The study on the integration of Activity Based Costing (ABC) system and six-sigma principle

Manufacturing organizations are facing much more challenges as compared to the earlier years. The important and crucial decisions have to be taken by the management in continuous basis in order to ensure the survival and competitiveness of company throughout the journey to become a successful organization. In order to make these decisions fast and correct, they need more accurate information related to financial and non-financial aspects. The conventional cost management systems, which were developed decades ago are unable to provide all information required to make right decision, justify the cost reduction and process improvements (Chen, 1996). This is because they were based on labor-intensive production system while today’s production processes are more sophisticated and faces constant changes. An alternative costing system, Activity Based Costing (ABC) has emerged to the new solution to costing system. It provides financial and non-financial information not only for product costing but also for each activity of manufacturing process. It can list and measure the cost of each activity individually in production and in supporting activities to deliver of a product or service right to customers (Sohal & Chung, 1998). ABC focuses on the activities performed to produce the products throughout the manufacturing process (Gunasekaran et al., 1999). By assigning other costs, such as marketing and administrative to cost object, ABC able to provide more accurate product costs. It helps to improve the operational performance by allocating overhead costs correctly. It provides cost information based on the actual consumption of the resources by each particular activity. The goal of ABC is to reveal cost allocation information by tracing the production costs accurately to activities and product (Gunasekaran et al., 1999). The implementation of ABC has provided many benefits, such as more accurate product costing, providing of cost behavior information and tracing resources consumptions. Realizing many benefits gain from implementation of ABC, many companies have embarked in applying ABC system. However, there are many problems and barriers they encountered during the implementation, which made some has decided to abort this system and not be able to exploit its advantages. It is the objective of this study to help foster the growth of Malaysian companies by helping them to provide better understanding,knowledge and skills to take advantage of using ABC as a tool to improve their manufacturing process. The title of the project is The Study on Integration of Activity-based Costing and Six-sigma Principle. The specific objective of the study is to determine success factors for ABC implementation in manufacturing companies based on Six-sigma process improvement principle. The focus of the study is to identify and understand the critical success factors in implementation of ABC, to identify and specified the problems and barriers and to understand their relationship with the ABC success. In order to identify, understand and formulate the proposed solution, this study will use a survey approach to get required data for further analysis. The survey will be based on mailed questionnaires to selected manufacturing industries in Malaysia. In order to formulate a comprehensive and relevant set of questionnaires, a comprehensive review of literature will be studied, followed by validation and verification process,which involved expert opinions and a pilot study. The next phase is where data from the study will be analyzed to identify areas related to the level of acceptance of ABC,the critical success factors and also to determine the relationship between the organization’s factors and the success of implementation of ABC system. The tangible outcome of this project is to provide a set of proposed guidelines and support tools for manufacturing organizations in applying Activity-based Costing for process improvement efforts as suggested by Six-sigma improvement principle

Peningkatan Kualiti Reka Bentuk Kerusi Sekolah Rendah Dengan Mengintegrasikan Kaedah Qfd Dan Kejuruteraan Nilai

Kajian ini adalah untuk mengintegrasikan kaedah QFD (Quality Function Deployment) – Pembangunan Fungsi Kualiti dan kaedah VE (Value Engineering) – Kejuruteraan Nilai dalam mereka bentuk kerusi sekolah rendah berasaskan kayu. Tujuan sebenar QFD adalah untuk membolehkan keperluan terhadap kehendak pengguna (pelajar sekolah rendah) diterjemahkan kepada kehendak teknikal dan reka bentuk. Pada hakikatnya pengguna mempunyai bahasa mereka yang tersendiri dalam menyampaikan maksud kehendak mereka, manakala jurutera reka bentuk pula mempunyai bahasa mereka tersendiri yang terdiri daripada bentuk-bentuk teknikal bagi memenuhi kehendak pengguna tersebut. Dalam melaksanakan proses translasi antara dua maklumat yang berbeza ini, pendekatan yang bersistematik perlu digunakan bagi menukar maklumat kualitatif dan kuantitatif pengguna kepada kriteria-kriteria teknikal yang diperlukan untuk reka bentuk. Pendekatan bersistematik tersebut boleh diperoleh melalui proses QFD, iaitu maklumat-maklumat tersebut akan dijanakan melalui beberapa matrik utama. Dalam kajian ini, kaedah VE telah diaplikasikan untuk menyenarai tapis kriteria yang dipindahkan dari Matrik Rumah Kualiti (matrik pertama) kepada Matrik Perancangan Komponen (matrik kedua) dalam kaedah QFD. Keputusan kajian menunjukkan bahawa kehendak pengguna iaitu pelajar sekolah rendah dapat dipenuhi melalui integrasi kaedah QFD dan VE iaitu kerusi sekolah rendah berasaskan kayu yang menepati ciri-ciri kepenggunaan telah dikenalpasti, yang meliputi aspek kejuruteraan reka bentuk

