Proposed manufacturing performance model for the South African explosives industry : case study, Somchem, division of Denel (Pty) Ltd, South Africa

Abstract

After 1994, when South African was welcomed back into the world economy, companies had to deal with increased international competition, not only on the traditional local markets, but also on the competitive global market. This trend is also applicable to the South African Explosives Industry, Companies in the South African Explosives Industry must therefore ensure operational excellence and manufacture products that conform to world class standards, Superior product quality is becoming increasingly important as a decision-making criterion in the global explosives market, which implies a high demand on bringing products faster to the market at a lower cost. To place world class products on the market, the challenge for companies like Somchem, a division of Denel (pty) Ltd, is to adopt a manufacturing performance model that ensures compliance to world class manufacturing standards, This research study evaluates different successful manufacturing models, and provides a benchmark for the current manufacturing model utilised by Somchem - Denel as evaluated against these models. The result of a gap analysis undertaken between the manufacturing performance at Somchem and the world class manufacturing standards is provided with a recommended strategy to reduce this gap in order to ensure compliance with these world class manufacturing standards. An internal and external benchmark exercise was performed, The internal benchmark was based on the perception of the internal customers using the rapid plant assessment technique. The external benchmark was conducted with the practical programme for revolutions in factories (PPORF) technique. An analysis of the results of both exercises was conducted so as to recommend amendments to the existing manufacturing model at Somchem - Denel so as to ensure that world class manufacturing standards would be attained in a reasonably short period namely three (3) years