Abstract
The global and competitive market environments have led to new challenges for both organizations and individuals in them. There has been a major change in the last twelve years since South Africa obtained independence in 1994 leading to internationalization of the economy, the increased use of technology and rapid and technological change.
These changes influenced management practices forcing organizations to invest in production machines and other methods in order to stay ahead of their competitors.
The importance of equipment is increasing in the advancing and demanding technological era in the South African context. Consequently, proper maintenance is required to keep equipment in top operational form. The objective is to reduce equipment breakdowns, increase equipment reliability and improve productivity.This will result in increased equipment utilization and life, reduced work stoppages and machine slowdowns, closer adherence to production and delivery schedules as well as increased employee morale.
The Total Productive Manufacturing (TPM) concept addresses these goals. The aim of TPM is to keep the plant and equipment at its highest productive level through the cooperation of all areas of the organization. TPM is a partnership between maintenance and production organization to improve product quality, reduce waste, reduce manufacturing cost and increase equipment availability
With the increase in the use of technology, and integrated human resources strategy should be introduced to cope with the dynamic needs of technology. One of the most important elements in this equation is the employees of an organization who will operate those machines. Less attention has, over the years, been afforded to these operators since emphasis has been on equipment and productivity.
It is important to combine the human resource strategy with equipment utilization to make the manufacturing system efficient and effective. It has been proven that the skills, knowledge and experiences of operators have economic value in the market place and also potential value to an organization because they enable it to be productive and adaptable.
A real world case study in the South African environment was carried out at a renowned manufacturing company in order to asses whether the combination of TPM and a human resource strategy can produce improved results. A survey was carried out on two sister companies located next to one another. It was observed that TPM had progressed significantly more in the one company that had better human resource systems than in the other that did not apply an effective human resource system.
The main conclusion reached was that when human resource practices are applied properly in and integrated fashion, they will promote machine efficiency and hence increase the productivity of the company. The research highlights the type of human resource practice that needs to be applied to enable operators to be efficient and productive as part of the machine system in a South African context.
Professor L. Pretorius
Professor A. Strauss