Relationship between statistical process control critical success factors and organizational performance

Statistical Process Control (SPC) is a statistical based techniques and methods used within the improvement based philosophy such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and Six Sigma. SPC research can be divided into two major categories: technical and methodological aspects and the organizational and the implementation aspects. Between the two, the organizational and the implementation aspects of SPC is almost being neglected and lack of attention being given by the researcher. Based on the literature, the SPC implementation research focuses on identifying factors for successful implementation. What is missing from this SPC implementation literature is the relationship of how these so called SPC critical factors affects quality and firm performance statistically and empirically. Therefore, the objective of this research is to establish the relationships between statistical process control (SPC) critical success factors (CSF) and quality and firm performance. Empirical data were collected from 326 responses from Malaysian automotive related companies using industrial survey research methodology. In study 1, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed using Promax rotation with Principle Axis Factoring to determine the underlying dimension of SPC success factors and organizational performance. Preliminary findings from EFA (n = 122) provided evidence for six (6) success factor constructs and three (3) organizational performance constructs. The six (6) success factor constructs are training, role of quality department, deployment, top management commitment, process focus and teamwork. In study 2, results from confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (n = 204) provided additional support for results obtained from study 1. The structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques was employed to examine the relationship between these six (6) SPC critical success factors (CSF) and performance. The results show that there is a positive and significant relationship between these CSF and organizational performance. This research has a practical value in which quality and operation manager would be able to identify and relate the success of his or her SPC implementation projects through managing of these associated factors

Design and development of auxiliary components for a new two-stroke, stratified-charge, lean-burn gasoline engine

A unique stepped-piston engine was developed by a group of research engineers at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), from 2003 to 2005. The development work undertaken by them engulfs design, prototyping and evaluation over a predetermined period of time which was iterative and challenging in nature. The main objective of the program is to demonstrate local R&D capabilities on small engine work that is able to produce mobile powerhouse of comparable output, having low-fuel consumption and acceptable emission than its crankcase counterpart of similar displacement. A two-stroke engine work was selected as it posses a number of technological challenges, increase in its thermal efficiency, which upon successful undertakings will be useful in assisting the group in future powertrain undertakings in UTM. In its carbureted version, the single-cylinder aircooled engine incorporates a three-port transfer system and a dedicated crankcase breather. These features will enable the prototype to have high induction efficiency and to behave very much a two-stroke engine but equipped with a four-stroke crankcase lubrication system. After a series of analytical work the engine was subjected to a series of laboratory trials. It was also tested on a small watercraft platform with promising indication of its flexibility of use as a prime mover in mobile platform. In an effort to further enhance its technology features, the researchers have also embarked on the development of an add-on auxiliary system. The system comprises of an engine control unit (ECU), a directinjector unit, a dedicated lubricant dispenser unit and an embedded common rail fuel unit. This support system was incorporated onto the engine to demonstrate the finer points of environmental-friendly and fuel economy features. The outcome of this complete package is described in the report, covering the methodology and the final characteristics of the mobile power plant

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

Development of a survey instrument for measuring workers satisfaction on usability of manual handling equipments at the warehouse: a pilot study

Scientific evidence show that manual handling devices are one of the effectives controls that can lower the physical demands of manual material handling (MMH) activities. Incidence and severity of the musculoskeletal injuries might happen to workers while company’s productivity, product quality, and overall busi�ness competitiveness also will be affected. However, few studies had been done regarding on manual handling devices provided in the industries especially in term of user satisfaction on the usability of the devices when performing their job and task. The aim of this study is to develop a survey instrument for the evaluation of worker satisfaction on usability of manual handling device among warehouse worker in manufacturing industry. A set of questionnaires was developed which consist of three sections; demographic profile of respondent, work nature and discomfort survey and worker satisfaction on the usability of the manual handling devices. The content of the questionnaire was derived through extend literature reviews and expert’s opinions. A pilot study was conducted at four manufacturing companies in their warehouse’s operation. The reliability and validity of the instrument were determined through Cronbach’s Alpha, face validity and content validity. Cronbach’s Alpha values for each section of the questionnaire range from 0.937 and 0.961 while the value for Cronbach’s Alpha for all 35 standardized items is 0.921. The finding shows that the survey instrument has face and content validity at acceptable level. In conclusion, finding indicated that this instrument had acceptable and adequate reliability and validity to meet its objectives. The survey instrument now ready to be distributed in larger data sets

