Wan Hasrulnizzam Wan Mahmood

Supply chain enhancement through product and vendor development programme

Purpose – This paper aims to review the methods used by an automotive manufacturer in enhancing the supply chain management (SCM) system through a set up termed product and vendor development (PVD) programme. PVD was developed to eliminate problems faced due to late delivery and poor quality of supplies and availability of supplies at the lowest possible costs.Design/methodology/approach – The paper explores the step‐by‐step methodologies that have been employed by the PVD.Findings – Results overtime show that the PVD has improved the SCM system especially in the areas of quality and delivery services, other services and cutting costs that manufacturers had to face due to problems that arose in the shortcomings of the supply services.Research limitations/implications – The PVD has managed to promote the localization programme and has also been able to establish qualified vendors through the structured vendor performance evaluation.Practical implications – Findings also establish that the PVD team is the k...

Maintenance management system for upstream operations in oil and gas industry: a case study

This paper explores the plant maintenance management system that has been used by a giant oil and gas company in Malaysia. The system also called as PETRONAS maintenance management system (PMMS) used to manage the upstream operations for more than 100 plants of the case study company. Moreover, from the observations, focus group discussion with PMMS personnel and application through simulation (SAP R/3), this paper reviews the step-by-step approach and the elements that required for the PMMS. The findings show that the PMMS integrates the overall business strategy in upstream operations that consist of asset management, work management and performance management. In addition, PMMS’s roles are: to help operations personnel organise and plan their daily activities, to improve productivity and reduce equipment downtime, and to help operations management analyse the facilities and create performance and to provide and maintain the operational effectiveness of the facilities.

Translating OEE Measure into Manufacturing Sustainability

This paper focus on the translation of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) measure into manufacturing sustainability based on literature study. It examines the three OEE contributing factors; availability, performance, and quality; and the sustainable manufacturing components including environmental conservation, social efficiency, and economic enhancement. The OEE measure is not only possible to improve productivity through the identification and elimination of manufacturing major losses but its implementation has its own merits towards sustainable manufacturing. The findings can be used as an initial reference for manufacturers to consider OEE measure to advance the goal of manufacturing sustainability.

Sustainable manufacturing practices in Malaysian palm oil mills: Priority and current performance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of sustainable manufacturing practices in Malaysian palm oil mills (POMs) by comparing the status of their current achievements and the levels of priority placed on their practices. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was used to collect data about 20 sustainable manufacturing practices from 51 POMs located in Malaysia. A five-point Likert scale was considered for recording variations in priorities and current practices with regard to sustainable manufacturing. A Cronbach’s α reliability test and a binomial test were undertaken to assess the internal consistency and the validity of the survey data. Spearman’s ρ correlation analysis was employed to determine the linear correlation between each of the sustainability practices identified. Factor analysis was conducted to reduce the number of sustainable manufacturing practices based on factor loading and to derive a clustering of these factors. Findings The results showed that employees’ well-being has the highest level in terms of both priority and current achievement. However, for other sustainable manufacturing practices, there was a difference where the current achievement of these practices in the Malaysian POMs was seen to be slightly lower than the priority given to them. Strong correlation of significant value was observed between the minimization of production waste and pollution prevention practices. From factor analysis, 15 practices of high factor loading were grouped into a proactive sustainability strategy and a preventive sustainability strategy. Research limitations/implications The study was still relatively exploratory. Future studies could investigate the barriers to the implementation of sustainable manufacturing practices at Malaysian POMs. The sample, which consisted of 51 Malaysian POMs, represented an important sector of the Malaysian economy. Reliance on stated, rather than revealed, preferences may limit the implications of the analysis undertaken for this study, but it does represent a major step forward in understanding the past in what was a highly recommended sector for investigation due to the paucity of extant data. A more broadly based, random sample of POMs from other countries would provide a better understanding of issues related to sustainable manufacturing practices. Practical implications The results of this study can be used by practitioners to adjust the sustainable manufacturing practices currently applied and further studies may go on to examine the reasons and implications for discrepancies between priorities and desired sustainability goals in more detail. Originality/value The survey conducted about sustainable manufacturing practices amongst Malaysian POMs was focussed on the three dimensions of sustainability, namely, the economic, environmental, and social elements involved.

Implementation of lean practices based on Malaysian manufacturers' perspective: a confirmatory factor analysis

This article aims to explore the most significant indicator and factor that drive the implementation of lean production, primarily by Malaysian manufacturers. Using a survey data from 107 respondents, the analysis disclosed that the ability to improve the quality of products, increase the productivity and the operation efficiency was the greatest impact that was achieved from the implementation of lean production practices by Malaysian manufacturers. From an exploratory factor analysis, process optimisation, layout arrangement and work organisation were understood as the main component that encourages the implementation of lean production practices. The findings was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis, showing that all the practice indicators that were assessed and the factors suggested is consistent with the current practice of lean production in the population studied. This provides a valuable input in making a strategic decision in designing and implementing the realistic systems of lean production for optimum results.

