Browsing by Author "Steenkamp, L. P."

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    An analysis of the tolerance for ambiguity among accounting students
    (Clute Institute, 2014-03) Steenkamp, L. P.; Wessels, P. L.
    Tolerance for ambiguity is a personality characteristic that reflects the general feelings and attitudes of an individual toward ambiguity and ambiguous situations. Prior research has found accounting students to be significantly less tolerant of ambiguity than the general population, with female accounting students less tolerant than their male counterparts. The research on which this article is reporting aimed to examine the personality characteristic ‘tolerance for ambiguity’ among accounting students to determine whether those currently being attracted to the profession are still less tolerant of ambiguity than the norm as reported by prior research, taking into account the drive from the accounting profession to attract individuals to the profession who are effective communicators, who can think and act strategically, are able to solve unstructured problems, and are aware of business issues. Tolerance for ambiguity was measured using the AT-20 scale, a widely used and validated instrument developed by MacDonald (1970). The results of this study confirm that students enrolled for accounting degree programmes are less tolerant for ambiguity (mean = 7.50) than students enrolled for other business programmes (mean = 8.16). Female students enrolled in accounting degree programmes were significantly less tolerant for ambiguity than their male counterparts.
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    Assessment of current practices in creating and using passwords as a control mechanism for information access
    (AOSIS OpenJournals, 2007-06) Wessels, P. L.; Steenkamp, L. P.
    One of the critical issues in managing information within an organization is to ensure that proper controls exist and are applied in allowing people access to information. Passwords are used extensively as the main control mechanism to identify users wanting access to systems, applications, data files, network servers or personal information. In this article, the issues involved in selecting and using passwords are discussed and the current practices employed by users in creating and storing passwords to gain access to sensitive information are assessed. The results of this survey conclude that information managers cannot rely only on users to employ proper password control in order to protect sensitive information.
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    Emerging synthesis of social manufacturing
    (Faculty of Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering, Stellenbosch University, 2016) Steenkamp, L. P.; Ras, C. I; Oosthuizen, G. A.; Von Leipzig, K. H.
    Manufacturing systems has changed constantly throughout the years and new theory towards value creation is emerging. The latest manufacturing paradigm is described as social manufacturing which uses open design platforms. Open design platforms could give the hands of every individual the means to produce physical objects or products. Nowadays, with the wave of the Internet of Things (IoT) people can participate from global communities to contribute to the innovation process. Everybody can use existing design tools and solutions on open platforms. This will ensure co-creation to produce even more solutions. Social manufacturing harnesses the emerging synthesis from open design platforms and the manufacturing capability that is embedded within the online community platform, whereby the users co-manufacturer their own products. This paper discusses an one week challenge case study that investigates the possibility of completing the open design process of a product during a limited timespan using social manufacturing techniques. This case study proved that a product can be crowd sourced and delivered within a week. These results showed that the desired industrial cluster could be reached. These social elements are promising for future manufacturing businesses.
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    Investigating the effects of automating process chains towards sustainable manufacturing in South Africa
    (Elsevier, 2017) Hagedorn-Hansen, D.; Steenkamp, L. P.; Hagedorn-Hansen, E.; Oosthuizen, G. A.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Automation of processes is becoming increasingly popular within manufacturing. However, in third world countries such as South Africa, automation could lead to the loss of jobs and even higher unemployment. In order to remain globally and locally competitive, companies need to invest in new technologies of which automation is a highly influential aspect. Thus a study is deployed to determine when a company should automate a process and when a semi-automated process is sufficient in the process chain. To ensure a close to optimum operation, a balance between workforce skill development and profit needs to be determined. In this study, the effects of automating process chains were evaluated. A semi-automated process chain that included a manual labor aspect was used to manufacture small aluminium automotive components and was compared to an automated process with regards to machine effectiveness and labor resources. The automated process derived a higher profit margin due to the high availability of the machine and the lower labour costs. Suggestions were given to increase the profit margin without the loss of labour.
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    Investigating the effects of smart production systems on sustainability elements
    (Elsevier, 2017) Waibel, M. W.; Steenkamp, L. P.; Moloko, N.; Oosthuizen, G. A.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The next generation of manufacturing systems will be self-organising. Networking of cyber-physical equipment and machinery are on the rise. In the field of sustainable manufacturing, an increasing level of computerisation is used to face the growing production requirements. Smart production systems will foster opportunities from its artificial intelligence to create value within the business and the community it operates. Smart production systems will integrate the virtual and physical worlds on these Internet of Things (IoT) platforms to ensure flexibility and resource efficiency. This research study investigated the dynamics of the next industrial revolution (Industrie 4.0) and used case studies on the market, suppliers and customers as benchmark to identify current trends. The technical, economic, social and environmental elements of possible smart innovations were evaluated in terms of resource efficiency. Prerequisites for tooling companies to use smart production systems were discovered. Future work was also discussed.
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    Potential influence of Web 2.0 and security practices of online users on information management
    (AOSIS OpenJournals, 2009-06) Rudman, R. J.; Steenkamp, L. P.
    The proliferation of Web 2.0 applications was the impetus for this survey-based research into practices that online users currently employ when using Web 2.0 sites. As part of the study, the popularity of Web 2.0 technologies and sites among online users at a university was investigated to determine the extent of the potential threat to corporate security, arising from Web 2.0 use and access. The results of this study indicate that the use of Web 2.0 sites is very popular among students, as a proxy for the potential future business users, and that users are not necessarily aware of the risks associated with these sites. The respondents indicated that they regularly visit Web 2.0 sites, and that they post personal information on these sites. This is of concern in protecting arguably the most valuable asset of a business.
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    Visual management system to manage manufacturing resources
    (Elsevier, 2017) Steenkamp, L. P.; Hagedorn-Hansen, D.; Oosthuizen, G. A.
    The next generation of manufacturing will be focused of utilizing lean tools within production industries. Internet of Things (IoT) has made its progress evolvement into the manufacturing industry and has led to improved control when implemented to monitor manufacturing resources. Smart production systems can integrate the virtual and physical worlds and accomplish improved transparency of production processes. These smart production systems will go beyond the traditional means of collaboration to move companies from good to great. In this study a visual management system was developed for resource management research for the Stellenbosch Technology Centre's Laboratory for Advanced Manufacturing (STC-LAM). This system gathers shop floor data and display it in a dashboard. Results and future work was also discussed.