Adoption of particular capital investment appraisal techniques for advanced manufacturing technologies: Malaysian manufacturing firms

The industry plays an important role in the economic growth of a country and for Malaysia the expansion of this sector continues to provide the main stimulus to the growth of the economy. however, growth cannot solely be based on traditional means of production. in order for a country to gain a competitive advantage, investment in new and high technology has become mandatory. Malaysia has moved towards capital-intensive and high technology industries in the 1990s. the Malaysian government needs to encourage the development of high-technology industries so that they can produce better products more efficiently due to the emergence of cheaper production bases in other countries, such as thailand, indonesia and China. in order for Malaysian industries to survive, Malaysia has to sustain its competitiveness by having a higher productivity and efficiency level.. Emphasis has been given to technology development and implementation in the Seventh Malaysian Plan. Various measures were implemented by the Malaysian Government to consolidate and strengthen the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector. among the initiatives undertaken were enhancing productivity and quality systems, along with utilising advanced technologies. these initiatives were supported by promotional activities and information diffusion undertaken by the national Productivity Corporation (nPC) and SiriM Berhad to educate enterprises on the latest techniques in productivity and quality improvements (Malaysia, 2001). the eight Malaysian Plan has also stressed the development of competitive advantage and productivity to enable the manufacturing sector to advance further. Firms are expected to intensify efforts in technology upgrading and developing indigenous technological capabilities in an environment of increasingly competitive markets and an accelerating pace of scientific and technological change (Malaysia, 2001). Recent concerns have been expressed that many firms are failing to invest in advanced manufacturing technology as fully as they should (hayes and Garvin, 1982; Primrose, 1991). a major reason for under-investment in new manufacturing technologies centres on the limitations of financial appraisal techniques (aggarwal, 1991; Cheung and Mason, 1993; drury and tayles, 1997; ashford et. al., 1998). Lefley (1996a; 1996b) suggested that these traditional approaches used in selecting investment failed to capture the full benefits from advanced manufacturing technology projects. These benefits are often intangible and traditional approaches are particularly incapable of capturing the value of options. Boquist et. al. (1998) stated that firms have lost millions of dollars through incorrect investment decisions, most probably as firms have been using the discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques to evaluate high technology investments based on the same criteria of acceptance as traditional capital budgeting (Wilner et. al., 1992)

Aerial mapping using high resolution digital camera and unmanned aerial vehicle for geographical information system

In aerial photogrammetry, aerial photographs are acquired using aerial camera and light aircraft as a platform. The aerial photographs are usually processed for mapping such as for production of topographic map and other special purpose map known as thematic map. However, this method is expensive and suitable for large area but it is not practical for mapping small area. This study concentrates on the use of high resolution digital camera and a very light platform known as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as data acquisition system in capturing digital aerial photographs. The acquired digital aerial photographs were processed using image processing software to produce digital map and digital orthophoto. The results showed that an accuracy of sub-meter can be obtained using the employed method. In Geographical Information System (GIS), it is quite common that topographic map and orthophoto are used as a base map. Hence, the findings from this study could also be used as an input for GIS. Not to forget, the photogrammetric technique could be used not only for mapping but it could also be used for any environmental protection and conservation

Thermal Stress Distribution in the Drum Brake of a Small Vehicle

ABSTRACT In this project, the approach of finite element analysis is used to evaluate the thermal stress distribution in the brake drum of a small car. During braking, the kinetic energies of a moving vehicle are converted into thermal energy through frictions in the brakes. Excessive thermal stress may cause undesirable effect on the material of the brake drum that eventually leads to initiation of crack. For the optimized design of a brake drum, it does appear to be very important to examine the thermal stress distribution in the brake drum at different thickness of drum’s wall

Tahap Penglibatan Pekerja-Pekerja Kilang dalam Program Rakan Muda Sektor Industri

