The research topic is: Tools for the revision of a maintenance strategy for an explosives manufacturing plant, using asset management principles. This research has specific reference to the SASOL Prillan plant based in SASOL, Sasolburg. The purpose of this research is to identify tools for the revision of a maintenance strategy for an explosives manufacturing plant, using asset management principles. These tools must be aimed to increase the proactive work capacity index, Figure 3, and to identify and/or develop tools that can be used by the engineering team of this explosives manufacturing plant to increase equipment reliability and performance. In this research assets include people. The meaning and application of asset management principles were researched and the tools needed to combine existing efforts and future needs are discussed. The human element to ensure the successful implementation of an asset management culture was researched and attributes of leaders and a change model is presented. This research was done into the wider engineering management discipline and not only maintenance. The method used to gather data was by means of interviews of a sample group within this organization. As this manufacturing unit makes use of subject matter experts, these support functions and plant personnel that were not interviewed, were issued with questionnaires to ensure that the sample group is a fair representation of the total manufacturing facility. To obtain a holistic view of potential shortcomings within the current maintenance strategy, all disciplines and levels within this operation were interviewed and commonalities of various asset management models were determined and used to define existing problem areas. This data was used to determine statistical correlations. The case study presented in Chapter 1 indicates that there is a case for change that can improve the proactive work capacity index of the engineering team. The results of this research confirm that there is in fact a real requirement to increase spares accuracy, improve on technical training as well as a need to establish visual performance indicators (dashboard) to measure overall equipment efficiency with the goal toTools for the revision of a maintenance strategy for an explosives manufacturing plant, using asset management principles increase equipment reliability and performance. The technical training referred to in this research reflects on training of people on equipment after investment in new technology. The current spares holding strategy is lacking equipment description accuracy. Furthermore, it is recommended that the implementation of career paths and development plans for individuals must be developed to create an environment of learning. The use of user status information captured on the computerized maintenance management system (SAP R/3) can add to the management of works orders and indicate where the focus must be to complete overdue work orders. Open work orders should be used to manage expenditure, to measure planning efficiency and to manage the cash flow of the business. The use of overall equipment efficiency and engineering efficiency measures is recommended and must be visually displayed on a “dashboard”. It was recommended that the engineering and operations personnel of this manufacturing plant be trained in asset management principles and that balanced scorecards are developed to ensure that the strategies of the various departments are aligned with the business strategy. Diagram 1 best illustrates the thinking and process flow of this research. The flow diagram shows five distinct stages and the appropriate objectives and/ or elements that were considered. The dissertation is also structured in this manner. All abbreviations, acronyms and definitions used in this document were listed in APPENDIX B / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The research topic is: Tools for the revision of a maintenance strategy for an explosives manufacturing plant, using asset management principles. This research has specific reference to the SASOL Prillan plant based in SASOL, Sasolburg. The purpose of this research is to identify tools for the revision of a maintenance strategy for an explosives manufacturing plant, using asset management principles. These tools must be aimed to increase the proactive work capacity index, Figure 3, and to identify and/or develop tools that can be used by the engineering team of this explosives manufacturing plant to increase equipment reliability and performance. In this research assets include people. The meaning and application of asset management principles were researched and the tools needed to combine existing efforts and future needs are discussed. The human element to ensure the successful implementation of an asset management culture was researched and attributes of leaders and a change model is presented. This research was done into the wider engineering management discipline and not only maintenance. The method used to gather data was by means of interviews of a sample group within this organization. As this manufacturing unit makes use of subject matter experts, these support functions and plant personnel that were not interviewed, were issued with questionnaires to ensure that the sample group is a fair representation of the total manufacturing facility. To obtain a holistic view of potential shortcomings within the current maintenance strategy, all disciplines and levels within