Production scheduling process design at Fine Blanking

Production scheduling, as described by the encyclopaedia of Britannica are referred to as the attempt to balance the demand for products with the available inputs and plant capacity as well as the scheduling of inbound materials, components and resources to fit into the production process. The production process itself is scheduled to fulfil existing and forecasted orders with the key goal aimed at operating in the most efficient manner while satisfying the timing of customer requirements. Production processes can easily be over-emphasised at the expense of customer satisfaction or customer satisfaction at the expense of efficiency. At Tri-Axis Engineering, one of the companies within the Fine Blanking group, efficiency and optimal resource utilization is compromised due to over-emphasised customer satisfaction. Despite the fact that customer satisfaction is over-emphasised, customer satisfaction levels are still low due to late product delivery. In order to determine the cause of late product delivery, current production scheduling methods were examined. It was found that little to no effort was made regarding production scheduling, as the importance of production scheduling was not yet noticed. The project aims at creating an awareness to show the influence and benefits gained from efficient production scheduling regarding costs, the decrease in work-in progress and the reduction of non-value adding activities. Different engineering techniques were examined and applied to illustrate the difference between more and less effective scheduling solutions. Several start-off points required for effective scheduling were studied and introduced to the management team. In the end the objective of the project is to encourage management at Tri- Axis engineering to follow the suggested production scheduling process design.Thesis (B.Eng. (Industrial and Systems Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2012

Survival Strategies for Owners of Micro and Small Enterprises in Kenya

Micro and small enterprise (MSE) owners in Kenya are faced with a myriad of constraints that affect their survival for longer than the first 5 years. Owners of MSEs who are unable to identify and implement strategies may not succeed in sustaining their businesses. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies owners of MSEs in Nairobi, Kenya, used to sustain their businesses for longer than 5 years. The conceptual framework for the study was the theory of constraints. Data were collected from 4 purposefully selected MSE owners in Nairobi, Kenya, through face-to-face, semistructured interviews, and review of field notes and company documents. Using thematic data analysis, the major themes that emerged were customer service, access to capital, and nearness to market. The implications of this study for positive social change include strategies for MSE owners to generate stable income for employees, new employment opportunities for job seekers, improved standards of healthcare and education for the community, and a positive lifestyle for the residents of Kenya

Carving out new business models in a small company through contextual ambidexterity: the case of a sustainable company

Business model innovation (BMI) and organizational ambidexterity have been pointed out as mechanisms for companies achieving sustainability. However, especially considering small and medium enterprises (SMEs), there is a lack of studies demonstrating how to combine these mechanisms. Tackling such a gap, this study seeks to understand how SMEs can ambidextrously manage BMI. Our aim is to provide a practical artifact, accessible to SMEs, to operationalize BMI through organizational ambidexterity. To this end, we conducted our study under the design science research to, first, build an artifact for operationalizing contextual ambidexterity for business model innovation. Then, we used an in-depth case study with a vegan fashion small e-commerce to evaluate the practical outcomes of the artifact. Our findings show that the company improves its business model while, at the same time, designs a new business model and monetizes it. Thus, our approach was able to take the first steps in the direction of operationalizing contextual ambidexterity for business model innovation in small and medium enterprises, democratizing the concept. We contribute to theory by connecting different literature strands and to practice by creating an artifact to assist managemen

Book of abstracts of the ICIEOM-CIO-IIIE International Conference 2015

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS OF THE ICIEOM-CIO-IIIE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2015: ENGINEERING SYSTEMS AND NETWORKS: The way ahead for industrial engineering and operations managemen

An investigation into manufacturing execution systems

Hardware and software developments of this decade have exposed an hiatus between business/management applications and process control in heavy industry in the implementation of computer technology. This document examines the development of discrete manufacturing and of relevant implementations of computing. It seeks to examine and to clarify the issues involved in a perceived current drive to bridge this gap, to integrate all the systems in a manufacturing enterprise in a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) in order to address two hypotheses: I) That overseas trends towards the development of manufacturing execution systems have application in the Australian industrial context. 2) That significant gains in production efficiency and quality may be achieved by the application of an MES. It became apparent early in this study that any understanding the function of an MES requires an understanding of the context in which it works. Following the Introduction, therefore, Section Two contains a brief overview of the history and development of modem industry with particular attention to the subject of inventory and inventory management. Since the 1970s, three main streams of change in manufacturing management methodology developed. These are dealt with in some detail in Section Three. Section Four outlines a variety of areas of increasing computerisation on the shop floor while Section Five addresses the integration of the whole system, management and shop floor, seeking to demonstrate the complexity of the subject and to discover current trends and developments. Section Five includes a survey of some of the software and hardware options currently available and Section Six summarises the work and presents some observations and conclusions. Three appendices provide more detailed information on MES software availability, pricing and market penetratio

Aquaculture Asia, vol. 8, no. 4, pp.1-52, October - December 2003

CONTENTS: Freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium nobilii a promising candidate for rural nutrition, by Pitchimuthu Mariappan, P. Balamurugan, and Chellam Balasundaram. Snapshots of a clean, innovative, socially responsible fishfarm in Sri Lanka, by Pedro Bueno. Introduction of rainbow trout Onchorynchus mykiss in Nepal: Constraints and prospects, by Tek Bahadur Gurung, Sadhu Ram Basnet. Tilapia seed production in Ho Chi Minh City, Southern Vietnam, by H. P. V. Huy, A. MacNiven, N. V. Tu, Ram C. Bhujel and David C. Little. Seaweed Mariculture: Scope And Potential In India, by Sajid I. Khan and S. B. Satam. Growth enhancement of carp and prawn through dietary sodium chloride supplementation, by P.Keshavanath, B. Gangadhara and Savitha Khadri. Fertilization, soil and water quality management in small-scale ponds, by S. Adhikari Shrimp harvesting technology on the south west coast of Bangladesh, by S. M. Nazmul Alam, Michael J. Phillips and C. K. Lin. The “Gher Revolution”, by M.C. Nandeesha [Farmers as Scientists series] Aquaculture Compendium – case study component, by Peter Edwards. Rice-Fish Culture in China, by Fang Xiuzhen. Exercising responsibilities to tackle aquatic animal diseases, by CV Mohan. Application of immunostimulants in larviculture: Feasibility and challenges, by ZhouJin. Marine Finfish Sectio

Sustainability in design: now! Challenges and opportunities for design research, education and practice in the XXI century

Copyright @ 2010 Greenleaf PublicationsLeNS project funded by the Asia Link Programme, EuropeAid, European Commission