The application of theory of constrain (TOC) in an organisation to resolve problems and to boost productivity

The theory of constraints (TOC) identifies constraints which are otherwise labelled as waste by lean. It isolates these constraints and provide resources in order to buffer and/or eliminate them completely. Its underlying premise is that organisations can be measured and controlled by variation on three measures which are throughput, operational expense and inventory. TOC challenges managers to rethink some of their fundamental assumptions about how to achieve the goals of their organizations, what they consider productive actions, and about the real purpose of cost management in order to maximize throughput through sales. It is about understanding bottlenecks to a process and better managing these bottlenecks to create an efficient process. The paper identifies inputs that are causing constraints. It explains the methodology to isolates them and how and when to apply TOC in minimising their impact. In order to prove this, a research was carried out in the Bakwena mine in South Africa where TOC was used to resolve recurring problems. The end results has shown that when problem area are isolated, conditions observed, resources allocated at the problem area and action taken to address problems immediately, positive results can be achieved

An assessment of the Total Productive Manufacturing (TPM) concept in a South African manufacturing industry

The global and competitive market environments have led to new challenges for both organizations and individuals in them. There has been a major change in the last twelve years since South Africa obtained independence in 1994 leading to internationalization of the economy, the increased use of technology and rapid and technological change. These changes influenced management practices forcing organizations to invest in production machines and other methods in order to stay ahead of their competitors. The importance of equipment is increasing in the advancing and demanding technological era in the South African context. Consequently, proper maintenance is required to keep equipment in top operational form. The objective is to reduce equipment breakdowns, increase equipment reliability and improve productivity.This will result in increased equipment utilization and life, reduced work stoppages and machine slowdowns, closer adherence to production and delivery schedules as well as increased employee morale. The Total Productive Manufacturing (TPM) concept addresses these goals. The aim of TPM is to keep the plant and equipment at its highest productive level through the cooperation of all areas of the organization. TPM is a partnership between maintenance and production organization to improve product quality, reduce waste, reduce manufacturing cost and increase equipment availability With the increase in the use of technology, and integrated human resources strategy should be introduced to cope with the dynamic needs of technology. One of the most important elements in this equation is the employees of an organization who will operate those machines. Less attention has, over the years, been afforded to these operators since emphasis has been on equipment and productivity. It is important to combine the human resource strategy with equipment utilization to make the manufacturing system efficient and effective. It has been proven that the skills, knowledge and experiences of operators have economic value in the market place and also potential value to an organization because they enable it to be productive and adaptable. A real world case study in the South African environment was carried out at a renowned manufacturing company in order to asses whether the combination of TPM and a human resource strategy can produce improved results. A survey was carried out on two sister companies located next to one another. It was observed that TPM had progressed significantly more in the one company that had better human resource systems than in the other that did not apply an effective human resource system. The main conclusion reached was that when human resource practices are applied properly in and integrated fashion, they will promote machine efficiency and hence increase the productivity of the company. The research highlights the type of human resource practice that needs to be applied to enable operators to be efficient and productive as part of the machine system in a South African context.Professor L. Pretorius Professor A. Straus

The Impact of Covid-19 on the Level of Productivity and Industrial Development in South Africa

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Lean application in student finance department within a learning institution can lead to high academic throughput: a case study.

The knowledge of lean principles is just as applicable to offices and other work environments as it is to manufacturing plants. Lean is a theory that can help organizations to simplify and organize their working environment so that waste can be reduced, avoid high employee turnover and proper equipment and workspace is used. Although services can be consumed and perceived, they cannot be measured easily and objectively, like manufacturing products. An objective measurement is a critical aspect of lean, which requires data-driven decisions to eliminate defects and reduce variation. Waste and the misuse of time could cost the company and the clients’ money and time, and in an academic environment, this is known to be extremely valuable. The study focuses on the finance department supporting students in one of the leading South African institution. There has been a number of incidents of wastage and non-professionalism identified in that department, which led to some students not getting their tuition and study material on time and some unable to register for the current year. The research attempts to highlight these problems and provides a solution as to how they can be resolved in order to assist the university to reach its expected throughput

An economic competitiveness analysis of power generation plants

Abstract: Due to the fast growth of renewable energy resources, the analysis and comparison of costs associated with different forms of electricity generating sources are crucial for decision policy makers and investors. To this end, the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) is a widely tool employed to assess the economic viability of a power plant, however the issue with this tool is that it does not considers all the complexities involved. Thus, the Levelized Avoided Cost of Electricity (LACE) has been introduced to cover the elements ignored by LCOE, which are becoming critical to business decision. Despite the development of LACE, various studies continue using LCOE to evaluate the economic competitiveness of various power plants, especially in South Africa. To this end, this paper used both LCOE and LACE tools assess and compare the economic viability of 10 technologies which are: coal, gas, nuclear, biomass, geothermal, hydroelectric, wind offshore, wind onshore, solar photovoltaic, concentrated solar power. The results indicate that of all technologies, geothermal ranks at the first place as the most economic competitive alternative, followed by coal technology. Furthermore, the results illustrate that the worse technologies in terms of economic viability are solar photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, and wind. As far as the authors are aware this study is the first example in the context of the South African energy sector