Kajian ini dijalankan bagi menentukan tahap penglibatan pekerja-pekerja kilang dalam Program Rakan Muda sektor industri di Kawasan Perindustrian Sungai Way. Objektif khusus kajian ini ialah 1) menentukan tahap penglibatan pekerja-pekerja kilang dalam aspek perancangan, pelaksanaan dan penilaian terhadap aktiviti Program Rakan Muda yang disertai 2) mengenalpasti tahap faktor pengetahuan pekerja-pekerja kilang terhadap pendedahan kepada sumber maklumat dan penyampaian maklumat oleh agensi pelaksana 3) mengenalpasti tahap faktor tanggapan pekerja-pekerja kilang terhadap konsep pembangunan, matlamat dan strategi dan faedah terhadap penglibatan mereka dalam Program Rakan Muda 4) mengenalpasti tahap faktor sikap pekerja-pekerja kilang terhadap agensi pelaksana dan (5) menentukan hubungan antara tahap penglibatan pekerja-pekerja kilang sebagai angkubah bersandar dengan beberapa angkubah tak bersandar iaitu faktor demografi, faktor pengetahuan, tanggapan serta sikap terhadap Program Rakan Muda. Kaedah kajian ialah melalui temubual dengan menggunakan borang soal selidik yang telah diuji. Seramai 135 responden telah dipilih secara rawak mudah bagi mendapatkan hasil kajian ini. Data dianalisis dengan komputer menggunakan Pakej Statistik untuk Sains Sosial (SPSS). Kajian ini mendapati tahap penglibatan pekerja-pekerja kilang dalam Program Rakan Muda sektor industri 73.3% berada di peringkat rendah. Faktor lain yang berada di tahap rendah ialah faktor pengetahuan sebanyak 100%, faktor tanggapan sebanyak 59.3% dan faktor sikap sebanyak 5 1. 1 %. Penemuan kajian ini juga menunjukkan faktor penglibatan sebagai angkubah bersandar mempunyai hubungan korelasi yang signifikan dengan faktor-faktor angkubah tak bersandar iaitu faktor demografi umur, faktor pengetahuan, faktor tanggapan dan faktor sikap pada aras signifikan 0.05. Hubungan antara faktor demografi umur dengan faktor penglibatan adalah positif tetapi rendah dengan nilai r=0.26. Sementara itu hubungan antara faktor pengetahuan dan faktor tanggapan adalah positif dan tinggi dengan masing-masing mempunyai nilai r=0.79. Bagi faktor sikap dengan faktor penglibatan pula adalah didapati positif dan sederhana dengan nilai r=0.57. Sebagai agensi pelaksana Kementerian Belia dan Sukan Malaysia perlu meningkatkan tahap pengetahuan, tanggapan serta sikap pekerja-pekerja dalam Program Rakan Muda sektor industri. Ia bukan sahaja dapat mengelakkan pembaziran peruntukan yang disalurkan oleh kerajaan bagi membiayai aktivitiaktiviti program malah bagi melahirkan generasi belia yang berwawasan

Insolvency probability in reinsurance treaty: a case study in Malaysia

In developing countries such as Malaysia, the availability of reinsurance arrangements provides several advantages to the primary insurers such as keeping their risk exposures at prudent levels by having their large risk exposures reinsured by another company, meeting client requests for larger insurance coverage by having their limited financial sources supported by another company, and acquiring underwriting skills, experience and ability of handling complex claims by depending on another company for such services. This paper aims to model insurance claims and assess the insolvency probability of reinsurance treaties. Claims data was obtained from one of the leading insurers in Malaysia and R programming with actuar package is used to compute the probability of insolvency.Reinsurance, pricing, insolvency probability, excess-of-loss., Financial Economics, C10, C13,

Law of negligence with regard to the action of professional man / Mawar Ahmad Anuar

"Negligence" may signify full direct intention to one's conduct and its consequences 1, in which case it is a form of' the recklessness described above. More usually, however, it signifies direct intention by the defendant a simple example being the motorist who falls asleep at the wheel. It may be that the word should be used only in the latter Sense 2 but a defendant clearly cannot escape liability because he adverted to the risk if the case is one where even inadvertence would saddle him with liability. An illustration of full intention is VAUGEAN MENLOVE 3 where the defendant had been warned that his haystack was likely to overheat and to take fire, which might spread to the land of his neighbour. He said he would chance it 4, and he was held liable for the damage which occured when the stack actually took fire

