Lean manufacturing practices in Malaysian automotive industry

This paper presents a case study of lean manufacturing implementation in Malaysian automotive components manufacturer. Semi-structured interview and open-ended questionnaire were used to investigate on how to successfully implement lean manufacturing in Malaysia manufacturing industry. The interview was conducted at a case study company with two managerials who are familiar with lean manufacturing implementation projects. The case study company was selected due to its achievement as a Toyota Production System Model Company awarded by the Malaysia Japan Automotive Industries Cooperation. The finding shows that this case study company used the project approach in their early stage of implementing lean manufacturing projects. The project based is a small scale project where the focus of lean manufacturing implementation is to solve the problems at a small area. They form a team with five full-time members, determine a model line for lean manufacturing implementation project, and then did the continuous improvements effort with focus on reducing the level of inventory. By reducing the level of inventory, this case study company was able to reduce other form of wastes including over production, waiting times, excessive transportation, excessive processing, excessive motion, and defective products. In the project based approach the company, conducted continuous improvement efforts until saturated level of major improvement and achieving a stable condition for the model line. Through their efforts and achievements in implementing lean manufacturing, this case study company has become a reference and role model for the other manufacturing companies in Malaysia

Determining and ranking of CSFs for design capabilities development in Malaysian automotive vendors

Competition dynamically pushes manufacturing ahead. Consequently, design capabilities identified as strategic weapon that offers tremendous opportunities. However, design capabilities development is a stringent challenge to an organization especially in high technology base like automotive. In Malaysia, especially vendors has limited capabilities consequently bound the development steps. There are numerous critical success factors (CSFs) involved in developing successful design capabilities. Thus, makes the development process more complicated. All important CSFs have to be determined and rank accordingly. The CSFs are then applied in a model, using multi criteria decision making approach to facilitate the development process

Development of Black Pepper Rotary Drum Dryer System

Rotary drum dryer has been identified as hygienic and practical method to dry black pepper. The quality of black pepper is defined based on the chemical properties and moisture content. This research aims to develop a control system for black pepper rotary drum dryer. The dried pepper should meet the specific 12% moisture content while the heating temperature must be kept below 550C. The requirement of 12% moisture content is equivalent to 30% of the remaining weight of the pepper (final weight). The developed system uses Arduino Mega 2560 REV board as a microcontroller.  A type K thermocouple with MAX6675 thermocouple amplifier and S-type load cells (TAS501) with HX711 load cell amplifier are used as input sensor to microcontroller.  The system keeps measuring the current weight until it hit the targeted final weight. Two set of experiments that are using 500 g and 1500 g of pre-treated pepper were conducted to verify the system. As a result, the dryer was successful to work within the desired temperature and it stop operating just after the samples reached 12% of the moisture content. The finding has proven a shorten of drying time from 4 to 7 days when using the traditional method to the current 3 – 5 hours only when using the developed system. Hence, this is an improved method achieved to a quick drying of the black pepper.  &nbsp

Exploratory Study: Design Capabilities Development for Malaysian Vendors in Automotive Industry

The involvement of vendors in product development (PD) is able to make the process more efficient, effective and economical. Since vendors account for more than half of the total cost of production, their involvement have major influence on the cost and quality of the products. Vendors’ involvement in PD has significantly increased their importance; expose them to greater risks and challenges. As a return, the vendors are able to improve business performance results, productivity, and reputation, thus increasing the companies’ competitive advantage. To be successful in PD require certain level of design capabilities (DC), thus huge investment is needed. However, the Malaysian automotive market size is considered small and vendors’ capabilities are also limited. Since, studies on vendors’ DC, particularly, in Malaysia is very limited, an empirical study was conducted to explore on the critical success factors (CSFs) in enhancing the vendors design capabilities for the Malaysian automotive industry. A series of interviews were conducted on selected automaker and vendors from different categories to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) that are able to enhance the design capabilities development for Malaysian vendors

Development of Black Pepper Rotary Drum Dryer System

Rotary drum dryer has been identified as hygienic and practical method to dry black pepper. The quality of black pepper is defined based on the chemical properties and moisture content. This research aims to develop a control system for black pepper rotary drum dryer. The dried pepper should meet the specific 12% moisture content while the heating temperature must be kept below 550C. The requirement of 12% moisture content is equivalent to 30% of there maining weight of the pepper (final weight). The developed system uses Arduino Mega 2560 REV board as a microcontroller. A type K thermocouple with MAX6675 thermocouple amplifier and S -type load cells (TAS501) with HX711 load cell amplifier are used asinput sensor to microcontroller. The system keeps measuring the current weight until it hit the targeted final weight. Two set of experiments that are using 500 g and 1500 g of pre-treated pepper were conducted to verify the system. As a result, the dryer was successful to work within the desired temperature and it stop operating just after the samples reached 12% of the moisture content. The finding has proven a shorten of drying time from 4 to 7 days when using the traditional method to the current 3 –5 hours only when using the developed system. Hence, this is an improved method achieved to a quick drying of the black pepper

