A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Engineering: Industrial Date: 11 October 2016 / This research investigates Transnet‟s Foundry Quality System, focusing on the quality issues in the Foundry. This includes determining the total cost of quality for the business, investigating the impact of the specific defects on the productivity of the business. Two products were analysed namely, the top centre casting and the brake shoe holders. Root cause analysis was done on each stage of the Foundry process to understand the causes of defects. Data was collected and analysed and most of the defects that occur were found to be the result of poor quality management which consequently causes low productivity and low profits. Also identified was a lack of skilled personnel in specific areas in the Foundry. Furthermore data collection as part of the quality system in the Foundry is not effectively executed and this implies that performance cannot be fully measured. Non Compliance reports from customers were analysed and the total cost of quality was calculated to be R1 214 690.73 based on the data that was available. The impact of defects on productivity was also analysed for the financial year 2014/2015 and it was calculated to be 47% for the brake shoe holders. The target for the Foundry for the financial year was R4 048 799.30 for the actual productivity in sales amounted to R 1 915 510.60. For the top centre the estimated target for the financial year 2014/2015 was R6 271 500.00 and the actual productivity amounted to R3 305 250.00. Statistical process control charts were drawn and it was discovered that some of the machines owned by the business are not capable of producing to specification. Qualifound was identified as a framework to improve the Transnet foundry quality system. It is recommended that top management be educated in the concept of cost of quality and its impact on business profitability and that skilled quality coordinators be appointed to facilitate continuous quality maintenance. / MT2017

The typical industrial enterprise has, to a large degree, been slow in accepting and implementing statistical principles in an overall program designed to improve the efficiency of the enterprise and its included functions. Where statistical principles are used, they are for the most part limited to purely mechanical functions involving specific machinery applications. This thesis proposes that the limited use of statistical principles in purely mechanical applications makes use of only a small portion of the potential benefits available through more effective use of the principles involved in the science called Statistical Quality Control. This thesis proposes that through a systematic training program, beginning with use of control chart techniques in day to day operations, the responsible individuals comprising the four business functions, Specification, Production, Inspection, and Sales, may be made to realize the importance of the statistical term capability~of-process. Once the four functions are familiar with the true meaning of capability-of-process, this thesis proposes that the four functions will be better equipped to operate inter-functionally and intra-functionally in a controlled manner. The obvious advantage in operating within an overall capability-of-process framework lies in the ability of the users of such a system to attain realistic goals whether they be in the form of specifications or otherwise. Also of importance is the ability to know within predictable limits what may be expected from processes. This thesis proposes that processes must be defined in a broad sense to include the human, or, the organizational aspects involved in the enterprise. For illustrative purposes, a typical production foundry-machine shop complex was used for research data supporting the thesis. The research data results from a six year association of the researcher with the example enterprise. / Master of Science