Research Articles (Industrial Engineering)
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Browsing Research Articles (Industrial Engineering) by Author "Bam, Wouter Gideon"
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- ItemDevelopment of a decision support system for assessing alternative agriculture land uses : a case study of the Stellenbosch wine region(South African Institute for Industrial Engineering, 2018) De Villiers, Jeanne-Mari; Bam, Wouter Gideon; Van Eeden, JoubertENGLISH ABSTRACT: The wine industry is accountable for 1.2 percent of the South African GDP. Financial margins of Stellenbosch wine estates have begun to shrink due to factors such as high production costs and increased competition. To be economically sustainable wine estates need to rethink their current business strategy and consider adopting a diversification strategy. This article identifies a holistic set of considerations that decision-makers in this industry need to evaluate when considering pursuing land use alternatives. It also considers how these factors can be used to develop a decision support system (DSS) to guide farmers through the decision-making process.
- ItemFactors affecting the location of economic activities : a multi-disciplinary review and conceptual framework(Southern African Institute for Industrial Engineering, 2020) Bam, Wouter Gideon; De Bruyne, Karolien; Schutte, CorneENGLISH ABSTRACT: A holistic framework that enables a systematic evaluation of the factors affecting the location of economic activities has thus far been lacking. Using a structured review, this research summarises the key developments that address this issue. Based on this review, a conceptual framework is proposed. The framework is location-centric — i.e., it evaluates the performance of a location in supporting a specific activity aimed at a particular market. It aims to assist both firms and policymakers to evaluate the key location determinants that drive the location of activities.
- ItemInvestigating the sustainability and feasibility of different disposable cups : a coffee shop perspective(South African Institute for Industrial Engineering, 2018) Vermeulen, Carla; Bam, Wouter GideonENGLISH ABSTRACT: With convenience being a sought-after factor in today's society, disposable coffee cups play a significant role in many people's daily routines. There still, however, appears to be a general confusion in many coffee shop environments regarding optimal waste treatment of disposable coffee cups to minimise their environmental impact. This study thus compares the different disposable coffee cup options that are available to South African coffee shops to determine which options (in terms of different materials) are more environmentally friendly under different conditions, whilst also satisfactorily meeting the requirements of coffee shops and customers.
- ItemOptimising investment in asset management using the multivariate asset management assessment topography(Southern African Institute for Industrial Engineering, 2014-08) Bam, Wouter Gideon; Vlok, Pieter-JanThe multivariate asset management assessment topography (MAMAT) was developed to quantify, and represent graphically, development, adoption, and performance of a business’ asset management (AM) systems, as described by standards such as PAS 55. The MAMAT provides a way to visualise clearly the strengths and weaknesses of a business’ asset management system. Building on MAMAT, a model describing the relationship between the commitment of resources and the corresponding improvement in the MAMAT assessment outcome is proposed. The goal is to develop an optimisation model that will maximise financial benefits by improving the MAMAT assessment score achieved by a business, while minimising the investment required to attain this improvement. This is achieved by determining the optimal allocation of resources to the different subcategories of the MAMAT assessment framework. The multi-objective cross-entropy method (MOO CEM) is used to find the Pareto set of solutions for this problem. In order to showcase the intended industry application and use of the optimisation model, a hypothetical case study is executed and described in this paper. From this application, it was found that the MOO CEM finds useful solutions that can support the implementation of standards such as PAS 55 by prioritising and assigning resources to implementation activities.