Role of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems in Minimizing Import Dependency in the South African Press Tool Enterprise

Abstract

The global competition in today’s manufacturing industry is forcing enterprises to continuously strive for higher operational efficiency and responsiveness to customer demands in an expeditious manner. The press tool industry is facing challenges ranging from inflexible manufacturing systems to ageing technology. Furthermore, having inflexible manufacturing systems and ageing technology allow industries to struggle to compete globally and locally, which leads some of industry retrenching employees and liquidation. South African Press tool industries have a role to play in addressing social challenges such as high unemployment and how to develop ways to create more jobs. For purposes of this study, the reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) principles with the emphasis on reconfigurability are applied in the press tool industry to revamp manufacturing responsiveness towards customer demands. A structured questionnaire, administered by mail was used to collect primary data for the study. The data was analyzed using the Microsoft Excel package. The results of this research indicate that high priority areas that need attention were manufacturing system and business functions that are failing to meet various customer needs and demands. A proposed model has been created to address the high priority areas. Further studies will focus on the RMS performance evaluation within South African Press tool industry.