Samson Mhlanga | National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) (original) (raw)

Papers by Samson Mhlanga

ADVANCES IN INTELLIGENT APPLICATIONS AND INNOVATIVE APPROACH

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a World Class Manufacturing principle that has been used by... more Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a World Class Manufacturing principle that has been used by many companies to improve equipment life-cycle costs as well as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). This paper is a case study of the application of TPM principles at Datlabs Pharmaceutical Company's Belmont Plant in Zimbabwe. An ABC analysis of the equipment was done to establish the critical equipment that required 20 percent attention to yield 80% results. TPM pillars were used to root out major losses in the plant and the results show improvements in machine utilisation and OEE for identified critical equipment.

Manufacturing System, 2012

Manufacturing System 206 solution is often compromised. In this chapter, an integrated approach t... more Manufacturing System 206 solution is often compromised. In this chapter, an integrated approach to cell formation and layout design is presented, based on available sequence data. The GGA-based approach utilizes sequence data to identify machine cells as well as machine layout within each cell. In this view, the major objectives for this chapter are as follows:

The growth of injection moulding as a manufacturing process has led to the development of more pr... more The growth of injection moulding as a manufacturing process has led to the development of more products resulting in an increase in the focus on product quality, as manufacturers try to lower production costs, reduce product weight and eliminate defects. Of particular concern is the flow behavior of molten resin in the mould cavities during the production process. Inconsistencies in the flow of the melt tend to result in uneven or incomplete filling of the mould, resulting in production of defects (short shots). In the paper the Taguchi method is used to determine the optimum values of the injection moulding process parameters for High Density Polyethylene (HDPE.) plastic parts. A moulding processing window in which the process will achieve maximum quality, with major focus being on mould filling is developed.

Supply chain issues have become critical for an operation’s ability to manage raw material supply... more Supply chain issues have become critical for an operation’s ability to manage raw material supply, processing of these raw materials into products and their delivery to customers in an efficient manner. As a matter of fact, supply chain management is a key attribute in a globally competitive environment because it dictates the firm’s delivery performance through the control of products or services from suppliers to processing stages up to the end customer. So it is critical for a firm to ensure that each member of the supply chain contributes to the desired mix of competitive priorities, that is, quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost required by the end customer. This paper sought to establish the supply chain issues pertaining to KM Textiles as well as determining any improvements which could be done to improve the system. It concludes by analysing the current suppliers, and customers; among other collaborators, and suggesting areas for improvement to reduce manufactu...

The Southern Africa sugar producers' market is under threat from Brazilian sugar, with the la... more The Southern Africa sugar producers' market is under threat from Brazilian sugar, with the latter's sugar landing in Southern African countries - Zimbabwe in particular – at 75% of the selling price of local producers. This paper outlines an investigation of the current maintenance systems of a Zimbabwean sugar producer and its shortcomings, with a view of optimization. Research has shown that maintenance can contribute between 15 to 75% of production costs, thus playing a critical role in product pricing and consequently competition. Maintenance records and interviews to maintenance personnel from the company were used to extract data relevant to the study. A bottleneck asset in the production line was chosen as a subject to measure the impact of the current maintenance system in cost terms. The study shows that the company is using a hybrid of time based and corrective maintenance. The paper also shows that the current maintenance philosophy resulted in downtime of eighty ...

The Lean Manufacturing goal of reducing waste and increasing productivity has made it a necessity... more The Lean Manufacturing goal of reducing waste and increasing productivity has made it a necessity to produce good quality products in manufacturing industries at a low cost. In the cable manufacturing companies this can be achieved by optimising the wire drawing process. One way to meet the desired quality of the drawn wires is to improve lubricant efficiency through installation of an automatic, continuous lubricant fat content control system on the drawing machine. The paper shows a method of finding the optimum lubricant concentration for producing good quality copper wires using Taguchi experiments. Taguchi experiments are employed to analyse the effects of different lubricant fat content levels on the tensile strength and lubricant temperature. The results from the experiments indicated that the tensile strength of the wire is affected by low lubricant fat content. The lower the lubricant fat content: the lower the tensile strength drawing lubricant resulting in numerous wire b...

