- Title
- Failure of autonomous maintenance program at the Gqeberha food manufacturing plant
- Creator
- Moloi, Tshepo
- Subject
- Automatic control
- Subject
- Process control
- Subject
- Food industry and trade -- South Africa
- Date Issued
- 2024-12
- Date
- 2024-12
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/70078
- Identifier
- vital:78290
- Description
- The main emphasis of this research is on the identification of the main factors explaining the difficulties and failure of Autonomous Maintenance (AM) program implementation from the year 2018 to 2024. This qualitative study focuses on a Port Elizabeth, South Africa food processing company that has implemented an AM program. The lack of success attained in staff training after the implementation phase drove this investigation. This study was carried out to provide first-hand evidence of the pragmatic difficulties in the execution of the AM program. Three main goals defined the research: first, to find the problems that emerged during the AM implementation; second, to investigate the inadequacy of the training program in equipping workers with the necessary skills and competencies to successfully carry out AM; and thirdly, to get valuable opinions on possible enhancements or alternative approaches to the implementation phase of AM from operators, line leaders, and analysts. There is an existing research vacuum as nothing is known about how training affects the implementation of AM in food processing plants especially in South Africa. Purposive sampling selected thirty persons. Thirteen process operators, nine technical operators, six-line leaders, two preventive maintenance owners, and a senior management representative made comprised the group. Extensive in-person interviews with operators, line leaders, and top management gathered the data. Thematic analysis was used to examine the data even further to pinpoint the main themes that emerged. Six main topics found in this research best capture the difficulties faced by a food processing company using AM. The problems were poor training, limited time and resources, lack of motivation and rewards, ineffective communication, involvement, and accountability; management gave production priority over autonomous maintenance; and there was no culture of dedication. Several factors contribute to the ineffectiveness of the training program in enabling employees with the required skills to implement AM: the lack of practical examples to support theoretical ideas, limited resources, trainers lacking expertise in their respective fields, which limits understanding. The main emphasis of this research is on the identification of the main factors explaining the difficulties throughout the implementation period. Moreover, this research improves the body of information already in use by stressing the inadequacies of the training program in developing important skills. Helping AM operators and line supervisors understand the difficulties they faced is the primary goal of the research. Top executives will be offered the recommendations for improving and maximizing the AM program. Understanding the training needs for operators will help production managers and human resources professionals to guarantee their successful training and efficient application of the program. Operations management experts in academia have thorough understanding of AM including theoretical ideas, pragmatic implementation, and the difficulties using successful strategies. The key limitation was the narrow focus of the research, which mainly looked at people within the production line of the model line to understand the problems that emerged during the implementation of autonomous maintenance. The generalisation of the results to the whole workforce is not achieved due to the exclusion of employees from other areas of the factory. The company wants to start a thorough training program with a cross-functional team to enhance operator communication. The main topics explaining the problems in the training program is another disadvantage. This will be a strong basis for further studies.
- Description
- Thesis (MBA) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, Business School, 2024
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (135 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | MOLOI, T.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |