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Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctor's Degree in Technology: Quality, Durban University of Technology, 2006. / Managers and employees are faced with an increasing number of complex challenges including implementing and maintaining multiple management systems/codes of practice such as safety, environment and quality, increasing competitive advantage and showing continued sustainability with limited resources. In addition, corporate scandals like Enron and the impact of the Aids pandemic on the economy of a country, further burden the responsibility of managers and employees. Operating all these management systems/codes of practice in parallel, however, duplicates documentation, makes auditing the systems difficult and decreases employee morale. Hence, this study reviewed related literature which represented secondary sources of information, to determine the most suitable management systems/codes of practice, to show the benefits of using integrated management systems and to select appropriate business improvement tools to promote business excellence. It developed a simple management system and designed integrated documentation to support these integrated systems. A model was developed. The Process Approach was used as a foundation to develop this model which integrated safety, environmental management, corporate governance, quality and HIV/Aids management systems/codes of practice. The SECQA model is the name proposed for the model, it provides a holistic model to facilitate world class performance. This part of the study represented the qualitative method of research. The quantitative method of research complimented the findings above by using interviews with key role players, a pilot study of two manufacturing organisations and a principal study of thirty manufacturing and service organisations. The pilot and principal studies were conducted on organisations from the Kwa Zulu-Natal region and the interviews were conducted with representatives from Gauteng and Cape Province. Questionnaires were designed using open-ended and closed-ended type questions and together with interviews formed the primary source of information. The challenges of employees working with management systems and the suitability of the SECQA model were established from the questionnaire. The possible advantages and disadvantages of the SECQA model were also shown. The strengths and weaknesses of the management systems and how they can be addressed and overcome by the model are presented. The challenges that were evident from the results of the interviews and pilot study were that respondents found that there was a lack of resources, lack of training and understanding of the management systems by employees within their organisation. From the results of the principal study it was apparent that some organisations did not have the infrastructure and had limited resources to support multiple management systems. There was a lack of support from senior managers. Safety, environment and quality managements systems were the most commonly used in organisations. Most organisations found that their management systems were beneficial. Benchmarking, cause and effect diagrams and brainstorming were the most common business improvement tools used by organisations. / D

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1950 Z54 / Master of Science

MSc (Enginnering), Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / In recent years companies have made increased use of Lean Manufacturing audits to measure the degree of Lean Manufacturing implementation within their organizations. Thereafter, a gap analysis highlights areas for improvement, which leads to increased Operational Performance. This approach may be flawed. The audit may measure Lean Manufacturing characteristics that are not beneficial or the Lean Manufacturing audit may be inaccurate due to auditor bias or inadequate scope. The result is frustration and a lack of belief in the effectiveness of Lean Manufacturing as a competitive strategy. This study tests the hypothesis that “Lean Manufacturing audits drive improvements in Operational Performance.” A sample company comprising sixty four organizations operating in a job shop and Batch operations management environment is used as a case study. The organizations manufacture and service high value added products for heavy industry. The Lean Manufacturing audit developed to assess the effectiveness of Lean Manufacturing audits in driving Operational Performance uses Lean Manufacturing characteristics commonly used in previous research. These characteristics include policy deployment, standardized work, visual management and housekeeping, quick changeover techniques, total preventative maintenance, continuous improvement, error proofing, cultural awareness, material control and level production. Commonly used Operational Performance measures such as On-Time-Delivery, Inventory turns and Direct Labour Utilization are used to assess Operational Performance. A range of independent auditors were used to gather data on the extent of implementation of Lean Manufacturing and Operational Performance measures. Structural Equation Modelling is used to relate the results of the Lean Manufacturing audits to Operational Performance. This is the first known paper to use Structural Equation Modelling in measuring the extent of implementation of Lean Manufacturing to Operational Performance. Lean Manufacturing audit results have a significant correlation to Operational Performance but with a high degree of variation in Operational Performance not accounted for by the results of the Lean Manufacturing audit. This variation is caused by the inadequate scope of the audit relative to Operational Performance measures as well as auditor bias. Lean Manufacturing audits are effective in driving improvements in Operational Performance provided that the scope of the audit is expanded to include office functions, supplier networks and customer and branch distribution networks. A recommended audit framework is suggested in this research. A large scale study of a number of different companies should be conducted to verify the results of this research using the audit framework developed.