred to search for lost items. To solve this problem, a system is required that can determine the placement of goods in the racking and facilitate the stock clerk in searching for these goods, as it can save time and expenses. One method to improve the placement of goods is to rearrange them based on the speed of sale or frequency of use, so that easily obtained goods are placed near the entrance to the racking, and rarely obtained goods are placed in the corner (Klodawski, 2017). However, this method is also not efficient because it requires a long time.
Proposed improvements and best practices
Batching has a significant effect on operational decisions in the goods-in warehouse regarding workload and resource allocation. Batching can have several areas of possible application, from deciding whether to accept a full batch of customer orders, to breaking down an item receipt and storing it in different locations. One framework developed in manufacturing and adapted to warehousing separates batching into three levels: transaction, higher, and lowest (Klodawski, 2017). This is a good framework to follow when dealing with improving all aspects of batching in a warehouse. Here we apply these levels of batching to the goods-in process and suggest improvements for each.
With transaction batching, the aim is to reduce the amount of separate item receipts that must be handled by warehouse staff. This often occurs when a customer places several orders during the week, each containing only a few items and each being delivered separately. In the warehouse, each of these orders will create a receipt, and it is likely that they will be processed individually, creating an inefficient workload and using up valuable storage space. The best practice in this situation would be to try and group together deliveries of multiple small orders into as few receipts as possible. An alternative solution may be to initiate contact with the customer and negotiate a delivery time when all orders can be delivered together. High-level transaction batch processing would involve direct receipt of customer orders to be grouped together, and the lowest level would involve the grouping of item receipts from suppliers.
References
Perkimiene, Dalia, Ratautaite, Kristina, Pranskuniene and Rasa, 2022. Innovative Solutions and Challenges for the Improvement of Storage Processes. MDPI, 14(17), 10616.
Kłodawski, M., Jacyna, M., Lewczuk, K. and Wasiak, M., 2017. The issues of selection warehouse process strategies. Procedia Engineering, 187, pp.451-457.
A. Harb, A. Kassem, M. A. Chartouni and L. B. Chaaya, 2016 “Effects of Warehouse Management and engineering system on cost reduction and operations improvement,” Sixth International Conference on Digital Information Processing and Communications (ICDIPC),
Sangsane, K & Vanichchinchai, A 2021, ‘Improvement of Warehouse Storage Area and System: An
Application of Visual Control and Barcode’, 2021 IEEE 8th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Applications (ICIEA), Industrial Engineering and Applications (ICIEA), 2021 IEEE 8th International Conference on, pp. 444–448, viewed 18 May 2024, .
