Browsing by Author "Winterbach, Francois"

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    Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of various solar heat technologies
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2011-12) Winterbach, Francois; Van Schalkwyk, T. D.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Industrial Engineering.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Energy is an essential part of the world today. It is difficult to imagine a world without it. Modern day households rely on it for daily activities and preservation of food. Industries rely on it for manufacturing and processing. The business world relies on it for ease of transactions and transfers. Media depends on it for the gathering and distribution of information. Night life will be much more difficult without advantage of lights. The major concern is that the means by which most of the energy is produced causes harm to humans and the environment, including the fauna and flora. Coal fire is the most prominent way of producing energy, but since it creates the most harm to the environment, alternatives ways of energy production must be looked at. Other non-renewable energy sources include oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. All of these have the potential to be very harmful to the environment. That is why renewable sources of energy should be considered. Such sources include wind energy, hydro-energy, solar energy and geothermal energy. Solar power towers are a solar thermal alternative for energy production. It uses solar radiation as fuel for the energy generation process. The physical components of this technology are the heliostat field, the power tower and various machines used in the power generation cycles. The function of the heliostat field is to intercept, redirect and concentrate direct solar radiation to a receiver which sits at the top of a power tower. In this project the heliostats that are necessary to fuel a 100 MW power tower is analysed to determine the environmental impact throughout their life time. This is a cradle to grave assessment, which means that the entire life cycle is considered from the acquiring of raw materials to the disposal of the functional unit. Software was used to do the life cycle assessment of the heliostat field. From the result obtained it could be seen which emissions are produced during which processes and the magnitude of the effect that they have on different environmental categories.
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    Theory of perspective : a continuous and sustainable internal process improvement roadmap for small business managers
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-03) Winterbach, Francois; Von Leipzig, Konrad; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Industrial Engineering.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Small, medium and micro enterprises are important contributors to the economic and socioeconomic development of South Africa. However, most enterprises struggle to become established. The high rate of failure is due to a lack of access to finance, poor managerial and technical skills, and also the competitive business environment. The focus of this research report is on the development of a continuous and sustainable internal process improvement roadmap that provides skill constrained small business managers with strategic and technical support, in order to make their organisations more competitive in the current business environment, without expensive consultation. The first step toward the development of the roadmap is discussed as a ten step basic process improvement cycle, based on an interpretation of the PDCA cycle. These ten steps provide most of the methods that are needed for practical implementation of improvement activities. However, this approach needs strategic support in order to ensure that improvement activities focus on the critical improvement opportunities. The second step regards the identification of strategic support, and additional improvement methods, to align improvement activities toward the critical improvement opportunities, which represent a common goal. Three methodologies are discussed as individual roadmaps to determine the crucial aspects that can be integrated into a holistic management roadmap, which accommodates practical improvement. These methodologies are lean thinking, theory of constraints, and the six sigma philosophy. The final roadmap is then developed, based on the principle that perspectives can be used to develop the perception of people toward improvement. Different perspectives are identified from the studied improvement methodologies, and the execution of improvement activities is then supported with the basic process improvement cycle. The perspectives are categorised into three main perspectives. First, the organisational perspective provides an overview of the philosophy, people, and process. Second, the primary process perspective provides an overview of the critical process aspects; value, throughput, and quality. Third, the secondary process perspective connects these critical process aspects in terms of effectiveness, agility, and efficiency. The roadmap is then completed when management can transcend above perspective.