Design capabilities development in a Malaysian automotive vendor company

Global competition has made manufacturing enhancement saturated. Manufacturers have to find new ways of increasing their competitiveness. A company's capability to conduct design determines the success of innovative products as a main determinant of profit attainment, especially in the technological industry. Design capability (DC) is defined as the availability of technical manpower skills and facilities to conduct design, namely, R&D, testing equipment and prototyping facilities, and the presence of technology to support current and future manufacturing innovations. DC is a company unique resource and can be deployed as a strategy to response in any circumstances and enable a company to anticipate future market demands and to manage global challenges. However, not many Malaysian automotive vendors have full in-house DC. Prior studies also found that Malaysian vendors have limited capabilities in finance, technology and facilities which have impeded the DC development. There is a number of critical success factors (CSFs) involved in developing successful DC. Currently, studies on vendors DC, particularly in Malaysia are very limited, making the development process more complicated. A study was conducted in an automotive vendor company that has successfully developed an in-house DC and was able to improve its business performance. Productivity, reputation and the company's competitive advantage were increased. Thus, the DC development of the company was studied and a framework was proposed. This study is to enable other vendor companies to emulate and understand the DC requirements and serve as a guide for other companies intending to develop their DC

Development of Cleaning Device for In-pipe Robot Application

AbstractPipelines are essential tools for transporting water, oils, gases and sewer from one place to another. Pipelines are used to interconnect networks from one station to another that involved various diameter sizes and fittings to compensate intended directions. There are many issues that influenced performance of the pipelines namely aging, corrosion, cracks and use to clog up with debris, or sediments after long use. There are number of methods available to clean the inside of the closed pipeline namely traditional method like boiling, picking, alcohol and salt and cleaning kits, or tools kits such as wire and plunger or large-gauge snake. However, all the methods can over-stress older pipeline and cause leaks that make even more extensive repair procedures needed to fix the problem. Chemical fluid for pipe cleaning is also not suitable to all types of pipeline because the chemical can erode the pipe wall. Currently, service robot is the best solution that purposely developed to facilitate humans being activities including cleaning, inspection for cracks or repairing damage in pipeline. This paper intends to report about the development of cleaning device for in-pipe robot application. The development covers both software and hardware of the device. Significant experiment has been designed to validate the function of the device. It is proof that the device has successfully clean the soft and moderate clog. The success of the cleaning device can be attached to the in-pipe robot and the outcome is expected to assist pipeline cleaning operations. Thus, enable the pipelines to transport efficiently with minimum cost of operation

Development of In-Pipe Robot D300: Cornering Mechanism

Utilization of robots for in-pipe maintenance considered as one of the most effective ways to improve the pipeline operation. The specific condition and structure of a pipeline system is a challenge for the robots to perform its task. This research aims to assess the characteristic and performance of the in-pipe robot in a 90° pipe elbow. Hence, a prototype of in-pipe robot for 300 mm UPVC pipe diameter (IPR-D300) has been built. The conception of the robot is based on wall-pressed caterpillar type which is suitable for not only horizontal pipeline position, but also vertical and elbows pipeline. This robot is equipped with ultrasonic sensors, high performance microcontroller board and powerful geared motor for travelling in the corner of pipeline. The developed IPR-D300 consist of three independent driving modules that are able to alter the speed according to the pipeline characteristic. The hardware and software of the IPR-D300 performance have been tested and successfully perform the cornering task smoothly. The developed IPR-D300 potentially can be applied for in-pipe cleaning operation especially on centralised sewerage system. As standard pipeline size for sewerage system housing in Malaysia is 200 mm, smaller and robust in-pipe robot will be the future target

Simultaneous Heat and Mass Transfer in Kek Lapis Sarawak Baking

Kek Lapis Sarawak is a specialty of Sarawak. Nowadays, energy becomes a global issue and there is call to minimize energy consumption for a better tomorrow. In cake industry, the use of oven in baking process contributes to the major energy consumption. This research aims to optimize the baking process for an efficient energy consumption. Therefore, it is very important to investigate the relationship between baking temperature, time and cake quality so that the baking process can be optimized. Kek Lapis Sarawak baking process has been modelled and simulate using finite element method (FEM). Then, results from the model was validated with experiment. As a result, similar model of the Kek Lapis Sarawak baking process has been developed. The finding shows interdependent relationship between porosity, thermal conductivity and moisture content where higher porosity that can lead to poor thermal conductivity