Thesis (MTech (Construction Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / The standards of maintenance management of building facilities at many educational institutions, including tertiary institutions, need improvement. TQM has been proven to be effective in the improvement of quality in the maintenance of school building facilities, although many tertiary institutions are still grappling to implement TQM in the maintenance of their buildings. This particular research project investigates the extent of TQM practices; determines challenges experienced; determines success factors and establishes a framework that will ensure the effective implementation of Total Quality Management in the maintenance of tertiary institution buildings in South Africa. A quantitative research design was adopted, where a questionnaire with closed-ended questions was distributed to purposively-sampled maintenance workers in a tertiary institution. A total of 54 respondents participated in the study. The study adopted a case study approach. Five CPUT campuses were selected as the cases for the research study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Data analysis was carried out by means of ranking; ANOVA test and Kruskal-Wallis test of association. The findings obtained indicate that all the TQM practices were implemented. Respondents perceived non-involvement of maintenance workers in decision-making as the most frequently experienced challenge during their building maintenance activities. A statistically significant different existed in the perception of workers’ affiliated campuses on TQM success factors. Findings revealed that TQM success factors were extensively practiced with respect to training and education of maintenance workers, use of statistical methods, and commitment to satisfaction to school stakeholders, as well as commitment from top management. To improve the maintenance management standard of buildings in tertiary institutions and ensure effective TQM implementation during maintenance activities, the study suggests a framework that provides interventions in situations where significant differences were found. It also suggests nine factors to the CPUT Maintenance Department to ensure effective implementation or actualisation in the maintenance of its buildings. A further study to identify new trends in the application of TQM in the maintenance of school buildings by conducting continuous studies from time to time is highly recommended.

M.Ing. (Engineering Management) / Electricity is a crucial key component in every day life influencing the economy, safety; health, productivity and comfort just to name a few. The benefits and importance of electricity can be easily taken for granted by the consumer. Towards the end of 2007, South Africa suffered numerous power outages and that lead to the implementation of load shedding by Eskom, the electricity utility in South Africa, in order to manage the shortage of electricity. Electricity utilities constantly make decisions that affect the cost, reliability and quality of their services. Therefore engineering designs and maintenance strategies should be updated frequently. The benefits of these updates to the system would have a significant performance improvement in regards to reliability and the quality of the electricity. The outline of asset management is therefore to focus on the business assets so that the organisation could serve the customers effectively. As a result, the focus for the research is to develop a life cycle management plan for one of the main assets utilised in the distribution network namely power transformers. The research would include a study of power transformers and customs that could be used to improve the reliability, logistics, safety and the capital investments of the network. Power transformers are static equipment, and failure rate is very low compared to other assets found in substations. As a result of their sizes, transformers requires more time and special arrangements should a failure occur. A risk and condition analysis was conducted on transformers and the results and conclusions were discussed.

Most universities have long recognised the importance and contribution of on-campus hostels to the learning process. In so doing, most of these institutions have provided and maintained building facilities for academic purposes (teaching and research). Hostels are integral components of most campuses of Nigerian universities, and they are part of the built assets of the institutions in terms of both administration and maintenance management. Currently, there is little understanding of the maintenance management systems of on-campus hostel buildings in both the public and the private universities. Moreover, there is a dearth of research evidence demonstrating that there is an appreciable difference in the maintenance management systems of the Federal, State and private universities in Nigeria. This research aimed at establishing an understanding of maintenance management systems of on-campus hostel buildings at Nigerian universities owned by the Federal and State governments and the Private Sector, relative to stipulated criteria for best practice.The qualitative method of research inquiry that is rooted in the phenomenological paradigm was employed in the investigations. The research activities included a comprehensive review of the related literature and study of selected cases. The North-central geopolitical zone of Nigeria was the selected geographical scope of this research. Ten universities were purposefully selected for the study, and they include three Federal, four state and three private universities. The nature and differences in the research questions necessitated generating different forms of data. The questions that were related to the maintenance management systems for the hostels in place at the universities were addressed with the outcomes of interviews with the hostel managers. The questions that were about the structures and current conditions of the hostel buildings at the three categories of universities were addressed with data that were generated from condition assessments of the facilities and physical observations with the aid of cameras. The study reveals apparent deteriorated and unhealthy conditions of most of the on-campus hostels at the public universities, while those of the private universities are satisfactory. The research also found that the maintenance management systems in use at all the universities are reactive and lack proper planning and coordination of maintenance activities. There is no significant difference in the maintenance management systems of hostels at the public and the private universities and the systems have major negative impact on the conditions of the buildings and their performances. The research has developed a conceptual model for the study of maintenance management informed by the theoretical framework. The model considered the impact of the external environmental factors on the management and maintenance of the hostels. Secondly, the interrelationships of strategic and performance management with maintenance management in developing an effective maintenance management system were established. The study has achieved its aim of establishing an understanding of maintenance management systems of on-campus hostel buildings at Nigerian universities owned by the Federal and, State governments and the Private Sector. The maintenance management model developed in the study is recommended to maintenance management departments as a guide for effective maintenance of the built facilities in their institutions.

