DIGITALISATION OF SHOP-FLOOR OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN TOOL, DIE, AND MOULD-MAKING INDUSTRY

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.

Keywords

• digitalisation
• shop-floor management
• mobile data collection