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems encompasses modules supporting functional areas such a... more Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems encompasses modules supporting functional areas such as planning, manufacturing, sales, marketing, distribution, accounting, financial, human resource management, project management, inventory management, service and maintenance, transportation and e-business. The architecture of the software facilitates transparent integration of modules, providing flow of information between all functions within the enterprise in a consistently visible manner. This paper is a case study to evaluate implementation at Case Study Company in Zimbabwe. An analysis of the standard implementation stages of an ERP system was done. A study on the effective use and the resultant effects on the business as a whole were evaluated through the use of questionnaire survey conducted at the company at different levels and in different functional areas. The survey highlighted weakness on the reporting systems in terms of the Key Performance

Abstract. Logistics is one of the most important and critical economic drivers which determines t... more Abstract. Logistics is one of the most important and critical economic drivers which determines the rate at which goods can be exported at the lowest cost. The paper reviewed Southern Africa rail freight infrastructure and planning activities. It interrogated the academic and research institutes activities as related to rail freight. A review of one of the biggest freight company Transnet was done to highlight extent of application. The paper concludes by highlighting potential and the gaps in optimisation within Southern Africa rail freight, which can be addressed using operations research techniques such as ant colony and genetic algorithms with a view to inform decision making.

Proceedings of the 2011 International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Managem... more Proceedings of the 2011 International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, January 22 ? 24, 2011,Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a World Class Manufacturing principle that has been used by many companies to improve equipment life-cycle costs as well as Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). This paper is a case study of the application of TPM principles at Datlabs Pharmaceutical Company?s Belmont Plant in Zimbabwe. An ABC analysis of the equipment was done to establish the critical equipment that required 20 percent attention to yield 80% results. TPM pillars were used to root out major losses in the plant and the results show improvements in machine utilisation and OEE for identified critical equipment.

Southern African Institute of Industrial Engineering, 2014

CITATION: Maradzano, I., et al. 2014. Design of cotton ginning dryer control system. In SAIIE26 P... more CITATION: Maradzano, I., et al. 2014. Design of cotton ginning dryer control system. In SAIIE26 Proceedings, 14–16 July 2014, Muldersdrift, South Africa.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the key profit drivers in a manufacturing concern, and develo... more The aim of this paper is to analyse the key profit drivers in a manufacturing concern, and develop a decision tool based on optimisation techniques. The aim is planning and managing these profit drivers so that the target revenue and profit are realised during an operating period. This was done through developing a forecasting tool based on Visual Basic that was used by the organisation to project the future demand of its products. This tool was linked to a database that had details on past product performance. Planning software was developed using linear programming, which identified the optimum product mix and the sales outlets locations to maximise revenue and profit. ________________ *Corresponding author ISEM 2011 Proceedings, September 21-23, Stellenbosch, South Africa © 2011 ISEM 93-2

Procedia Manufacturing, 2019

Under the concept of "Industry 4.0", production processes will be pushed to be increasingly inter... more Under the concept of "Industry 4.0", production processes will be pushed to be increasingly interconnected, information based on a real time basis and, necessarily, much more efficient. In this context, capacity optimization goes beyond the traditional aim of capacity maximization, contributing also for organization's profitability and value. Indeed, lean management and continuous improvement approaches suggest capacity optimization instead of maximization. The study of capacity optimization and costing models is an important research topic that deserves contributions from both the practical and theoretical perspectives. This paper presents and discusses a mathematical model for capacity management based on different costing models (ABC and TDABC). A generic model has been developed and it was used to analyze idle capacity and to design strategies towards the maximization of organization's value. The trade-off capacity maximization vs operational efficiency is highlighted and it is shown that capacity optimization might hide operational inefficiency.

SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING, 2014

Many of the production costs for producing tea are attributable to the process of drying the tea.... more Many of the production costs for producing tea are attributable to the process of drying the tea. E-manufacturing can assist companies to reduce these production costs by making crucial information available to decision-makers so that they can make informed decisions. This paper presents an application of e-manufacturing to the design of an automatic tea drying control system. This control system will ensure that the multiple drying parameters such as temperature, dryer-exit tea moisture content, and fuel consumption are maintained at optimal states during the course of the drying of tea. The additional aim of this system is to balance the cost of production and the quality of the final product. Using the Guggenheim-Anderson-De Boer (GAB) model, the optimum drying temperature was found to be 100-110°C, while maintaining a dryer-exit tea moisture content of 3 to 3.12 per cent, at a drying rate of 3 per cent per minute. A Barix control application to control the system's activities, using the web user interface (WUI), was also developed. OPSOMMING 'n Groot gedeelte van die koste in die produksie van tee is as gevolg van die teedroogproses. E-vervaardiging kan die produksiekoste verminder deur kritiese inligting vir die besluitnemers beskikbaar te stel. Hierdie studie beskryf 'n toepassing van e-vervaardiging op die ontwerp van 'n outomatiese tee-droog beheerstelsel. Die beheerstelsel verseker dat al die droogparameters, soos temperatuur, voggehalte en brandstofverbruik, by optimum toestande beheer word deur die loop van die droogproses. Verder word daar deur die beheerstelsel 'n balans tussen die produksiekoste en die gehalte van die finale produk gehandhaaf. Deur van die Guggenheim-Anderson-De Boer (GAB) model gebruik te maak, is die optimale droogtemperatuur gevind om tussen 100 tot 110°C te lê, terwyl die droëruitlaatvoggehalte tussen 3 en 3.12% met 'n droogtempo van 3% per minuut te lê. 'n Barix beheer program is ontwikkel om die beheerstelsel se werksaamhede te monitor. 2 The paper was written in support of L. Nyanga's PhD research on the development of an emanufacturing model for the South African industry.

