Sustainable Maintenance Performance Measures: A Pilot Survey in Malaysian Automotive Companies

AbstractFor sustainability to be realized the automotive companies need to cascade down their strategies to all business functions, including maintenance. Maintenance objectives at the operational level shall be aligned with business strategies at the corporate level by defining key performance measures at each level. This paper developed the initial framework for measuring sustainable maintenance performance (SMP) where 15 measures at the corporate level, 20 measures at the tactical level and 43 measures at the functional level, are identified. In sequence, this paper established the importance level of these measures through a pilot survey in Malaysian automotive companies. The findings of this study are concluded by recommending all proposed measures as important. The total of lubricants consumption has been considered as the most crucial measure at the functional level, while learning and growth is the most vital perspective, and furthermore, social factor is becoming a more important in measuring SMP

Education level, working experiences and ergonomics training effect on ergonomics awareness and practices in Malaysia

The objective of the study is to identify the effect of three demographics factors: education level, working experiences and ergonomics training on ergonomics awareness (EA) and ergonomics practices (EP). 146 questionnaires were received from Safety and Health Officers (SHOs) in Malaysian manufacturing companies. Exploratory Factor Analysis has been carried out but not discussed in this paper. Ergonomics awareness (EA) represented by four elements: knowledge in ergonomics technical (KET), beliefs on implication of work and need for improvements (BIIWNI), beliefs on the importance of assessment (BIAss) and beliefs on the importance of anthropometrics and suitability to workers (BIASW). Ergonomics practices (EP) were represented by two elements; ergonomics technical (Ergo_Tech) and ergonomics administrative (Ergo_Ad). Analysis were carried out by Levene test, MANOVA, and linear regression (stepwise). It is found that ergonomics training and working experiences as SHO have significantly interact with EA, while only ergonomic training has significantly interacted with EP. Surprisingly, education level of SHOs did not contribute significantly to both EA and EP. It is concluded that ergonomics training should be emphasized in order to get a successful ergonomics practice and it should be considered as a compulsory in order to obtain continuous program (CEP) point for renewal of SHO certificate

Prospects and State of the Glass Industry in Saudi Arabia and a preliminary assessment of the quality of Glass and Glass-Ceramics Fabrication

Although the economic value of glass products and its importance to the Saudi National Economy is vast, not much information is available about the current state of the art of the industry. Likewise little information is available about the geography, potential sites for mining sand as well as the evaluation of sand quality. This paper attempts to bridge this gap by presenting a feasibility study of fabricating normal glass and glass ceramics from Saudi Arabia’s domestically available raw materials. It discusses the current status of glass industry in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region. It also gives a brief explanation about the sand topography in Saudi Arabia. In order to determine the feasibility of fabricating glass using these raw materials, experimental data on the fabrication of normal glass and glass-ceramics from indigenously available raw materials was obtained and reported as part of the findings of this paper Firstly, normal transparent glass were able to be fabricated without any apparent large defects using sand collected from Ar-Rayis region in Saudi Arabia. Four nano-sized crystallization catalysts, namely VC, WC, TiC and Y2O3, were added to the constituents of the glass in 3 wt.%.  For VC, the crystallization process was limited. The glass ceramics of WC consisted of multi-dimensional edges crystals which covered all the matrix. Gray crystalline whiskers were obtained by addition of TiC. The Y2O3- glass ceramics consisted of multi-directionally rosette crystals. Finally, the microhardness values of the added crystallization catalysts glass ceramics were obtained and found to be much higher compared to normal glass. The results show that glass of high quality can be produced specifically for Ar—Rayis region which would be of interest to researchers, glass industry personnel and potential investor

The comprehensive framework for RFID justification in healthcare

RFID technology has emerged popular information technology enabled in wide industry areas including healthcare industry. Justifying and decision making of RFID investment is crucial to rationalize and achieve successful implementation. Decision makers need a better framework to structure the complexity of RFID justification. This study proposes the comprehensive framework for RFID justification that had been tested and validated on 4 hospitals in Indonesian and Malaysian hospitals. It describes how 5 phases consisting of steps, techniques and tools of the framework can be used to justify RFID investment. A case study example is used throughout the study to explain how the framework works and how it is applied to justify RFID investment. Specifics and general validation had been used to validate the framework through multiple case studies

An introspective study on students’ motivation, understanding and performance in engineering statics

