Mohammed AL-Qubtan

Stock control 

 The system that monitors the items in stock is called the stock control system.

A stock control system is basically a database.

Each record (row) of the database is identified by an item code (theprimary key). 

Other fields in each record would include:

• Description
• Item price
• Stock level
• Reorder quantity (how many items we should order each time)

Difference between POS and EPOS: 

Pos is Point-of-sale: The Point-of-Sale (POS) in a store is the place that you pay for your purchases. It is usually where the till (cash register) is located.

A typical POS will have...

• code scanner. The codes are then used to find more information about the goods, such as price, from a database
• A system to accept electronic payments - EFTPOS (see below)
• A system to update the stock-level of goods whenever they are sold, and possibly to automatically re-order goods that have low stock-levels
• A method of producing a receipt for purchases - usually a small dot-matrix printer.

EPOS stands for Electronic Point of Sale:  Electronic Point of Sale, technology which enables an efficient recording of the sale of goods or services to the customer. Its a system, and here how it works: 

• A product's bar code is scanned by a laser scanner on the till.
• The computer system finds the current price in its database.
• The price is sent back to the till which adds it to the current sale.
• The till prints an itemised receipt.
• The computer reduces the recorded stock by one.
• If an item's stock falls below a pre-set "reorder level", an order for more stock is sent to the warehouse or supplier.

Just-in-time: It used to be the case that manufactures would order their raw materials in large numbers and then store them in a warehouse until they were needed in the manufacturing process. This was because of the fear of running out of these materials and not being able to maintain the manufacture of their product. 

The just-in-time system is based on the accuracy of modern computer stock-taking systems. The goods are ordered so that they arrive at their distribution point as required. this removes the need for so many warehouses and also means the manufacturer does not have unsold stock piling up. Its also used by supermarkets so that they do not end up having lots of unsold stock on their shelves.

Reference: http://www.igcseict.info/