Improving Production Line Performance: A Case Study

A case-based research method was chosen with the aim to provide an exemplar of practice and test the proposition that the use of simulation can improve productivity. Three alternatives were performed by considering the aspects of operator, machine, and workstation to define productivity improvement alternatives for operation optimisation. The research determines the optimum result to improve the current operation system. The experiments on simulated and real data clearly indicate that the productivity improvement in the current performance can be achieved by re-allocating the number of operators and machines effectively instead of a combination. The paper presents a novel example of the use of simulation to estimate the production line performance. The paper highlights this method by addressing this operational issue and the likelihood of the success of the strategic decision to improve productivity.

Mismatch in Anthropometric Parameters of Malaysian Manufacturing Workers

The software Digital Enterprise Lean Manufacturing Interactive Application (DELMIA) is a virtual simulation software that was used in digital product manufacturing. In contrast with Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application (CATIA), DELMIA ergonomics feature is built with Human Task Simulation which can simulate the design workspace virtually. However, population available for the human manikin population are excluding Malaysian population. This study is aiming to investigate the gap and the error of anthropometry data in Malaysian manufacturing workers between the Japanese and American population in DELMIA V5R2016. A sample population of 241 people at manufacturing industries was taken in this study. The total number of anthropometric parameters used for experimentation are 100 parameters obtained from literature studies. The American and Japanese population are chosen to represent the Caucasian and Asian population for comparison of 15 randomly selected parameters of anthropometry. There are several mismatches found in the anthropometry parameter between the three comparisons of the population where the percentage of error and gap in between populations are more than 5%. In conclusion, this study recommended that future research increase the sample size of the anthropometry subjects for database comparison. For future research, it is recommended to use other methods available for measurement such as digital measurement for the anthropometry database to compare the accuracy with the traditional measuring method.

Ergonomics Study of Working Postures in Manual Hand Layup Process

In composite manufacturing, hand layup is of the fabrication methods that is widely used. Composite is the basic material used in the manufacturing of products such as shipbuilding and the process requires manual handling. Currently, there is a significant number of absenteeism that due to low back pain, indicating that workers in manual composite manufacturing have problems related to musculoskeletal disorder (MSD). The objective of this paper is to study the working posture and discomforts experienced by workers in layup process station. A preliminary survey is conducted on 45 workers to obtain their experience of discomforts while working. Survey results show that 83.33% of the workers experience discomforts on the lower back of the body. When rating their level of pain on the lower back on a scale from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest), 41% of them rated 4 on the level pain. Pain and discomforts lead to lower productivity of workers. Consequently, this can jeopardise the quality of the products. At the layup station, this problem arises due to the design of current workspace and the posture of workers when executing the job tasks. Rapid Upper Limb Analysis in CATIA V5R20 software was used to calculate the RULA scores. All postures had scored more than 6 that need further investigation and immediate change. Ergonomically designed layup workstations and good education on proper working posture will be able to improve the workers’ health conditions on the future.

A Preliminary Study of Body Discomforts of Hand Lay-up Process Workers in Composite Manufacturing

Low Back Pain (LBP) is one of the chronic diseases that have been correlated with musculoskeletal disorder or occupational disease when the process of manufacturing involves manual processes. Composite manufacturing especially requires skilled workers that can complete manual task primarily hand lay-up process in conjunction with composite fabrication methods. Lay-up process is one of the methods in fabricating composite. Mostly, parts of products using composite are enormous; such aircraft body, pools and ship body. This study aims to segregate potential respondents for ergonomics experimental specifically focusing on hand lay-up workers in a composite manufacturing facility. The study uses survey for 28 participants to identify the workers experience on the body discomfort while doing lay-up process activity. Out of sixteen activities in the lay-up process, results show that nine activities are suitable for postural analysis. However, for the preliminary study, only three selected postures which are the most frequent are analyzed. Rapid Upper Limb Analysis (RULA) in Computer-Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application (CATIA) V521 software shows RULA score that is above than 5. Hence, the study recommended that the experimentation stage will cover on body parts in upper and lower back of workers. Thus, the respondents for the next step of the research is determined based on their (Body Mass Index) BMI and experience on body discomforts that were obtained from the surveys.

Basic formation in streamlining lean practices in manufacturing operations - a review

Lean production, also known as lean manufacturing was a popular social-technical management philosophy, and widely accepted as an effective approach in improving the operational performance management since it was first introduced in the early 90s. However, most of lean practice is often adopted based on own understanding with reference to the success achieved by others. This potentially creates the gap and eventually affects its implementation performance. Therefore, the aims of this article is to propose based on literature, the basic concept of lean practices that can be considered by manufacturers as a starting point or to strengthen the performance of its regardless of firm size (small, medium or large manufacturing industry). By referring to the nine categories of manufacturing waste (inventory, waiting time, transportation, inefficient energy utilisation, over-processing, over-production, unnecessary motion, and defects), lean practices can be streamlined through the four formation stages, i.e., planning and product development, production planning and scheduling, manufacturing processes, and functional and visual inspection. This can be realised by focusing on three dimensions of implementation, namely input, product revolutionary processes, and output. The proposed concept is useful as a basic guideline, primarily for manufacturers to plan and develop a better strategy for a better performance results.