South African Journal of Industrial Engineering

Digitalisation has been advocated as a possible strategy to improve the competitiveness of tool, die, and mould-making (TDM) companies in the 21st century. The recent rise of digital technologies, such as Internet of Things devices, now makes digitalisation an achievable reality. This paper focuses on the digitalisation of shop-floor operations in the South African TDM industry through the development of a novel mobile data collection (MDC) tool known as a shop-floor management system (SMS). The developed SMS was deployed to, and validated in, a selected tooling company for various products. The developed system improved the shop-floor’s real-time data collection.

Digitalisering is voorgestel as ’n moontlike strategie wat die mededingendheid van gereedskap- en gietvorming-maatskappye in die 21ste eeu kan verbeter. Die onlangse opkoms van digitale tegnologie, soos Internet of Things-toestelle, maak nou digitalisering ’n haalbare realiteit. Hierdie artikel fokus op die digitalisering van werkswinkelvloerbedrywighede in die Suid-Afrikaanse TDM-bedryf deur die ontwikkeling van ’n nuwe mobiele data versameling instrument vir werkswinkelvloerbestuur. Die ontwikkelde stelsel is ontplooi tot, en gevalideer in, ’n geselekteerde gereedskapmaatskappy vir verskillende produkte. Die ontwikkelde stelsel het die werkswinkel-vloer se reële-tyd data-insameling verbeter.

Projects are unique, temporary structures that produce unique knowledge. For organisations to gain competitive advantage, this knowledge needs to be transferred effectively between projects. Knowledge transfer across projects is thus an important and decisive competitive factor. However, project teams typically focus on short-term project goals, and often fail to regard capturing and transferring project knowledge between projects as important for the long-term benefit of the organisation. This theoretical study argues that Project Management Offices (PMOs) play an important role by supporting and facilitating the flow of knowledge between projects. A conceptual framework depicting the role of PMOs in the transfer of knowledge between projects is presented here, while empirical results will be reported on in a sequel to this paper.

Projekte is unieke, tydelike strukture wat unieke kennis lewer. Vir organisasies om ’n mededingende voordeel te behaal, moet hierdie kennis effektief oorgedra word tussen projekte. Kennisoordrag tussen projekte is dus ’n belangrike en beslissende mededingende faktor. Projekspanne fokus egter tipies op korttermyn projekdoelwitte en slaag dikwels nie daarin om die vasvang en oordra van projekkennis tussen projekte as belangrik vir langtermynvoordele vir die organisasie te beskou nie. Hierdie teoretiese studie voer aan dat Projekbestuurskantore (PMOs) ’n baie belangrike rol speel deur die vloei van kennis tussen projekte te ondersteun en te fasiliteer, en stel ’n konseptuele raamwerk voor wat die rol van PMOs in die oordrag van kennis tussen projekte uitbeeld. Empiriese resultate sal in ’n opvolgartikel gerapporteer word.

Previous studies of supply chain management systems have attempted to focus on transportation, logistics, storage space planning, and time-to-delivery. The biggest challenge for large organisations like the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, which has a presence throughout South Africa, is trying to manage all stores efficiently and effectively. This article looks at these challenges, and provides a virtual store framework model to understand the scope and magnitude of an integrated logistics model approach. Geographical information systems were applied to the virtual store to determine an efficient route for transporting components between stores. Furthermore, the authors identified the major aspects and impacts of a virtual store system in a rail passenger transport operation. This was done through on-site studies and a review of the literature on virtual stores. The model was tested on a case study that produced results that include time and cost as the variables for decision-making.

Vorige studies in voorsieningskettingbestuur het meestal probeer fokus op vervoer, logistiek, stoorspasie beplanning, en afleweringstyd. Een van die grootste uitdagings in ’n groot organisasie soos PRASA, wat regoor Suid-Afrika strek, is om alle store doeltreffend en effektief te bestuur. Hierdie artikel ondersoek hierdie uitdagings, en stel ’n virtuele stoor raamwerk model voor om die omvang en grootte van so ’n geïntegreerde model benadering te verstaan. Verder het die outeurs belangrike aspekte en impakte van ’n virtuele stoorstelsel in ’n spoorweg passasiersvervoer organisasie geïdentifiseer. Hierdie is gedoen deur gebruik te maak van studies op die perseel en ’n literatuur oorsig van virtuele store. Toetsing van die model het tyd en koste as veranderlikes in die besluitnemingsproses ingesluit.