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Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis, PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MTech(Business Administration))--Cape Technikon, Cape Town,1996 / All organisations, profit as well as nonprofit, are increasingly coming to the realization that trying to compete solely on costs leads to ineffectiveness and a weaker financial position. Competing on the basis of product or service differentiation is becoming increasingly futile because products and services are becoming less and less unique. To ensure survival, effectiveness and competitiveness, organisations must provide services of exceptionally high quality. Providing services of high quality has proven to be the single most important factor contributing to organisational success and well-being. Providing services of superb quality also presents an important opportunity for organisational differentiation. A major requirement for successful management is effective measurement. This study is motivated by the limited research and resulting limited literature available on this subject in social work. The development of the SERVQUAL instrument offers a possible reliable and valid device for the measurement of service quality in social work. However, SERVQUAL has not been subjected to rigorous testing for reliability and validity in a social work organisation. In this research SERVQUAL was used to measure the quality of services in a social work organisation. The aim of this research was to determine the applicability, reliability and validity of the instrument in a social work organisation. Attention was given to literature that focuses on service quality, its measurement and management. The empirical research involved executives, social workers and clients of the social work organisation. It was found that SERVQUAL can be applied to social work services and it proved to be a reliable and valid instrument for measuring service quality. However, further research is necessary to improve the quality of services to clients and directions for future research are indicated.

Thesis (MTech (Quality))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2010. / Eskom is embarking on a project that addresses security of supply initiatives, which are live work, high-voltage underground cabling, strategic spares, network planning and design, change management, technical training and contractor development, to strengthen the security and the reliability of the supply chain. This research investigates the causes of poor quality workmanship by the contractors during the construction of network infrastructure. The impact that the contractors have on the network's performance, and the reliability of the supply chain are very important to evaluate, as it is one of the key performance indicators measured for business performance. The quality of workmanship and the best practices that the contractors provide during the construction phase have an impact on the performance of the network, which is why this research will focus on the development of the contractors to improve the quality of workmanship. In the past few years Eskom Distribution Division has experienced numerous electrical faults in the networks, resulting in a loss of power to the customers and loss of revenue to the organisation. Contractor development is one of the methods used to build positive and mutually benefiting relationships between the buyer and the supplier. The method used in this research was through looking at the current practices, from the selection of contractor to development and maintaining of the supplier database. The objectives of the proposed research are to Improve the quality of workmanship of the contractors, Improve the project lead times during construction and investigate contractor development initiatives.

Acceptable product quality is one of the central pillars of customer satisfaction, which is key to customer retention and business success. The quest to improve and maintain good product quality is as old as mankind himself. In the beginning of time, quality involved selecting edible plants, to craftsmanship then later to mass production. As time went on, various individuals and institutions made valuable contributions to quality control methods, tools and techniques as we know them today. The International Organisation for Standardisation initiated quality management standards, provide requirements, specifications and guidelines that can be used to ensure materials and products meet a certain quality level. These quality management systems were adopted by the global automotive organisations, adapted and tailored to suit their requirements. The result was the development of ISO/TS 16949, which is a requirement for all direct manufacturing suppliers to the automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), like BMW, TOYOTA and GM. Some OEMs specify additional requirements their supplier base, in case of General Motors, Quality Systems Basics (QSB) is a mandatory quality management systems requirement. QSB is designed by GM to help suppliers reduce product defects, improve internal efficiencies and improve supply chain processes. A quantitative approach was chosen, which utilised an explorative and descriptive survey questionnaire in order to complete the research study. The study will show that the majority of the respondents believed that the implementation of QSB has resulted in positive implications in their manufacturing process and supply value chain.

A commonly used process for the formation of ceramic wall tile bodies is powder compaction. Variations in density in wall tile bodies introduced by the compaction process can cause rejection at later stages of production. Quality control equipment currently employed does not identify reject bodies in the unfired state. Scope exists to reduce production costs by the timely removal of reject bodies in the unfired state. In this thesis an ultrasonic non-destructive technique is presented which allows the mapping of the density variations found in wall tile bodies in the unfired and fired states to an accuracy of ± 0.5%. An effective medium theory for the propagation of ultrasound in porous media is developed. The significance of the dependence of Young's modulus on density in determining the relationship between compression wave propagation velocity and density is explored. Using a vibrational resonance technique, it is shown that the evolution of Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio in the wall tile body material are very sensitive to the conditions used for the firing operation. The Biot two-phase theory of acoustic propagation in fluid saturated porous media which considers dissipation due to friction between the fluid and porous frame is reviewed, and the applicability to the wall tile body material assessed. It is shown that this dissipation mechanism is insignificant for this particular material. A modification is made to the model in an attempt to include dissipation due to the inelasticity and scattering of the porous frame. The results show that the two-phase theory reduces to an effective medium theory in the limit of the saturating fluid being air. The thesis concludes that density variations in wall tile bodies can be measured using and ultrasonic technique and that an effective medium theory can be used to describe the propagation of ultrasound in porous media.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

No description available.