A systems approach to organisational change leading to world class manufacturing

The author has reviewed World Class Manufacturing and considered the traditional ways of embarking on world class manufacturing initiatives. The reason for the failure of many of these initiatives has been argued. From a systems theory of organisations and the theory of levels of existence, a systemic process to becoming a world class manufacturing organisation has been postulated. This process has been formulated into a Coping Development model. A critique of the model has been included. The critique discusses obstructions to development and draws conclusions regarding the models application

Implementation of continuous flow manufacturing in United States industries

Continuous Flow Manufacturing (CFM) is one of the key strategies to enable the United States industries to adapt to any volume increase and rapidly changing requirements of the market place. CFM is an on-going analysis and improvement activity used to optimize the efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility of any process. The two basic goals of CFM are to reduce cycle time to less than customer order leadtime and to eliminate inefficiencies from the overall manufacturing processes. The thesis will describe reasons for the scarcity of CFM in United States industries. The methodology applied was a detailed six page questionnaire sent to over thirty-five industries in United States, using CFM as a part in their manufacturing operations. The research focused on difficulties experienced during preparation and implementation of CFM. The theoretical research and the questionnaire analysis revealed that CFM is indeed partially culture-based, difficult to understand, not easy to accept and hard enough to implement. Although the research was taken from a stratified sample of already known CFM implementors, full scale implementation fell very short. In fact, most industries in United States seemed to be engaged in preparing for CFM. Hopefully, the information presented will help the United States industries to formulate plans and strategies to implement further actions that will lead to more efficiency and effectiveness in their manufacturing operations

Practical applications of multi-agent systems in electric power systems

The transformation of energy networks from passive to active systems requires the embedding of intelligence within the network. One suitable approach to integrating distributed intelligent systems is multi-agent systems technology, where components of functionality run as autonomous agents capable of interaction through messaging. This provides loose coupling between components that can benefit the complex systems envisioned for the smart grid. This paper reviews the key milestones of demonstrated agent systems in the power industry and considers which aspects of agent design must still be addressed for widespread application of agent technology to occur

An Exploratory Study of Patient Falls

Debate continues between the contribution of education level and clinical expertise in the nursing practice environment. Research suggests a link between Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (BSN) nurses and positive patient outcomes such as lower mortality, decreased falls, and fewer medication errors. Purpose: To examine if there a negative correlation between patient falls and the level of nurse education at an urban hospital located in Midwest Illinois during the years 2010-2014? Methods: A retrospective crosssectional cohort analysis was conducted using data from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) from the years 2010-2014. Sample: Inpatients aged ≥ 18 years who experienced a unintentional sudden descent, with or without injury that resulted in the patient striking the floor or object and occurred on inpatient nursing units. Results: The regression model was constructed with annual patient falls as the dependent variable and formal education and a log transformed variable for percentage of certified nurses as the independent variables. The model overall is a good fit, F (2,22) = 9.014, p = .001, adj. R2 = .40. Conclusion: Annual patient falls will decrease by increasing the number of nurses with baccalaureate degrees and/or certifications from a professional nursing board-governing body

Implementation of TPM and 6S Lean in Sonafi

In today’s industrial scenario huge losses/wastage occur in the manufacturing shop floor. This waste is due to operators, maintenance personal, process, tooling problems and non-availability of components in time etc. Other forms of waste includes idle machines, idle manpower, break down machine, rejected parts etc are all examples of waste. The quality related waste are of significant importance as they matter the company in terms of time, material and the hard earned reputation of the company. There are also other invisible wastes like operating the machines below the rated speed, startup loss, break down of the machines and bottle necks in process. Zero oriented concepts such as zero tolerance for waste, defects, break down and zero accidents are becoming a pre-requisite in the manufacturing and assembly industry. A fundamental component of world-class manufacturing is that of the Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), which has been recognized as one of the significant operation strategy to regain the production losses due to equipment inefficiency. TPM is the methodology that aims to increase both availability of the existing equipment hence reducing the need for the further capital investment. The automotive sector constitutes one of the most demanding activities in the global market, since it requires a constant increase in productivity, both in the automobile industry as well as in the companies whose manufacture its components. This sector is currently set within an economic framework where there is a relentless search for costs reduction and an increase in productivity with minimal investment. In order to meet these requirements, companies have sought to optimise their products and processes to ensure higher profits. The main aim is to develop a framework with the capability of assessing the impact of implementing TPM in a company which supplies die-casting products to the automotive sector. The major action was taken in the autonomous and curative maintenance. Due to the undertaken improvements, there was a 2% increase in OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) on line AA3. Along with TPM, 6S Lean is also implemented that is one of the main points of the new standard for automotive industry IATF 16949:2016.Actualmente, qualquer perda/desperdício afeta a competetividade das organizações. Este desperdício deve-se, muitas vezes, à falta de manutenção e consequente indisponibilidade de equipamentos. Outras formas de desperdício são o excesso de produção, o processamento inapropriado, os defeitos, roturas de stocks, etc. Todos os tipos de desperdício são relevantes, contudo os relacionados com a qualidade são de importância significativa, uma vez que têm influência na reputação da empresa. Tolerância zero para o desperdício e para o número de acidentes tem-se revelado um pré-requisito na indústria de produção e montagem. Um aliado no cumprimento deste pré-requisito é a Manutenção Produtiva Total (TPM). A TPM é uma metodologia que visa aumentar a disponibilidade do equipamento existente, reduzindo assim a necessidade de mais investimento de capital. O setor automóvel constitui uma das atividades mais exigentes do mercado global, pois exige um aumento constante de produtividade, tanto na indústria automobilística como nas empresas que fabricam os seus componentes. Atualmente, este setor está inserido numa estrutura económica que procura incessantemente a redução de custos e um aumento na produtividade com um investimento mínimo. Para atender a esses requisitos, as empresas têm procurado otimizar os seus produtos e processos para garantir maiores lucros. Neste documento, apresentam-se os resultados de estudo desenvolvido com o objetivo de aprimorar os procedimentos no setor de manutenção de uma empresa que fornece produtos de fundição para o setor automóvel. O principal objetivo foi aumentar a disponibilidade de máquinas e equipamentos através da implementação da metodologia TPM. As alterações introduzidas na linha AA3 resultaram num aumento de 2% no valor do indicador de desempenho Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Juntamente com a metodologia TPM foi impementada a metodologia 6S Lean, vista como uma estratégia abrangente, poderosa, eficaz e adequada para a solução de todos os tipos de problemas relacionados com a melhoria de processos e produtos

A Hierarchical, Fuzzy Inference Approach to Data Filtration and Feature Prioritization in the Connected Manufacturing Enterprise

The current big data landscape is one such that the technology and capability to capture and storage of data has preceded and outpaced the corresponding capability to analyze and interpret it. This has led naturally to the development of elegant and powerful algorithms for data mining, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to harness the potential of the big data environment. A competing reality, however, is that limitations exist in how and to what extent human beings can process complex information. The convergence of these realities is a tension between the technical sophistication or elegance of a solution and its transparency or interpretability by the human data scientist or decision maker. This dissertation, contextualized in the connected manufacturing enterprise, presents an original Fuzzy Approach to Feature Reduction and Prioritization (FAFRAP) approach that is designed to assist the data scientist in filtering and prioritizing data for inclusion in supervised machine learning models. A set of sequential filters reduces the initial set of independent variables, and a fuzzy inference system outputs a crisp numeric value associated with each feature to rank order and prioritize for inclusion in model training. Additionally, the fuzzy inference system outputs a descriptive label to assist in the interpretation of the feature’s usefulness with respect to the problem of interest. Model testing is performed using three publicly available datasets from an online machine learning data repository and later applied to a case study in electronic assembly manufacture. Consistency of model results is experimentally verified using Fisher’s Exact Test, and results of filtered models are compared to results obtained by the unfiltered sets of features using a proposed novel metric of performance-size ratio (PSR)

The just-in-time system and its applicability in South Africa

This thesis discusses the philosophy and techniques of the Japanese Just-in-Time manufacturing system and its applicability in South Africa. The Japanese system consists of two types of procedures and techniques. They pertain to: 1) productivity; (2) quality. The aspect of the system dealing most directly with productivity is known as the just-in-time system. Just-in-Time addresses the material cost component of productivity. The diverse indirect effects are even more pronounced. Just-in-Time partially covers Japanese quality improvements but there are a host of other Japanese quality improvement concepts and procedures. Total quality control describes the set of Japanese quality improvement procedures which in turn encompasses some of the Just-in-Time techniques and improves productivity through the avoidance of waste. The two entities of the Japanese manufacturing system overlap

TQM in the rubber industry: "a case study on organisational change"

Total Quality Management (TQM) has been established in the western world for over 15 years, yet attempts to implement it have reported mixed success. Although the technique adopts a planned prescriptive approach to change, organisations have not found it so easy to implement and to achieve the expected benefits. This thesis attempts to identify the factors, which influence both the implementation and success of TQM, and to establish whether TQM actually improves business performance. The aim of the study is to reach a better understanding of the most important influences on TQM, and thereby provide some insights into the reasons for its apparent low success rate. Six international manufacturing plants belonging to the Gates Rubber Company have been selected for this case study on organisational change. Part one provides a historical review of the Gates Corporation and the quality initiatives, in order to understand the background to the research. Chapter three selectively reviews the current literature on organisational changes and discusses some of the theories and models relevant to our area of study. In chapter four we cover the area of TQM and in chapter five we develop a theoretical framework for the empirical analysis, based on the incentive, receptivity and ability factors identified. Chapter six discusses the methodology adopted to capture the data. This is followed by an overview of each of the plants involved in the study. Part two, chapter seven, presents the results of the survey of the six manufacturing plants, located throughout the USA and Europe, in an attempt to identify the factors influencing TQM and discusses the correlation between TQM adoption and performance success. The research suggests that the incentive to change, the receptiveness of the environment of change and the ability of management to cope with change, are all major factors of influence on the success of a TQM programme. The thesis identifies four plants which appear to fit the hypotheses that successful TQM implementation results in improved performance, albeit selective measures, and that poor implementation results in poor selective performance. Two plants do not fit the hypothesis and are discussed in part three