Analysis of the potential Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA) and Hazard Operability Study (HAZOP): case study

This study aims to investigate the potential hazards and accidents that might occur at batik printing PT. Batik Merak Manis and recommends practical solutions to enhance safety and health at the workplace. This research adopts Hazard Identification Risk Assessment (HIRA) and Hazard and Operability Studies (HAZOP) to perform risk identification and assessment in the workplace. There are 17 findings of potential hazards in the production areas of batik printing which can be categorized into five types of hazards including: workers attitude, work posture, work procedure, workstation, and physical work environment. Of the risk assessment, the obtained value of 34% in the category of extreme hazard, 24% hazard in the high and medium category respectively, and 18% lower hazard category. Proposed improvements are made based HAZOP analysis worksheet. The proposed practical solutions include improvements in work attitude, work posture, and physical work environment

Financial impact and causes of chronic musculoskeletal disease cases in Malaysia based on social security organization of Malaysia claims record

This paper analyzed total direct cost that is paid by the Social Security Organization of Malaysia (SOCSO) to the Malaysian workers due to musculoskeletal disease. The objectives of this study are 1) to determine the total direct costs incurred as a result of cases of chronic musculoskeletal injuries that was approved by SOCSO from 2009 to 2014 and 2) to examine the age category imposed for the total average cost of the highest MSDs claims for the four categories setting. The data provided by SOCSO on occupational diseases and adopt the top-down approach which includes of 416 claims reported between 2009 and 2014. The categories recorded are the highest total direct cost for types of industries, types of injury, causes of accident and type of body parts. The age claimant is then identified from total average cost earned from the highest total direct cost of the four categories. Manufacturing industry, strenuous movement, sprain and strain and back are recorded as highest total direct cost with the cost of RM 5,181,282.34, RM 7,088,839.51, RM 8,753,975.13, and RM 5,526,590.69, respectively. The age group of 35 – 44 years is recorded as the highest total average cost of these four parameters. This study will provide the basis for future studies and intervention on MSD related injuries in working environment in Malaysia

The evaluation of workers satisfaction on usability of manual handling equipment among warehouse workers in Malaysia

Numerous researchers have found that heavy physical demand and improper posture when performing the tasks in various sectors such as manufacturing and warehouse might contribute to the musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) especially when the tasks involving lifting, pushing and pulling activities. In order to reduce high risk manual handling activities, effectives and usable manual handling equipment (MHE) should be introduce to lower the physical demand of manual material handling (MMH) acti�vities. However, most of the MHE studies previously is not really focus on usability evaluation. So, this study intends to evaluate the usability of current MHE used in manufacturing warehouse operation in term of efficiency, comfortability, energy expenditure, safety aspect, design, productivity, effectiveness and user friendliness. A usability survey was conducted among warehouse workers in manufacturing com�pany at southern region of peninsular Malaysia. Besides that, the prevalence of backpain among the warehouse workers was measured through Modified Nordic Discomfort Assessment tools that are incorporate in the usability survey. Result for the most least agreement in user usability for pallet jack was energy expenditure (3.73), efficiency (3.96) and comfortability (3.99); for load carrying cart was energy expen�diture (3.62), design (3.74) and comfortability (3.90); for forklift was comfortability (3.87), design (3.93) and safety (4.08); for pallet stackers was energy expenditure (3.79), design (3.82) and user friendliness (3.82); for conveyor system was productivity (3.50), comfortability (4.00) and safety (4.00). It was also found that the highest prevalence of MSDs among warehouse workers was lower back, followed by legs (left and right) and shoulders (left and right). In conclusion, most MHE available in manufacturing warehouse operation lacking in term of energy expenditure, efficiency, comfortability, design and user friendliness. It is clear that the first stage in design criteria for MHE should be developing an understanding of the user usability requirement to ensure the aids are suitable for the tasks