Browsing by Author "Weyers, Morne"

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    An application of the supply chain operations reference model for the service supply chain for standardised back office services
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Weyers, Morne; Louw, Louis; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Industrial Engineering.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: It is common practice to apply manufacturing practices to services, with the intention of improving services through the practices of manufacturing. One of the manufacturing practices that has proven to be valuable in recent years is Supply Chain Management. In line with this, we have seen a growing body of research in the area of Service Supply Chain Management. The greatest problem in Service Supply Chain Management, as indicated by the literature, is the ambiguity and complexity of services as opposed to manufacturing - where the concept of physical goods is easily understood. It is in this context, that researchers have found that it is challenging to apply current models for supply chain management to services in their current form. The concept of services is a very broad term and this proves to be a challenge. There is a subset of services that is more suited to have manufacturing practices, like supply chain management, directly applied to it. The main objective of this study is to show that a supply chain reference model can be developed with little adaptation to a model developed within the manufacturing industry. This model would be suitable for services that are highly standardised and repeatable, and exhibit characteristics seen in the manufacturing industry. The approach to the model adaptation is by using semantics, removal of elements (that relate to manufacturing) and limited addition of elements that relate to services. The objective is to create a model that is focused on standardised back-office services. The adapted service SCOR model is then tested for its usefulness. To test the usefulness of the adapted service SCOR model, the model is applied to a case study, which consists of two facilitated walk-throughs of services followed by a questionnaire assessment. The questionnaire was directed at assessing the usefulness of the models, which would only be the case if the constructs of the model were practical to the professionals assessing the model. An adapted service SCOR model could be created for standardised back-office services by applying a structured approach to adapting the existing SCOR model. The adapted service SCOR model was found to be valid by professionals within standardised back-office services. There is a subset of services in which the supply chain management principles are more relevant and can be applied to services with a lesser modification. An approach to the adaptation of the SCOR model is provided. This approach maintains the integrity of the original SCOR model while making the SCOR model suitable to the specific type of services. This approach may be applied by practitioners adapting the SCOR model for their specific application but specifically for service sectors. In the application, the practitioner can then utilise the SCOR model concepts without having to create new concepts for services. Therefore, it is believed to be a unique contribution in classifying services into distinct categories when applying supply chain principles, from manufacturing to service supply chains. It may also be expanded to manufacturing practices in general.