Southern African Institute For Industrial Engineering 2014, Jun 24, 2014

With globalisation taking centre stage in almost every market; traditionally monopolistic manufac... more With globalisation taking centre stage in almost every market; traditionally monopolistic manufacturing companies in Zimbabwe are struggling to compete with international companies whose operations are optimised. This paper focuses on maintenance practises of a Zimbabwean sugar manufacturer with an aim to improve the company's asset care plans. The company's current maintenance philosophy and its shortcomings on certain equipment in the plant were identified together with the associated annual maintenance costs. A Pareto analysis on the equipment's breakdown history was used to determine the conditions that can be monitored using Condition Based Maintenance (CBM); and experiments to establish the feasibility of monitoring these conditions were done. The paper then recommends and proposes a CBM system replete with its three main elements of data acquisition, data processing and maintenance decision making to reduce breakdowns on the subject equipment by at most 76%.

China-USA Business Review, 2013

Agility in manufacturing is critical for competitiveness. It is an ability to quickly change in a... more Agility in manufacturing is critical for competitiveness. It is an ability to quickly change in a flexible way to meet market demand. This requirement has come as a result of the globalization phenomenon that has affected all companies in one way or the other. This study was aimed at establishing the level of agility that exists in Zimbabwean manufacturing companies. A case study of companies in Bulawayo with a focus on manufacturing diversity was conducted. Audits were carried out on a spectrum that covers textiles, beverages, pharmaceuticals, foundry, rubber manufacturing, including household and industrial chemicals. This enabled establishing the challenges that manufacturing companies face with a view of developing an appropriate model for agility and success. The current manufacturing practices were analyzed for selected companies while their ability to respond to market demand fluctuation was assessed and an appropriate model developed. The model incorporates characteristics of the local operating environment. The main challenges the manufacturing companies face in the global marketplace played a critical role in the development of the model. The manufacturing industry in Zimbabwe is stuck on mass production and traditional manufacturing practices. The world has changed and this change needs to be recognized as a vehicle for competitive success. Global competition has moved a step higher while companies in Zimbabwe have remained stagnant in their practices, technology, and agility. Many manufacturing companies elsewhere are employing agile manufacturing principles that drive them towards world class manufacturing status and sustainability in an ever-changing environment. Thus, the proposal for an agile manufacturing model for Zimbabwe is outlined.

760: 761: 762: 763: The IASTED 2012 African Conferences, 2012

Companies in this era are under severe competition due to globalization and in order to sustain a... more Companies in this era are under severe competition due to globalization and in order to sustain a competitive edge they need to adopt appropriate manufacturing systems that address optimum utilisation of machinery and energy. This will result in reduction of production costs and make the companies competitive. The paper shows attempts to improve Energy Usage at a Pharmaceutical industry using monitoring and targeting techniques. An audit in a company was done so as to get the energy consumption trends and to find opportunities for energy savings. An ABC analysis of energy cost savings for machinery in the plant was made. A monitoring and targeting system was then developed to increase awareness of energy consumed.

Journal of Applied Science and Technology, 2009

Abstract Discrete event modelling and simulation were used to analyse the performance of immigrat... more Abstract Discrete event modelling and simulation were used to analyse the performance of immigration operation in Botswana. The relationships between length of queues of immigrants, queuing time, service time and engagem-ent of duty officer were investigated. Data collected by direct observation and clock-timing of processing immi-grant request at an inland office on a normal working day was used to determine whether to increase or reduce the number of serving officers to balance the operations. The findings indicated that the ...