Lean philosophy is based on the continuous quest to improve the organisation‟s processes by creating a culture and operating principles which eliminate all non value adding activities within organisation„s processes. Manufacturing firms consider the adoption of the Lean tools as basic requirements for achieving World Class operational excellence or Best Practice. For some time, lean has been used by the manufacturing organizations. Most organizations understand that lean will help them survive global competition and stay in business. The objective of this study is to investigate how lean manufacturing tools can be used to improve efficiency and enhance the embedding of a continuous improvement culture in the South African Revenue Service Enforcement Audit Port Elizabeth. The activities that took place in Enforcement Audit Port Elizabeth from September 2010 until 31 October 2011 were observed. During the study, an introductory presentation by the researcher was made to Regional Enforcement Management and staff in general, the presentation was to introduce the study highlighting different Lean tools. Thereafter the Port Elizabeth audit staff members were engaged formally, using surveys to assess their underlying mindset and behaviour as well as informally, using unstructured interviews to solicit more information on activities taking place and the reasoning behind certain actions. The results of the survey and observations are analysed and interpreted.

Thesis (MTech (Quality))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / The quality assurance role is an essential function in high risk industries such as the nuclear power industry where process failures can potentially have catastrophic results. As part of mitigating the risk inherent in such industries, the need for reliable quality assurance cannot be over-emphasised. Underpinning a reliable quality assurance function, lies the need for effective identification of risk; as well as effective decision making processes by competent auditors. A nuclear quality assurance (QA) department has noted an increase in the variability of its audit outcomes, which has resulted in the value of the audit process being questioned by various stakeholders. The research endeavoured to: explore and describe the practice amongst auditors when rating audit findings; potentially identify reasons for inconsistencies amongst auditors when rating findings; and provide recommendations to improve both the consistency amongst auditors when rating audit finding and the overall performance of the audit process. An exploratory study using the Delphi technique was adopted to enable multiple iterations of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, mimicking elements of a sequential exploratory strategy.