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THE LONDON MIDLAND AND SCOTTISH RAILWAY COMPANY

A Record of Large-Scale Organisation and Management,
1923-1946

STORES.

Efficient and economical stores organisation and practice is an important requirement in any large undertaking. When the L.M.S. was formed, the first task was to co-ordinate storekeeping arrangements for the system as a whole, to embrace purchases, sales, physical storekeeping, stores manufacture and repairs. As a step towards combined purchasing, a section was formed to co-ordinate specifications and tender forms, and this has remained a permanent feature of the organisation to keep up to date all specifications to the using departments' requirements. It was not until 1927 that the concentration of stores purchasing was completed .

The unification of physical storekeeping was achieved in stages. Controllers appointed for each using department undertook the difficult task of unifying practices, documents and procedure, and also acted as liaison officers with the using departments. As this period of standardisation came to an end; the controllers were no longer required and by 1936 their offices were closed and a resident storekeeper at each main works became directly responsible to headquarters. As a result of standardisation of practices and documents the number of printed forms in use was reduced to 800 from 3,300. An original, difficulty in identifying materials was overcome by compiling a standard catalogue of the 240,000 items of material stocked, which is continually revised as requirements alter. The placing of orders on contractors for material required by stores depots was concentrated in a central orders office at headquarters, which also records all orders placed by the resident storekeepers for material to be manufactured by the company in its shops. Much has been done recently to modernise the stores accommodation and physical storekeeping methods.

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