Effect of Inventory Management Activities on Retailers’ Satisfaction in Inyange Industries Limited in Gasabo District, Rwanda

This research examined the effect of inventory management activities on retailer satisfaction in manufacturing industries in Rwanda from the year of 2016 to 2021. The mixed approach of both qualitative and quantitative data were used as research design to collect results from 121 respondents from 174 who were expected as sample size of the study by the use of simple random and stratified sampling techniques. Before, the actual process of data collection the researcher pre-tested the questionnaire survey and the key informant interview, which were used later for collecting data from the field. Thus, the quantitative data were analyzed using both descriptive as percentage distribution and inferential statistics represented by multiple linear regressions. Thus, the regression coefficients demonstrated that ?1 =.241, with p=0.002 < 0.05 at sig. level of 5% which proves that IOP had a statistically positive and significant effect on the satisfaction of retailers; ?2 = .311 with p=0.001 < 0.05 at a sig. level of 5% implying that ISM had a positive and statistical significant effect on satisfaction of retailers; and ?1 = .402 with p= 0.000 < 0.05 at a sig. level of 5% implying that IDM had demonstrated a positive and statistical significant effect on retailers’ satisfaction in IIL between 2016 and 2021. The respective coefficients further indicate that 24.1 %, 31.1% and 40.2% of the variability in retailers’ satisfaction can be attributed to inventory order processing, inventory storage management and inventory distribution management respectively. The research recommends IIL to adopt JIT inventory practices all the time to avoid inventory costs while retailers need to accurately forecast demand and make orders before they experience stock-outs which affects the supply chain. It is hoped that this study will encourage IIL to sustainably adopt inventory management activities that will continue to sustain their retailer satisfaction. The study may also motivate other researchers to conduct research covering the whole country in order to improve its reliability. Keywords: Inventory Management Activities, Retailer Satisfaction, Manufacturing Industries, Rwanda

Determination of Performance Indicators for Warehouse Evaluation: A Case of Medium Sized Warehouses in Nakuru Town

Evaluation of warehouse processes is required for decision making purposes and the improvement of warehouse operations. To evaluate warehouse processes, it is essential to identify key indicators in the warehouse operations. This research was intended to identify the significant indicators of warehouse performance that would support management decision making on the improvement of warehouse operations. In this research 20 indicators were identified in four warehouse activities based on Frazelle model. The most important indicators in each warehouse were then determined. The study was conducted through a descriptive design using a survey of 3 medium warehouses in Nakuru. The study employed purposive sampling to select the sample and sample elements. The sample size of 10 warehouse management officers were used in the study. Structured questionnaire was adopted as data collection instrument. The research findings indicated that most important performance indicators for receiving is productivity, for storage is space utilization, for order picking is cycle time and for shipping is productivity. Process improvement steps were proposed based on benchmarking among warehouses handling similar goods. It was noted that different types of warehouses require different indicators. The study concluded that measurement of warehouse processes is important and enables operations improvements and cost reduction. Keywords: Warehouse procedures, warehouse performance, warehouse improvement, medium sized warehouses, Nakuru town, Kenya