Inventory management practices and operational performance of kenya animal feeds industry

Abstract

In the 21st century, businesses face high competition and volatility and must cope with changing quality standards and levels. Efficiency and effectiveness are crucial to success, and companies must deal with rising handling and operational costs. Many companies have implemented inventory management practices to address these challenges, which help optimize operations and reduce resource wastage, especially in inventory handling. Inventory management is particularly important in the animal feed industry, where inventory handling makes up 80% of all operations, and 90% of core activities involve inventory handling. Therefore, a study was conducted on 24 animal feed-producing companies to determine the impact of inventory management practices on operational performance. Data was collected using a questionnaire and study guide and analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression. The study shows a significant correlation between operational performance and EOQ (p = 0.003), JIT (p = 0.05), and MRP (p = 0.04). However, the study had some limitations, including focusing only on four inventory management practices, despite a large pool of available practices and excluding the entire supply chain from consideration. Therefore, the study recommends further research into a wider range of inventory management practices and including the entire supply chain in future studies.