Abstract
M.Ing. (Engineering Management)
The rail industry has become important in executing government’s projects to improve South African transportation system. Rail industry is showing to have potential of becoming an alternative transport system, into which the South African government is investing money. This has led to the project that a company in rail industry is currently undertaking to manufacture new commuter trains for the South African community. The project requires a development of supplier base which includes South African suppliers when executing this project of manufacturing newly improved trains in South Africa.
Regardless of how exciting this project is, a company in rail industry is faced with a challenge of searching for suppliers that are able to help it to achieve its objective. This can be achieved through a proper supplier selection process that is consistently assessing supplier risks prior to selecting them. A robust selection process must be in place with established selection criteria to assess areas in which risks could arise from. The selection criteria can assist in identifying risks in the early stages of the supplier selection process.
This research studies supplier risk assessment implemented by a company in rail industry to identify supplier selection criteria. A literature review was completed to identify supplier selection criteria that should be considered during the supplier selection process and matched with criteria implemented by a company in rail industry. The research further studies risk management frameworks which would provide structure to the risk management process of a company. The frameworks that are considered in this research are: ISO 31000:2009 framework, COSO: 2004 framework, AS/NZ 2004 framework, SCRM framework as well as PMBOK framework.
By utilizing pattern matching technique, gaps are identified between the supplier selection criteria implemented by a company and literature reviewed. Further the research proposed a theoretical supplier onboarding model which incorporates risk assessment activities within the supplier selection process focusing on all identified selection criteria. This would reduce chances of having inconsistencies during supplier risk assessments process.