An empirical investigation on EDI determinants and outcomes in Malaysian industry

Government involvement is the main cause for the EDI acceptance in Southeast Asian countries (United Nation of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific - UNESCAP, 1996). This is significantly different from the EDI developments in the western countries in which private sector involvement in EDI is substantial (UNESCAP, 1996). As an initial step to spur EDI implementation in private sector, the Malaysian Government has imposed all companies that engage in international trade to implement EDI by doing electronic customs declarations through CIS (Customs Information System) DagangNet. For this, the Government also spent over RM 300 million to fully implement EDI nationwide (Star, 2003 December 3). Nevertheless, such implementation is not successful and it has been claimed that “EDI is not yet fully implemented even though it had been initiated since late 1990s, besides electronic data is also still not recognized for legal customs declaration purposes even if it was meant for paperless and electronic customs declarations” (Star, 2003 December 3). To date, there are dual customs declarations, both electronic and manual, in practices where the sole typical electronic transaction is registration of the customs form (Jimmy, 2005; Star, 2005 July 11). This is in contrast with electronic customs declarations by other countries such as Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore where there is a full electronic declaration including electronic payment for declarations charges (Jimmy, 2005; Star, 2005 July 11; Chau, 2001)

Injection moulded lightweight kenaf fibre thermoplastic elastomer composite for automotive components

Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) blends have been developed offering various advantages and required no state-of-the-art processing machinery, while scrap and rejects are recyclable. The use of thermoplastic and elastomer however posses several limitations due to the increasing prices of plastics and natural rubber over the past few years. Hence, effort has been taken by combining kenaf natural fibres with thermoplastic elastomers. In this project, 20 vol% kenaf fibre was incorporated into thermoplastic elastomer. Two types of impact modifier were blended with polypropylene (PP) namely; thermoplastic natural rubber (TPNR) and polypropylene/ethylene-propylene-diene-monomer (PP/EPDM). Both composites were produced via double melt blending method using Haake internal mixer before they were injection moulded. The ratio of thermoplastic:elastomer was 70:30 for both polymer blends. Maleic anhydride polypropylene (MAPP) was added as a compatibilizer between matrix and reinforcement. The tensile strength for TPNR was about 12% higher than the PP/PPDM matrix. The present of kenaf fibre (KF) and MAPP however has significantly increased the tensile strength of PP/EPDM composite by approximately 81% while only 55% increment attained in TPNR-KF-MAPP as compared to unreinforced TPNR. Flexural properties and impact strength are greatly improved for treated kenaf fibre composite. MAPP has successfully forming a linkage bridge between kenaf fibre and polymer matrix thus enhanced of strength and stiffness of treated thermoplastic elastomer composites. Scanning electron micrographs (SEMs) revealed that the improvement achieved in mechanical properties was due to the interaction between both matrix systems and kenaf fibre

Endoparasite in sheep / Aida Mastura Ahmad Anuar

Parasitism such as gastro-intestinal parasites in sheep is the main reasons of high percentage in mortality and morbidity if they are present in large number. It can cause production losses which include lowering the productivity of sheep, reduction of metabolic efficiency of the sheep and increasing the number of death in sheep. The aim of this study is to determine the occurrence of endoparasites especially nematodes and trematodes in sheep’s feces and to observe the morphology of endoparasites found in sheep’s feces. The morphology of the endoparasites such as the shape and size of the eggs or oocyts were determined by the microscopic examination using three different methods such as direct smear method, floatation method and sedimentation method. Results of nematodes from twenty samples around Negeri Sembilan area that have been examined are Chabertia ovina, Haemonchus contortus, Trichostrongylus sp., Strongyloides papillosus and Trichuris ovis. However, trematodes are not observed in this experiment. Further study on identification of endoparasite and using the McMaster chamber is recommended

Corporate diversification and financial performance : a literature review

The impact of corporate diversification on financial performance has been subject of some studies from the past. In addition, scholars found positive or negative relationship between the two variables. However, there are some theories and motivation which explain the part of relationship that state in this paper. In this paper, we try to show measurement of diversification and summary of related studies