http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2917 2013-05-24T14:11:50Z http://hdl.handle.net/10500/6205 Business Processes Capability and Performance: A South African Perspective Vermeulen, Andre; Pretorius, Jan-Harm C; Kruger, David Successful organisations depend on leadership, process optimisation, and utilisation of resources. Optimisation is achievable through well-defined systems and supporting processes that guide organisations towards excellence. Organisations need to understand operational and individual business processes as well as the strategic impact on the supply network. Effective optimisation impacts strategically on quality cost, revenue, investment, and capabilities. Business Process Capability measurements forces organisational leaders, managers and employees to critically analyse existing business processes, and determine gaps identifying existing performances and sub-optimal states. Many organizations in South Africa misunderstand business process capability and measure success on revenue and profits generated hiding inefficiencies that could be concealed by the profits. One of the contributing factors might be that some companies in South Africa lack international competitiveness, do not optimize their business processes nor align business processes and available resources to adhere to organizational goals and calls for radical redesign of business processes resulting from end-to-end fulfilling internal and external customer needs. The paper will show why organisations should base their competitiveness on a value chain and end - to - end business processes optimisation rather than only profit. 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10500/6204 APPLICATION OF LEAN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AT A MANUFACTURING ORGANISATION: A CASE STUDY Dem, A C; Pretorius, J H C; Kruger, D J The principles of lean were understood to be relevant to the operations of manufacturing enterprises meaning processes associated with material supply, component production and delivery of products and services to the customer. It was identified there was growing awareness that lean principles could be transferred readily to other functions and sectors. The purpose of the study was to investigate the application of lean principles to knowledgebased activities such as engineering design and product development. The organization under study was Olifant Manufacturing Company (OMC), a division of British Aerospace Systems, Land Systems South Africa. The problem statement was formulated as: “Would the researched Lean principles enable OMC to improve its traditional Product Development (PD) to Lean Product Development (LPD)?” The Life Cycle Management (LCM) framework was the mandated organizational framework that guided the execution of projects at BAE Systems. It would be sought to identify the relevant framework that would be tailored within the overarching framework to enable process improvements. The main findings were lean transformation is an organizational journey that would begin with a top down philosophy. Aspects of LPD were found to be integrated into a system framework that integrated the transformation of people, processes and tools and technologies. 2012-07-15T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10500/6203 Implementing Cellular Manufacturing in a Make-to-order Manufacturing System: A South African Case Study Kruger, David Make-to-order was formerly the single most utilised approach to produce high variety, low volume products. The result was that only the affluent buyer could afford the products. Mass production played a part in the accessibility to products but contributed to the loss of uniqueness of the products. With the introduction of mass customization uniqueness and accessibility were addressed. South African manufacturers are facing growing international competition from low labour cost countries. Lean manufacturing is seen as an instrument to increase competitiveness through continuous improvement. According to numerous research papers less than 0, 5% of an organisation’s process operations are value adding. The majority of operations could be classified as waste. The paper addresses smaller production lot sizes and pioneering manufacturing approaches to increase competitiveness. The paper studies the design of a lean manufacturing approach in a make-to-order production system subjected to a considerable range of product types and with high-level of demand uncertainty. A production system utilising cellular manufacturing and line balancing were developed. Cellular manufacturing with a supermarket of parts is well suited for application in make to order manufacturing systems. A number of the seven wastes identified will be addressed. 2012-07-30T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10500/5669 THE EFFECT OF TIME VARIATIONS IN ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING: LESSONS LEARNED IN THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA Ramdass, K.; Kruger, D. South African clothing sector has undergone large-‐scale restructuring over the past 15 years. The global economy is pressurizing organisations to improve productivity of their business processes. Competition is forcing organisations to focus their energy on “core competencies.” Like many industries, the clothing industry is witnessing changes in technology, diversification of labour, managerial implications while competing on the global market. The South African clothing and textile industries have the potential to create jobs, but this potential has been steadily diminishing over the last decade. In this context, the clothing industry is regarded as a powerful engine for economic and employment growth. Nevertheless, the performance of the clothing industry, whether in terms of efficiency, working conditions or degree of social protection, is unstable. This paper aims to highlight some of the problems experienced by manufacturers’ through a semi-‐structured questionnaire and provide suggestions for improvement of the clothing industry through the application of line balancing as a means of productivity improvement. The research methodology employed in this paper is qualitative and exploratory in nature making use of applicable literature and appropriate case studies 2010-10-06T00:00:00Z