Statics is a fundamental engineering course, which many students find difficult [1-3] to understand. This has considerably affected the students’ performance in Statics and other follow-on courses, and consequently, disheartened them from pursuing engineering as a career [4, 5]. However, findings from previous researches showed that good academic performance on assessment alone does not necessarily reflect the engineering students’ deep understanding of the fundamental concepts [6, 7]. Steif [8]suggested that apart from the universal issues such as the hard to learn concepts, the local culture and students’ work habits contribute to this continual problem . In an earlier survey conducted by the authors, most students attributed their performance in Statics to their own efforts in learning. Therefore, this paper investigates the influence of students’ motivational factors in learning for understanding and learning for achieving good performance through statistical data analysis and semi-structured interviews. The findings of this research provide a useful insight into students’ motivation in the learning of this fundamental engineering course. This will be useful in designing a curriculum that could enhance engineering students understanding and performance and retain them in the programme

Development of key performance measures for the automobile green supply chain

The main purpose of this study was to develop a set of measures for evaluating the performance of the automobile green supply chain. This study reviewed various literatures on green supply chain performance measurement, environmental management, traditional supply chain performance measurement, and automobile supply chain management. In order to comprehensively and effectively establish the relevant measures, a suitable framework which considered the automobile green supply chain as a two-in-one chain was adopted. This two-in-one chain comprised a forward and backward chain for the automobile industry. Consequently, 10 measures with 49 metrics and 6 measures with 23 metrics were identified and developed for the forward and backward chains, respectively. Sequel to the development of these measures, a survey was conducted using a four-page questionnaire distributed to experts (including academics and practitioners) to establish their importance and applicability. The findings of this study suggested that the importance and applicability of all the developed measures have been substantiated. For the forward chain, the most crucial measure was customer perspective while the most applicable one was traditional supply chain cost. The reverse chain measures were topped by management commitment in terms of both importance and applicability. This study contributed to the advancement of knowledge by pioneering the development of a set of holistic measures for evaluating the performance of the automobile green supply chain. The study was wrapped up with the proposition of directions for further studies

Self-regulated learning, students' understanding and performance in engineering statics

Findings from previous researches on engineering students showed that students understanding of fundamental engineering concepts are not necessarily reflected by their good academic performance. Many students find Statics a difficult to understand fundamental engineering course. This difficulty has often affected their performance in the course and other follow on courses, which consequently disheartened them from pursuing engineering as a career. Apart from the universal issues such as the hard to learn concepts, the local culture and students’ work habit contribute to this continual problem. In an earlier survey and interviews conducted by the first author most students’ attributed their performance in Statics to their own effort in learning and self-efficacy. This supports Bandura’s claim in suggesting that students' motivation, including their self-efficacy, is related to the use of learning strategies that influence their academic achievement. This is consistent with the shift from behaviourism to cognitivism in educational psychology, where students are perceived to have more responsibility for their own learning. Therefore, this study investigates through statistical data analysis how Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) affects students’ understanding of Statics concepts and performance in the course. SRL is described as a constructive process, where students are active participants in the learning process. The findings of this research will provide a useful insight into students’ learning of this fundamental engineering course. A curriculum that could enhance understanding and performance of engineering students and retain them in the programme could be designed. Suggestions for future research are also offered

Guideline for improving capacity of a job shop based on selected performance measures

Manufacturing companies are required to fulfill customer’s driven imperatives such as on time delivery as well its own requirements such as high machine utilisation and low work in process. In order to achieve these, manufacturers need to adopt the right manufacturing strategy. Selecting the right manufacturing strategies will improve its capability to meet its customers demand as well as its ovvn limitations. This research identifies five strategies that a job shop may adopt to achieve flexibility in meeting demand. The five strategies ranges from the basic strategy of having a complete set of single–operation machines to flexible multi–operation machines. Each strategy is evaluated and a set of guideline is proposed. The results show that when job tardiness and work–in–process is the performance criteria, the duplication strategy is the best. However, if the performance criteria is machine utilisation, then the best strategy is the replacement strategy

EDAS: software for end-of-life disassembly analysis

In recent years, many countries have developed legislations which are aimed to force manufacturers to recycle their products at the end of their life. However, before end-of-life products can be recycled, end-of-life disassembly needs to be in place. It entails large amounts of capital expenditure and time. Besides this, product designers also do not have experience in disassembling and recycling to determine the impact of various design aspects on difficulty at the disassembly stage. Therefore, there is a need for a tool to analyse the disassemblability and recyclability. This paper proposes software named as EDAS to fulfil those needs