Abstract
M.Phil. (Engineering Management)
All nations that exist on earth today depend on its small, medium and micro enterprise business sector for the creation of employment opportunities. The unemployment rate of a country remains a topic of discussion for all people that call a country their home. Being employed remains a fundamental necessity to all human beings. Employment opportunities are created through businesses. Businesses manufacture products. A product may be tangible or intangible. A strategy or plan is required to manufacture a product. Failing to develop a strategy that can be used to produce a product, will result in a product not being made to acceptable customer standards. When the product fails, the business fails. When the business fails, employment opportunities are foregone. The development and implementation of a manufacturing strategy is thus a business activity that should not be underestimated.
The failure rate of small, medium and micro enterprises within a South African context has been recorded to be as high as 50%. This discouraging number is subsequently accompanied by a South African unemployment rate of 27.70%. The correlation between these two variables is studied and considered. Small business failure rates, reasons for failure, as well as the manufacturing strategy of World Class Manufacturing is researched. The benefits of adopting the elements of World Class Manufacturing by the small, medium and micro-sized enterprises are explored, evaluated and discussed.
All the information and data for this research project is collected from the small business owners themselves. Their views and responses are then compared to peer-reviewed literature that is focused on the topics associated with the activities and challenges that small, medium and micro enterprises face. An evaluation of the current levels of understanding that small business owners have of the aspects in World Class Manufacturing is tested and evaluated.
The patterns that emerge from the data collected from small business owners indicate that small, medium and micro enterprises have not yet adopted the elements of World Class Manufacturing to its full capacity. The benefits that can be attained through the implementation of the elements of World Class Manufacturing are not fully realized yet and presents the small business owner with an incredible opportunity to excel the performance of the small business.
Organizations that decide to invest the time, effort and money on the development of a suitable manufacturing strategy that is centered on the elements of World Class Manufacturing soon find themselves in a far more superior position than their competitors.