Submitted as the dissertation component in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters Diploma in Technology (Electrical engineering - heavy current), Electrical Engineering, ML Sultan Technikon, 1998. / The use of pre-stressed concrete poles for the Inwabi Plateau rural distribution line has presented unforseen problems for the Durban Electricity Service Unit, such as poor line performance and structural damage to the poles. The effects are thought to be due to lightning. This dissertation deals with an investigation into the cause of the damage as well as recommendations regarding the repair and prevention of future damage. To achieve this, an evaluation of the line Basic Insulation Level (B.I.L.) together with a review of the existing literature on the effects of lightning to overhead lines was used in order to establish what the specific damage mechanisms are. Field and laboratory tests were also undertaken as part of the investigation. Based on the results obtained, the overhead line was modified in terms of it's B.I.L. A preliminary evaluation of the modifications was done, with recommendations regarding further work to be done in the future. / M

Concrete possesses inherently durable characteristics due to having chemical and dimensional stability in most environments. This leads to the perception that reinforced concrete structures are expected to be relatively maintenance free. Unfortunately this is not the case as recent years have shown increased emphasis on the repair and refurbishment of all types of concrete structures, in preference to demolition and rebuilding. New concrete repair methods and repair materials have been developed in order to keep up with the growing demand of the concrete repair industry. Diagnostic techniques are constantly upgraded in the hope of quantifying the extent and nature of the repair work to be undertaken. However, contract documents for concrete rehabilitation contracts are currently drawn up with a flexible approach, which is in favour of the contractor and not the client, as the volume and cost of the contract could escalate to unacceptable levels. This dissertation investigates the development of a new technique to accurately predict concrete repair volumes. Artificial neural networks, digital image processing and software creation is combined to achieve what can be seen as the first step towards a quicker and more accurate concrete repair volume estimation. Once implemented, this could result in a revolution of current quantity surveying techniques used for the estimation of quantities in concrete repair projects. / Prof. P.C. Pretorius

M.Comm. / Spoornet ( South African Transport Services before 1991) realised since the early 1980's that pressure from its environment would have a serious effect on its economic survival. Since 1991 it has had to fight for its marketshare. Road transport companies started to beat Spoornet on all levels and robbed it of its client base. Spoornet was forced to reform its customer services approach. Pantograph-overheadwire entanglements is one of the obstacles in obtaining customer satisfaction due to the fact that one such incident can cause a train delay of up to three hours. Due the impact this has on the predictability of service, the Chief Engineer (Electrical) set as first objective an entanglement figure of 1 per million pantograph kilometres. A few informal investigations were made into possible technical reasons but none was made into the possible non-technical reasons. As hypothesis it was stated that the efforts of personnel in the organisation to solve the entanglement problem were being handicapped by the lack of motivation, which caused a atmosphere of conflict and frustration. This frustration and conflict has a negative influence on productivity and effectiveness which could be the cause of entanglements. Research done on this was conducted on a dual approach; Literature study as secondary information. Structured interview as primary information. The hypothesis was tested with this study and it was shown that inter-groupconflict, motivation, resource employment and the current approach all had aspects which needed to be addressed to solve the pantograph-overheadwire entanglement problem.

M.Ing. (Engineering Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M. Phil. / Concrete is worldwide the most commonly used construction material and, although concrete is durable when exposed to aggressive conditions, it requires some maintenance. If this maintenance is neglected for a prolonged period of time, intrinsic and extrinsic factors will cause the concrete to degrade necessitating repair and rehabilitation. The correct diagnosis of the root cause of degradation, proper specification of repair materials and quality execution of the concrete repairs all contribute to the reliability of the repairs. The correct management of the repair process is necessary to ensure reliability in order for the structure to be returned to an acceptable state.

This thesis is based on an industry project with Teekay Shipping Co ., which is an international transportation service provider for oil companies, refiners and traders. Teekay is interested in knowing which factors contribute most to its operating incidents and accidents. Based on available data, namely vessel name, team, type, hull, and age, as well as incident and accident records, we quantified in this thesis the effects of these factors on the incident and accident frequency. The thesis presented the technical details of the Poisson regression analysis, which we used for quantifying the risk factors. Teekay is also interested in having a consistent method to present Teekay's overall risk picture, and to indicate best investment areas for its risk reducing purpose. Teekay has already implemented an Online Root Cause Analyses (ORCA) system, which collects the direct cause and root cause soon after an incident happens. We reviewed the ORCA system and made suggestions about certain parts of the system which were subsequently revised. Furthermore, we designed a bubble chart tool to present the overall risk faced by Teekay. The bubble chart tool has the capacity to indicate best investment areas clearly, and it is consistent over time, thereby enabling Teekay to evaluate easily the risk mitigation effect of its earlier investment in risk management. Finally, we designed a continuous monitoring tool, which allows Teekay managers to interactively explore the relationships among near misses, incidents and accidents, and to compare event frequencies of various vessel groups, such as vessel team, age, type and hull structure. The powerful continuous monitoring tool provides Teekay managers a full- range view of the risks the company faces. The design and the sample usage of this continuous monitoring tool are discussed in this thesis. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

No description available.