SAIIE28 Day 2

The theme of the conference, Taking up Stewardship, was really showcased and discussed on day 2.

Welcoming and keynote address

Prof. Gordon Ndodomzi Zide, the Vice Chancellor of the Vaal University of Technology opened the event for the day. He was followed by Mr. David Makhura, the Premier of Gauteng. They touched on the National Development Plan (NDP) and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

In South Africa, we have to invest more in education and infrastructure. The premier mentioned that we must aim for economic inclusion, where all members of society have an equal opportunity to participate in the economic life of our country, either as an employer, employee or entrepreneur.

There are currently 412 infrastructure projects on register in Gauteng. A feasibility study has been completed for the expansion of the Gautrain project to add new nodes and rail lines.

This province is full of knowledge and driven by innovation. The logic of government bureaucracy is, however, a challenge. We need to reinvent the government and run it like a business.

SAIIE Overview

The president of SAIIE, Mr. Waldo Viljoen, provided some insights into the origination and history of Industrial Engineering as a discipline, as well as SAIIE. Industrial Engineering is currently ranked 8th on the list of scarce skills in South Africa.

Mega-projects

Mr. Willem Louw provided some interesting facts about mega-projects globally, as well as in South Africa. A mega-project is typically defined as a large scale, complex venture that costs at least USD 1 billion. These projects have multiple stakeholders, impacts millions of people and typically takes 10-15 years to complete.

The South African landscape classifies projects of over R10 billion as mega-projects. Some examples include Medupi power station, the Gautrain and the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP). Yet, many of our mega-projects run over budget, over time and deliver fewer benefits than originally committed to, over and over again.

Some remedies for this problem include innovation and flexibility, better stakeholder management, improved quality assurance and privatisation to cure some of the challenges. Jack van der Merwe, the CEO of Gautrain, mentioned that some remedies also include political will to complete a project, funding and acceptance by the community (take GFIP as an example). 

Effective group decision making

This was a really valuable discussion around enabling effective decision making in business. During this talk, Clemens Dempers said that careful preparation is not always sufficient make the right decision. Some fundamental problems include our own cognitive limitations (we can consume a limited amount of information at a time), trying to solve complex problems with simplistic strategies and listing pros and cons to make a qualitative decision.

We should be able to enable multiply criteria decisions in business. Dr. Thomas Saaty designed the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) for exactly this reason. This is also the technique that Prof. Paul Kruger taught many students at the University of Pretoria.

The Expert Choice software was designed to enable better decision making by using AHP. After the initial configuration of the different criteria that enables a specific decision, different teams can vote on the rating for each option against this criteria. A what-if analysis can then be started by changing the weights of the criteria and visually seeing the impact of the different scenarios. The software can also be used for a resource allocation model.

Lean in the workplace

In this session, Gawie Roodt and Thomas Tengen revisited some of the lean methodologies and techniques, like Value Stream Mapping, the difference between Lean and Lean Six Sigma, continuous improvement, push versus pull systems and the Theory of Constraints (TOC). Eliyahu Goldratt is well known for the origination of TOC, as well as his business novel, The Goal, which is based on this paradigm. 

If you can relate something in business to customer satisfaction, you can also relate it to lean principles.

Simulation for decision support of insurance claims processes

Maryka Erasmus from Santam gave a very fascinating presentation on the use of process simulation to enhance decision making for process improvement. It was proven that process simulation can be extremely beneficial in the service industry as processes could be simulated and predicted with a confident degree of validation. By using process simulation, they have enabled significant cost reductions in the business and gained substantial insights to support decision making.

The simulation process supports the conceptual process design and the benefits include a reduction in process variation, identification of (often expensive) unintended consequences of a business process, as well as improved customer experience.

They use Simio software for process simulation, but there are other options as well, such as AnyLogic. This is definitely an option that we should consider in Multiply.

Agile approach in larger enterprises

There are several challenges using the agile methodology in larger enterprises. Lyndall Fourie provided some insights into what these are and how to overcome them. Some examples of the challenges include silos in the organisation, the deployment process, the business architecture and design process, the product quality, business requirements and collaboration.

Ultimately, the principle should be to identify what is important to get the product out into the market and focus on that. The rest can come later.

Boat cruise and conference dinner

All the conference delegates then left for a boat cruise on the Vaal river, followed by the conference dinner at Stonehaven on Vaal. 

With a breathtaking sunset, beautiful scenery and good company, this was the perfect way to relax after the information overload of the day! 

I caught up with some old colleagues and friends from Fourier and CSIR and made some new ones.