Rohana Abdullah

Development of a Decision Support System for Analysis and Solutions of Prolonged Standing in the Workplace

Background Prolonged standing has been hypothesized as a vital contributor to discomfort and muscle fatigue in the workplace. The objective of this study was to develop a decision support system that could provide systematic analysis and solutions to minimize the discomfort and muscle fatigue associated with prolonged standing. Methods The integration of object-oriented programming and a Model Oriented Simultaneous Engineering System were used to design the architecture of the decision support system. Results Validation of the decision support system was carried out in two manufacturing companies. The validation process showed that the decision support system produced reliable results. Conclusion The decision support system is a reliable advisory tool for providing analysis and solutions to problems related to the discomfort and muscle fatigue associated with prolonged standing. Further testing of the decision support system is suggested before it is used commercially.

Process and labour utilisation in the electronic industry: A simulation approach

Process utilisation that ensures all workstations are balanced is essential factor for factory productivity. Another important factor that has to be considered is the Man-to-Machine (M-to-M) ratio which provides an answer to how much manpower should be assigned to a machine. This paper reports on a simulation approach that aims to simultaneously provide a solution to the problems of process and M-to-M ratio utilisation. The results of the simulation provide an accurate picture for the system understudy in terms of the bottleneck process, optimal utilisation and M-to-M ratio.

An integrated architecture for lean waste analysis

Lean has become very popular for companies striving towards reducing wastes and improving their efficiency. The fundamental work in Lean implementation includes establishing the standard times for the process under study before the information can be used to determine the resource capacity. The traditional work study methods such as Process Mapping and Man-Machine Charts are no longer suitable to be used in the complicated manufacturing environment such as in the electronics. This paper reports on an integrated architecture for conducting work study and performing lean waste analysis. The developed architecture was implemented at an electronic manufacturing company. The benefits observed from the implementation phase indicate that the proposed architecture has reduced the lengthy time that work-study usually takes, eliminated human error during analysis and improved the accuracy of data.

The impact of tolerance limit on cost of quality

In this paper, the recommended extensions by Chiadamrong [1] was successfully adopted and significant modifications was proposed when computing costs of quality model in a manufacturing system In the literature shows that there is strong connection exist between the tolerance designs with the quality characteristic of a product and the cost associate in achieving the specific quality of the product. With the intention of utilizing the reciprocal power model in determine the relation between the tolerance and the cost, the tolerance has to be converted and set to a standard value at different confidence level. The proposed costs of quality model was tested using real life data obtain from the industry and through simulation works, the results was generated.

Human System Modeling Technique for Semiconductor Assembly and Test

Global competitions are putting pressure on the manufacturing companies to produce products cheaper and faster. Thus, manufacturing operations are urgently exploring methods to reduce cost through improved efficiency in managing the resources. In recent years, there has been growing interest to study human system due to the lack of focus as compared to other resources such as equipment and material. This paper presents the overview and evaluation of the various human issues affecting manufacturing system dynamics and performance. Furthermore, the gap in the current models will be discussed before presenting the development of a proposed model to study human system in semiconductor assembly and test.

PRODUCTIVITY ANALYSIS TOWARDS LEAN MANUFACTURING AT A TEXTILE MANUFACTURING COMPANY

Changes continually occuring in the industry and business environment must be considered both economically and practically.Manufacturing is inherently a complex task and stems from various aspects to create productive manufacturing environment.This research is an attempt to analyze the productivity of a packing production line. The approach taken was first to focus on performing work study on the main processes activity and classifying them into value added and non value added activities. The information gathered was then used to evaluate opportunities for improvement to be suggested to the management.Among the improvement identified were the shaking machine efficiency, method to weigh the pins and material preparation operator. Study was also done to evaluate opportunity to send material for packing to the external vendor which can result in tremendous savings for the company. The findings from this study were shared with the company’s management to assist their effort in improving the productivity to remain competitive and achieving lean manufacturing in the currently challenging global market.