this operation were interviewed and commonalities of various asset management models were determined and used to define existing problem areas. This data was used to determine statistical correlations. The case study presented in Chapter 1 indicates that there is a case for change that can improve the proactive work capacity index of the engineering team. The results of this research confirm that there is in fact a real requirement to increase spares accuracy, improve on technical training as well as a need to establish visual performance indicators (dashboard) to measure overall equipment efficiency with the goal toTools for the revision of a maintenance strategy for an explosives manufacturing plant, using asset management principles increase equipment reliability and performance. The technical training referred to in this research reflects on training of people on equipment after investment in new technology. The current spares holding strategy is lacking equipment description accuracy. Furthermore, it is recommended that the implementation of career paths and development plans for individuals must be developed to create an environment of learning. The use of user status information captured on the computerized maintenance management system (SAP R/3) can add to the management of works orders and indicate where the focus must be to complete overdue work orders. Open work orders should be used to manage expenditure, to measure planning efficiency and to manage the cash flow of the business. The use of overall equipment efficiency and engineering efficiency measures is recommended and must be visually displayed on a “dashboard”. It was recommended that the engineering and operations personnel of this manufacturing plant be trained in asset management principles and that balanced scorecards are developed to ensure that the strategies of the various departments are aligned with the business strategy. Diagram 1 best illustrates the thinking and process flow of this research. The flow diagram shows five distinct stages and the appropriate objectives and/ or elements that were considered. The dissertation is also structured in this manner. All abbreviations, acronyms and definitions used in this document were listed in APPENDIX B / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

La communauté en ligne (CEL) est une forme très répandue de transfert de connaissances spécialisées, où des usagers géographiquement dispersés peuvent constituer une communauté en partageant des idées, envoyant et affichant des messages, débattant de sujets et nouant des amitiés en ligne. Un des problèmes avec ces CEL est leur durabilité, car leur apparition et leur croissance initiale sont suivies d’une phase de stagnation où les usagers cessent d’afficher des commentaires, ce qui mène la communauté à mourir par manque d’activité. Tenter de prolonger la phase dynamique de croissance d’une CEL est un sujet pertinent pour tout administrateur de CEL. Une façon de maintenir le dynamisme d’une CEL est d’encourager les contributions.Ce courant de recherche se penche sur la façon dont les CEL peuvent prolonger leur phase dynamique, en considérant différents aspects, en particulier les mesures des contributions des usagers et la manière dont les nouveaux usagers d’une CEL se comportent. Je propose d’utiliser différentes mesures pour évaluer les contributions des usagers. Une des mesures pour identifier les contributeurs très actifs est une mesure bibliométrique non-invasive basée sur l’indice de Hirsch. Un autre aspect de cette recherche concerne la façon dont les nouveaux usagers se comportent et comment cela peut être expliqué par l’attachement préférentiel.Ce courant de recherche se penche sur la façon dont les CEL peuvent prolonger leur phase dynamique, en considérant différents aspects, en particulier les mesures des contributions des usagers et la manière dont les nouveaux usagers d’une CEL se comportent. Je propose d’utiliser différentes mesures pour évaluer les contributions des usagers. Une des mesures pour identifier les contributeurs très actifs est une mesure bibliométrique non-invasive basée sur l’indice de Hirsch. Un autre aspect de cette recherche concerne la façon dont les nouveaux usagers se comportent et comment cela peut être expliqué par l’attachement préférentiel. / The online community (OC) is a popular form of specialized knowledge transfer, where geographically dispersed users can for a community by sharing ideas, send and post messages, debate topics, and forge online friendships. One of the problems with OC’s is that they tend to have a life cycle, where there is the birth and growth of the OC but then there is a stagnant stage where users stop posting to the OC and the community eventually dies due to inactivity. Trying to extend the vibrant growth stage of an OC is a relevant topic for any administrator of an OC. One way that an OC can stay vibrant is to encourage contributions.This research stream will look at how OC’s can keep their vibrancy for a longer period of time, by looking at various aspects of OC’s such as measures of user contribution and how new users in an OC behave. I propose to use different measures to evaluate users contributions to an OC. One of these measures is a non-invasive bibliometric measure using the Hirsch-index methodology as a way to identify high-level contributors. Another stream of this research will look at how new users behave and how this might be explained by preferential attachment.