A great deal has been written in the management literature concerning the field of knowledge management. Some of that literature has focused on the use of stories and storytelling, including for the sharing of knowledge. However, the field of knowledge management is relatively immature in South Africa. In particular within that field, there is not a clear understanding of the use of stories and storytelling for knowledge sharing within the country. The purpose of the study was to improve that understanding through research into a case study within the South African mining industry, with a focus on world-class performance. To assist in the performance evaluation of the case study organisation, a framework for world-class performance was developed and used as an analytical tool in conjunction with a research instrument that was based on the findings of the non-empirical research into the fields of knowledge management and stories and storytelling. The empirical research then focused on the activities of a particular community of practice within the case study organisation and sought to understand the way in which stories and storytelling were used to support the sharing of knowledge in the organisation, as a contributor to world-class performance. Whilst conducting the empirical research, assessment and analysis, it was identified that the case study organisation made use of a number of practices and tools to support the use of stories and storytelling, in particular graphical representations (storyboards) of the stories to complement their oral delivery. The analysis of the case study data indicated that a significant opportunity existed to improve the extent of world-class performance for the use of stories and storytelling and a number of recommendations were made in that regard. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Information Science / unrestricted

D. Tech. (Department of Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology) --Vaal University of Technology / Opening up local markets for worldwide competition has led to the fundamental change in the development of new products. In order for the manufacturers to stay globally competitive, they should be able to attain and sustain themselves as ‘World Class Manufacturers’. These ‘World Class Manufacturers’ should be able to:  Deliver products in fulfilling the total satisfaction of customers.  Provide high quality products.  Offer short delivery time.  Charge reasonable cost.  Comply with all environmental concern and safety requirements. When a design is created for a new product there is great uncertainty as to whether the new design will actually do what it is desired for. New designs often have unexpected problems, hence prototypes are part of the designing process. The prototype enables the engineers and designers to explore design alternatives, test theories and confirm performance prior to standing production of new products. Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies enable the manufacturers to produce prototypes and products which meet the requirements mentioned above. However the disadvantage of AM technologies, is that the printing material which is required is limited to that of the supplier. When uncommon printing materials must be used to manufacture a prototype or product, the 3D printing process stood out above the rest owing to its printing method. However the printing heads used in current commercially available 3D printers are limited to specific fluid properties, which limits new and unique powder binder combinations. Owing to the problem mentioned, the need arose to develop a more ‘rugged’ printing head (RPH) which will be able to print with different fluid properties. The RPH could then be used to print using unique and new powderbinder combinations. The RPH was designed and constructed using the solenoid inkjet technology as reference. In order to determine the effect which the fluid properties have on the droplet formation, fourteen different glycerol-water test solutions were prepared. The fluid properties were different for each of the glycerol-water solutions. The fluid properties included the viscosity, density and surface tension of the solution. The control parameters of the RPH were theoretically calculated for each of the glycerol-water solutions and nozzle orifice diameter sizes. The control parameters of the RPH included the critical pressure and time. Using an experimental setup, droplets ejected from the RPH could be photographed in order to be analysed. It was determined that the theoretically calculated critical times could not be used in the RPH, as the pulse widths were much lower than the recommended minimum valve pulse width of the solenoid valve used. The control parameters were then determined practically for each of the different glycerol-water solutions as well as for each nozzle orifice diameter size. The practically determined control parameters were also compared to that of the theoretically determined parameters. A mathematical model was formulated for each of the practically determined critical pressure and time parameters. Non-glycerol-water solutions were also prepared in order to determine whether the control parameters could be calculated using the practically determined mathematical models. It was found that the practically determined mathematical models, used to calculate the control parameters, could not be used with non-glycerol-water solutions. Using the practically determined mathematical models, the drop formation process of the non-glycerol-water solutions was not optimized and satellite droplets occurred. Although the practically determined models did not work for non-glycerol-water solutions, the methods used to determine the control parameters for the glycerol-water solutions could still be used to determine the practical critical pressure and time for Newtonian solutions.

