Browsing 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.
- ItemIndustrial policy-making in mineral-rich developing countries(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Bam, Wouter Gideon; Schutte, Cornelius Stephanus Lodewyk ; Van Hove, Jan; De Bruyne, Karolien; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Industrial Engineering.ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This dissertation investigates policy-making in mineral-rich developing countries with a focus on policies that seek to promote the value add to mineral products before export (also known as beneficiation policy). Firstly, it explores how mineral value chains may be conceptualised to frame the debate around beneficiation policy and enable a holistic contextualisation of such policy. Secondly, it presents two novel/adapted analytical frameworks that support the appraisal of the potential strategic value of different downstream processing activities. The first framework uses corporate sustainability disclosures to assess the potential triple-bottom line impact of hosting a focal activity within a particular jurisdiction. This framework is applied to the case of platinum in South Africa in order to illustrate how it may be applied. The second framework provides a input-output lens with which to leverage the product space analysis method to determine how difficult it would likely be to target an industry and what the potential capability development and economic growth effects of this industry could be. This framework is applied to the case of steel in South Africa. The case is used to reflect on the optimality of following a downstream linkage-based (beneficiation) industrial policy logic. It is found that a so-called ‘leap-frogging’ approach to policy development may be more optimal. Finally, this dissertation presents a framework to enable the appraisal of the factors driving the location of a particular activity to understand how such an activity could be targeted. This supports the attainment of a first approximation of the cost and feasibility of the required interventions to attain this activity in a mineral-rich developing country. This dissertation therefore contributes towards consolidating and extending the academic literature that has a bearing on improved industrial policy-making in mineral value chains of mineral-rich developing countries. Furthermore, it aims to provide practical tools for policy-makers in order to support improved developmental outcomes. It is also envisioned that the tools and approaches developed in this dissertation could be leveraged far beyond just the mineral related industries which were the focus of this study.
- 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.