Ruzanita Mat Rani

Labor Productivity of Services Sector in Malaysia: Analysis Using Input-output Approach☆

Abstract Productivity reflects the ability of an organization or country to generate higher income or value-added. As Malaysia is taking a rigorous step to become an advanced country with high-income status by 2020, it is crucial to have high productivity in the production processes. Due to the high share of the transportation, communication and financial sub- sectors to the overall economy, they are considered as the stimulants to the overall growth. This paper attempts to determine the labor productivity of these three sub-sectors using the input-output analysis approach. The methodological setting is the utilization of the “labor coefficients” calculated from input-output tables of Malaysia for the years 2000 and 2005 as well as through surveys of related sub-sectors in 2012.

Determining the optimal operator allocation in SME's food manufacturing company using computer simulation and data envelopment analysis

In a labor intensive manufacturing system, optimal operator allocation is one of the most important decisions in determining the efficiency of the system. In this paper, ten operator allocation alternatives are identified using the computer simulation ARENA. Two inputs; average wait time and average cycle time and two outputs; average operator utilization and total packet values of each alternative are generated. Four Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models; CCR, BCC, MCDEA and AHP/DEA are used to determine the optimal operator allocation at one of the SME food manufacturing companies in Selangor. The results of all four DEA models showed that the optimal operator allocation is six operators at peeling process, three operators at washing and slicing process, three operators at frying process and two operators at packaging process.

Operator performance evaluation using multi criteria decision making methods

Operator performance evaluation is a very important operation in labor-intensive manufacturing industry because the company’s productivity depends on the performance of its operators. The aims of operator performance evaluation are to give feedback to operators on their performance, to increase company’s productivity and to identify strengths and weaknesses of each operator. In this paper, six multi criteria decision making methods; Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), fuzzy AHP (FAHP), ELECTRE, PROMETHEE II, Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) are used to evaluate the operators’ performance and to rank the operators. The performance evaluation is based on six main criteria; competency, experience and skill, teamwork and time punctuality, personal characteristics, capability and outcome. The study was conducted at one of the SME food manufacturing companies in Selangor. From the study, it is found that AHP and FAHP yielded the “outcome” criteria as the most important criteria. The results of operator performance evaluation showed that the same operator is ranked the first using all six methods.

Operator allocation in labor-intensive manufacturing system

This paper presents the operator allocation decisions in labor-intensive manufacturing system. An integrated computer simulation and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) are used in determining the best operator allocation alternative. A computer simulation is used to generate inputs and outputs for proposed alternatives. The input variables used in this study are average cycle time and average waiting time, while total parts produced, and average operator utilization are the output variables. DEA is used to analyze the proposed alternatives. The result of the study at the production line of a disk drive components manufacturing plant shows that the optimal operator allocation alternative proposed two operators for each operation.

Analyzing the importance of transportation and financial services sectors using economic linkages analysis

For decades the agricultural sector has been the most important sector in Malaysia. It was followed by the magnificent growth of the manufacturing sector before the closing of the 20th century. However, after the year 2000, there was a tremendous growth in the service sector worldwide. This scenario has embarked the government to focus more emphasis on the growth of the service sector. It is evident that in 2010 alone, this sector contributed about 58.5% share of the gross domestic product (GDP) in Malaysia. Out of all the service sectors, two-subsectors, namely the transportation and financial sub-sectors account for more than one-third contribution to the national GDP. This paper attempts to analyze the importance of the transportation and financial service sub-sectors in Malaysia using economic linkages analysis. From this approach, we could calculate the values of the backward as well as the forward linkages of various sectors in Malaysia using available input-output tables. Thus, we could reveal the strength of both the transportation as well as the financial sectors as the suppliers to or consumers of other sectors in the economy. In retrospect, the analysis can be used as an economic planning tool whether the government could embark on a more rigorous effort to enhance these two-subsectors as good spots for future growth potentials.

Modeling capacity process flow in manufacturing sector: A case study at XYZ factory

This paper describes the application of simulation in designing and improving the manufacturing system. Simulation is a useful tool when analyzing complex manufacturing systems to help sort through cause-and effect relationships and gain a better understanding of what is actually causing a particular problem in the system. Once cause-and-effect relationships are identified, changes for improvement can be made more intelligently. Simulation is used to model and analyze the behavior of the real system, can answer “what if” types of questions about the real system, and aid in the modeling the improvement of the real system. This study presents the use of simulation modeling in the Voice Coil Motor (VCM) and general application magnet capacity process flow at XYZ factory. The simulation model was built using ARENA® software. The model experiment by using what-if analysis was performed to select what characteristics to be the best for the system. The results from this study are expected to help operation management division to improve the system performance in order to increase the factorys production.