The economy of The Bahamas relies heavily on leisure visitor tourism (cruise ships, resorts, holiday trips) which leaves the country vulnerable to changes in visitor travel habits. Because the country is so reliant on investments in resorts, casinos and cruise ships, it leaves a wide capacity of other touristic opportunities. One opportunity is sports tourism. The purpose of this study is to analyze the strategic board capability of the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event’s (RK3DE) board governance using the Ferkins and Shilbury (2012) model as the theoretical construct and make recommendations regarding the application of these successful aspects to the governance of world-class annual sport championships in The Bahamas. Members of the RK3DE board were interviewed using specific questions developed from the Ferkins and Shilbury (2012) model. Findings showed the Ferkins and Shilbury (2012) model concepts hold true however remained very broad in its prescriptions. On the other hand, a revised model provides a more specific guide to the necessary attributes and capabilities that need to be in place to run an effective and strategically capable board for world-class annual sport championships.

On their journey to improve manufacturing processes by implementing Lean and Agile production principles, many small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), world- and industry-wide, lose grip after initial efforts, or even abandon their plans later because of many reasons. To support those and similar SMEs and to make their Lean and Agile visions become reality, this thesis report describes the case of a small traditional German wholesale firm in the initial stage of analysing and improving processes, as well as workshop structures according to contemporary literature and manufacturing improvement theories. The results of this report give the management and decision makers of this or similar organisations an idea and valuable recommendations, of how to gain and maintain the advantages of a lean and agile production. Overall it was found that SMEs such as the analysed organisation, need to vigorously implement changes from an overarching systematic level to the very detail of shop floor activities, while equally considering cultural as well as human, technological, and organisational aspects, to be successful.

In 1984, Eli Goldratt published his novel “The Goal – a process of ongoing improvement”. Constraints Management has since evolved into a field of study, still widely debated and written about today. Most companies soon realized that the principles of Constraints Management could no longer be ignored to stay competitive. The South African Breweries (now SABMiller plc) is the world's leading brewer in developing markets. The company has dominated the South African liquor market for years and is currently the second largest brewing company in the world, operating in Africa, China, Europe and the USA, yet even a company with this reputation can still be ignoring the basic principles of Constraints Management. This dissertation concentrates on the application of Constraints Management in a selected brewery in South Africa. The measures used in one of SAB’s most successful breweries will be tested against Constraints Management principles, illustrating how the practice of driving performance measures without focusing on the constraint can lead one away from the goal of the company. Rosslyn Brewery is a brewery driven by traditional brewing industry performance measures. The key drivers of the brewery have always been to increase factory efficiency and reduce costs. Rosslyn set the benchmark for packaging efficiency within SAB. The problem is that the packaging operation is not the constraint in the brewery. The throughput of the brewery is determined by the operation feeding into packaging, i.e. filtration. The end result is that even though the packaging lines have the best efficiency, they still have to stop and wait for beer to become available from filtration, resulting in downtime, frustration and eventually costly overtime and weekend work. The core conflict of the brewery is the trade-off between running all the resources as efficiently as possible, and thereby decreasing product cost, and running only the constraint as efficiently as possible, resulting in an increase in throughput. The Thinking Process was used to evaluate the conflict and a solution developed. The solution consists of the following: 1. The brewery has to adopt Constraints Management using the 5 step process of ongoing improvement. The capacity constraint has to be exploited and all other operations subordinated, to ensure that products are not produced for the sake of improving efficiency. 2. The operational measures of the brewery have to be changed from increasing factory efficiency and reducing R/hl to increasing throughput, decreasing inventory and decreasing operating expense. 3. The production schedule and raw material release for the whole plant need to be determined by filtration. This requires a change in the current advanced planning solution to incorporate the principles of Drum-Buffer-Rope. If the decision is made and actions taken, the brewery will be able to survive the next decade, even if there is a further decline in the market. If not, the focus will still be on reducing product cost, whilst improving the efficiency of all operations. This will lead to further line closures and retrenchments, doing nothing more but reducing SABMiller’s potential future capacity and flexibility. / Dissertation (MEng (Management of Technology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) / unrestricted

This master’s thesis deals with the determination of conditions and the proposal of appropriate instruments within the World Class Manufacturing system (WCM), mainly its pillars Professional Maintenance (PM), in order to remove, with the assistance of subsequent analysis, all the waste which occurs in the enterprise and consequently to appropriately optimise the activities of staff, especially the specialized engineers.