A sustainability assessment of electricity supply systems

Abstract: One of the major concern striking the 21st century is the development of Sustainable Development (SD) whilst rising mankind welfare. Contemporary technology generally has controverting impacts over the concept of SD, as portrayed through the present power supply system. Low-priced, easily- available electrical energy is very important to various contemporary society ‘s most significant technologies and SD advances. Meanwhile, the immense mainstream of the global’ s electrical energy is produced by means of fossil fuels, which caused stern ecological burdens. Thus, any shift towards a sustainable, thriving future will necessitate resources of electrical energy, which can offer the benefits of current ‘s power production system whilst diminishing its harmful impacts. To achieve growing power supplies with negligible ecological effect, shift to the present electricity production practices are needed to take in augmented power efficiency as of fossil fuel burning technologies by introducing renewable energy sources into the market..

Exploring challenges impeding sustainable supply chain practices in mining sector

Abstract: Growing pressures from various players such as governments, non-governmental organizations, and customers have impelled business corporations to address the economic, environmental, and social issues associated with their supply chain activities. Consequently, the concept of sustainability has become a buzzword among scholars and industry practitioners. Although, the concept of sustainability is attaining high level of importance in Europe, America, and Asia due to its ability of ensuring environmental sustainability, in Africa the integration and application of sustainability’s concept is facing several challenges. To date, several studies were conducted to investigate the barriers affecting sustainability practices in mining sector at country’s level. However, an investigative study regarding the barriers of sustainability practices in mining sector of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which involve fifteen African countries is missing, this paper aims at filling this gap. The data were collected through a quantitative approach. At least 1 423 participants were involved in the survey. The findings revealed that the major barriers blocking the development of Sustainable Supply Chain in mining industry of SADC region include Lack of commitment on environmental deterioration, lack of communication and knowledge sharing, Ineffective monitoring and control system, lack of effective policy and legislation direction, high cost associated with the implementation of SSCM, Poor Supplier Commitment, lack of green practitioners, poor senior managements’ commitment, lack of recycling activities. Lack of Political commitment and support, Lack of managerial support and practical tools, and inadequate individual capacity

The effects of flattening hierarchies on employee performance in organizations : a study of a South African retail group

For the last couple of years organizations have been urged to flatten their hierarchical structures in order to increase flexibility of employees and to empower employees with the decision making discretion. Flattening or delayering of organizational structures refers to the elimination of layers in a firm’s organizational hierarchy and the broadening of manager’s span of control. The decision to push down decision making to the lower levels of the organization presents employees with the freedom to be responsible for everything they do and also to be held accountable. Though it may have been suggested that flattened organizations are flexible and proactive, this paper will identify that through the flattened organizations managers still take the major decision regarding the organizations success and that the goal of flattening hierarchies isn’t always achieved after implementation

Analysis of the status-quo of industrial 4.0 in the SMMEs : a critical review

Abstract: The manufacturing sector has undergone number of challenges in the last 30 years. Currently is the industry 4.0. This sector is also facing a challenge to meet the continuously changing needs of consumer worldwide, taking into account that they must adapt to the changes to ensure sustainability. The manufacturing world is moving fast to the development of efficiency means of production and the adoption of new technology. This paper presents the benefits of the motives (sustainability, profits, market share, cost, productivity and competitiveness) of the adoption of industrial 4.0 stages of implementation in manufacturing and review the competitiveness of the Small Medium and Micro-Sized Enterprises (SMMEs). In order to deal with this challenge, manufacturing value creation must be geared in the direction of sustainability. Presently, the manufacturing value creation in the primary industrial states is designed by the expansion towards the industrial 4.0. Although a number of studies have been conducted the past 3 decades to address the gap, but there’s still a need to address. Therefore, this paper aimed at theoretical assess the status-quo of industrial 4.0 in the SMMEs. The results of the critical analysis of the current literature, clearly demonstrate that there are flaws in the body of knowledge. The flaws identified was the lack of use of qualitative method and the practices or adoption of industrial 4.0 in the SMMEs

Analyzing the status quo of enterprise resource planning implementation in SMEs

Abstract: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) techniques attained very important reputation in the last 10 years. Nevertheless, with the developing pace of execution, it has also been observed that expanding number of executions blunders as well as unaffordable maintenances. SME industry is an exceptional industry for the fact that large percentage of construction sectors it’s possible to categories them as small as well as Medium sized Enterprise (SMEs). This study assesses how applicable the ERP is to construction industry. It as well estimates a manuscript founded on enterprise data techniques as well as mirrors it to ERP via the case revision of segmental household industrialist. Concerning the investigation, the article founded on enterprise information system appears to be minor, inexpensive as well as more extra segmental by design. Assumed that assembling took place by the use of Commercial off the Shelf Software (COTS), this as well may need the not as much of awareness as well as information technology skills from the operators, decreasing the upskilling the economic importance too. Founded on the information, the script founded technique looks as feasible substitute to ERP for the construction sector. Although a number of studies have been conducted over the past two decades in order to address these issues, but there is still a gap in the current literature review, therefore the aim of this paper was to theoretically assess, the status quo of ERP implementation in small and medium enterprise. The results of critical analysis of the current literature clearly demonstrate that there are gaps related to lack of exploring the SME