Abstract
Digitalisation has been advocated as a possible strategy to improve the competitiveness of tool, die, and mould-making (TDM) companies in the 21st century. The recent rise of digital technologies, such as Internet of Things devices, now makes digitalisation an achievable reality. This paper focuses on the digitalisation of shop-floor operations in the South African TDM industry through the development of a novel mobile data collection (MDC) tool known as a shop-floor management system (SMS). The developed SMS was deployed to, and validated in, a selected tooling company for various products. The developed system improved the shop-floor’s real-time data collection.
Highlights
Tool, die, and mould (TDM) manufacturing has long been considered a key industrial sector, as it is the sole supplier of basic production equipment
This paper focuses on the digitalisation of shop-floor operations in the South African TDM industry through the development of a novel mobile data collection (MDC) tool known as a shop-floor management system (SMS)
The developed SMS application was only implemented within one company
Summary
Die, and mould (TDM) manufacturing has long been considered a key industrial sector, as it is the sole supplier of basic production equipment. The TDM industry in South Africa is a critical support industry to the broader manufacturing industry, bridging the gap between product development and series production. This makes the sector a high value-adding constituent in the supply of manufactured products by being at the heart of component manufacturing and by forming the backbone of the manufacturing sector [1]. TDM firms have been traditionally known to consist of small, medium or micro-enterprises (SMMEs) that are usually family-owned businesses. Over 90 per cent of TDM firms in South Africa are small businesses in the range of SMMEs [3]
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