Magister Commercii - MCom / Political and economic sanctions between 1970 and 1994 isolated the inward-oriented economy of South Africa from global trends. A variety of factors, such as a challenging new global competitive environment, production overcapacity, falling protectionist tariff barriers in a period of liberalisation, world-class manufacture and globalisation, are contributing to the reform of the economy and the automotive industry. The South African automotive industry therefore faces a major reform in trade policy. The South African government introduced the Motor Industry Development Plan (MIDP) in 1995, to create the necessary levels of competitiveness, promote world class manufacture practices, increase levels of investments and exports that would consequently lead to the successful reconstruction and development of this sector of the South African economy. Subsequent research has shown that the successful adoption of world-class manufacture (or lean production) processes in the South African automotive industry is necessary not only for survival, but also for increased competitiveness of the industry and the improved economic performance of automotive firms. However, complicated links exist between the adoption of world-class manufacture for improved levels of operational competitiveness. for firm-level success, on the one hand, and long-term sustainability of the industry, on the other hand. Combined firm level economic success and long-term sustainability of the industry depend on factors such as international trends, connectivity to global value chains, modern technological capabilities, lean production and enterprise systems, substantial investments, increased exports, world-wide quality standards, as well as customer satisfaction, human resource development, advanced education, skills development, worker participation, government policy and institutional support. This is borne out by a recent study of the auto component sector, utilising a lean , production 'market driver' toolkit. The study found that although component manufacturers significantly improved their operational competitiveness, they have not necessarily experienced improved economic performance levels. More important is connectedness and integration into global value chains, via intermediaries, mergers and acquisitions. The changing political economy of automotive value chains is also important in shaping fum-level operational success and industry sustainability. In this research paper, we review global automotive industry trends which influenced the introduction of the government's visionary MIDP. We then discuss their impact on the performance of the South African assembly and component sectors at industry and finn level. This leads to a series of recommendations for improved performance to world-class manufacture, world-wide quality standards and global competitiveness

Magister Commercii - MCom / Political and economic sanctions between 1970 and 1994 isolated the inward-oriented economy of South Africa from global trends. A variety of factors, such as a challenging new global competitive environment, production overcapacity, falling protectionist tariff barriers in a period of liberalisation, world-class manufacture and globalisation, are contributing to the reform of the economy and the automotive industry. The South African automotive industry therefore faces a major reform in trade policy. The South African government introduced the Motor Industry Development Plan (MIDP) in 1995, to create the necessary levels of competitiveness, promote worldclass manufacture practices, increase levels of investments and exports that would consequently lead to the successful reconstruction and development of this sector of the South African economy. Subsequent research has shown that the successful adoption of world-class manufacture (or lean production) processes in the South African automotive industry is necessary not only for survival, but also for increased competitiveness of the industry and the improved economic performance of automotive firms. However, complicated links exist between the adoption of world-class manufacture for improved levels of operational competitiveness. for firm-level success, on the one hand, and long-term sustainability of the industry, on the other hand. Combined firm level economic success and long-term sustainability of the industry depend on factors such as international trends, connectivity to global value chains, modern technological capabilities, lean production and enterprise systems, substantial investments, increased exports, world-wide quality standards, as well as customer satisfaction, human resource development, advanced education, skills development, worker participation, government policy and institutional support. This is borne out by a recent study of the auto component sector, utilising a lean , production 'market driver' toolkit. The study found that although component manufacturers significantly improved their operational competitiveness, they have not necessarily experienced improved economic performance levels. More important is connectedness and integration into global value chains, via intermediaries, mergers and acquisitions. The changing political economy of automotive value chains is also important in shaping fum-level operational success and industry sustainability.

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