20 articles in this issue
Corne Schutte
“A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” ? Colin PowelWhile the contents of this edition has been fixed for nearly two months, the final editing process took time, linked to a very busy time at work. The... see more
Thorsten Hermann Becker,Mathias Beck,Cornie Scheffer
Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) is a selective laser melting (SLM) manufacturing process that can produce near net shape parts from metallic powders. A range of materials are suitable for SLM; they include various metals such as titanium, steel, alumi... see more
Rohann Schnetler,Herman Steyn,Paul J. van Staden
This paper investigates the characteristics of matrix structures and their relationships with drivers of project success, such as communication, collaboration, and trust between project team members. Matrix characteristics that were expected to correlate ... see more
Johannes Lodewyk Jooste,PJ Vlok
Business-to-business services relating to physical asset management play an increasingly important role in industry. This is in the context of the current pressures that organisations experience in realising optimal value from their assets. Complying with... see more
Jacobus Krige Visser,Arnold Botha
The Global Forum on Maintenance and Asset Management (GFMAM) was formed in 2011 to bring together various experts, practitioners, academics, and other professionals who are active in the field of asset and maintenance management. The primary mission of GF... see more
Carmen Van Der Merwe,Antonie Van Rensburg,Cornelius SL Schutte
Numerous problems with product quality and time-to-market launches can be traced back to how the product lifecycle process is managed within the organisation. This article provides insight into how an integrated value proposition design framework shifts p... see more
Choi Sang Long,Mohd Hamizan Abdul Aziz,Tan Owee Kowang,Wan Khairuzzaman Wan Ismail
This study examines the impact of total quality management (TQM) practices on an organisation’s innovation performance. Correlation coefficient and regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between TQM practices and innovation performance. T... see more
Frederik Christoffel Rust
The management of research and development (R&D) in the transport infrastructure field is complex due to the multidisciplinary nature of the work. The literature shows that linear R&D models that progress from idea through to consumer product are not suit... see more
Badar Ali,Yasar Ayaz,Mohsin Jamil,Syed Omer Gilani,Naveed Muhammad
Interaction between humans and robots is a fundamental need for assistive and service robots. Their ability to detect and track people is a basic requirement for interaction with human beings. This article presents a new approach to human detection and ta... see more
Imran Tasadduq,M. H. Imam,Abdul-Rahim Ahmad
Despite the reported effectiveness of analytical algorithms in facility layout planning, a detailed literature survey suggests a lack of new analytical methods in recent years. This paper focuses on open space facilities layout planning that involves modu... see more
Olabanji O Asekun,Cornelius Jacobus Fourie
Rolling stock is the most maintenance intensive part of the railway system and therefore, the most vulnerable if maintenance is neglected. It is therefore, essential to have an efficient maintenance schedule for rolling stock components. A decision suppor... see more
Schalk Grobbelaar,Jacobus Krige Visser
Asset and maintenance managers are often confronted with difficult decisions related to asset replacement or repair. Various analytical models, such as decision analysis and simulation, can assist a manager in making better decisions. This paper proposes ... see more
Willie Krause,Corne Schutte
This paper provides key results from an exploratory research study aimed at understanding the current landscape in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa with regard to their appetite for, and use of, open innovation. The survey, which... see more
Suzanne Smith,Kevin Land,Marc Madou,Horacio Kido
A centrifugal microfluidic platform to develop various microfluidic operations – the first of its kind in South Africa – is presented. Rapid and low-cost prototyping of centrifugal microfluidic disc devices, as well as a set-up to test the devices using c... see more
Eugene Ras,Jacobus Krige Visser
South Africa has a variety of mineral resources, and several minerals beneficiation plants are currently in operation. These plants must be operated effectively to ensure that the end-users of its products remain internationally competitive. To achieve th... see more
Roscoe Roy Peter McLean,Jared Padayachee,Glen Bright
The reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) paradigm was introduced in response to the need for a manufacturing environment that can handle high-frequency market-driven change. Although this has resulted in much research into the implementation of such ... see more
Amir Azizi,Amir Yazid b. Ali,Loh Wei Ping
Production throughput measures the performance and behaviour of a production system. Production throughput modelling is complex because of uncertainties in the production line. This study examined the potential application of the adaptive neuro-fuzzy infe... see more
Jason Matthews,Stephan E Visagie
An order picking system consisting of a number of parallel unidirectional picking lines is investigated. Stock keeping units (SKUs) that are grouped by product type into distributions (DBNs) are assigned daily to available picking lines. A mathematical pr... see more
Rian W Geyer,Cornelius Jacobus Fourie
Organisations formally define and document their business processes in order to understand them and, subsequently, to enable continuous development, improvement, and management. Organisations can use business process modelling (BPM), which represents the ... see more
Seyed Mohammad Seyedhosseini,Ahmad Ebrahimi-Taleghani
In the literature on value stream mapping (VSM), the only basis for choosing the best future state map (FSM) among the proposed alternatives is the time factor. As a result, the FSM is selected as the best option because it has the least amount of total p... see more