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The primary goal of manufacturing industries is to maximise profit. This informs their choice of suitable investment projects. However, the capacity and capabilities of the personnel charged with the responsibility of advising the organisation significantly to influence the quality and profitability of the investment project. In many manufacturing industries, engineers play prominent roles in the different units of the industry, including capital budgeting. But does their basic training, as engineers, adequately prepare them for this function? The case study research strategy was adopted, using mixed methods for data collection and analysis, correlating the results with suitable statistical tools. The findings revealed that most of the engineers in the business unit perform capital budgeting using the most elementary tools. To improve their proficiency, engineers require progressive training in business and financial studies. Therefore, the researchers recommend periodic and progressive training programmes for engineers, as well as integrating the engineering staff with other personnel from the business and financial professions in the business unit of the organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The twin principles of phase development and fragmentation, as execution models, have made a significant impact on effective infrastructure delivery. However, recent experience seems to negate these assertions. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate how these two principles were used in the execution of two identical road projects, named Project A and Project B, and the impact of the following four factors on their execution, namely, the practice of phase development and fragmentation, contractor selection, project planning and management as well as the project funding system. The principles of 'Content Analysis Study', a qualitative research strategy, were adopted as the research method. The findings revealed that Project A was successful in the factors evaluated and the chosen phase was completed within schedule. In contrast, Project B failed. This project initiated in 2006 was still a work in progress in 2023. The conclusion is that the purposive use of the principles and practice of phase development and fragmentation can facilitate effective project delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the manufacturing industry is to produce quality and quantity of goods to satisfy existing customer base, expand market sphare, remain competitive and profitable. However, achieving these ideals depend largely on the reliability of the machines in the production line. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the impact of machine reliability on production and profiability in a manufacturing industry by analysing and interpreting the operational information in the computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) database.This research adopted the principle of action research, involving a two-year longitudinal analysis of the operational information in the database of the machines in the production line of Adcock Ingram Critical Care (AICC) and benchmarking the same with that of Adcock Ingram Health Care (AIHC), a similar pharmaceutical industry. It focused on how AIHC used the factors of total breakdowns, total down time, mean time between failure (MTBF) and the mean time to repair (MTTR) to improve on the reliability of machines in their production network. The analysis was complemented with interviews of participants from inter-related units of the same industry. The findings revealed that in all the areas of measurement in 2017, the machines in the production line of AICC performed below the benchmark of AIHC. However, in 2018, there were appreciable improvements, due to the practice of preventive maintenance. Therefore, the introduction of appropriate CMMS in maintenance operations, including the detailed analysis of operational information and benchmarking, provides a useful learning curve to improve on the reliability of machines in the production line of manufacturing industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable effort and resources are being devoted to infrastructure development in many developing economies. Unfortunately, many of these mega projects remain ideas for many years, some abandoned at different stages of completion and the few that were completed were achieved with significant time overrun. The uncompleted projects have contributed to the increase in infrastructure deficit. Therefore, the effective management of the time component during the execution of capital infrastructure projects significantly increases the possibility of completing parts of or the complete project on schedule, thus reducing the negative effects of inflation. In this regard, it is imperative to explore a functional approach on how to achieve the execution of capital projects on schedule. The multiple sites case study strategy of qualitative research, using comparative analysis, was adopted to examine how building and highway improvement projects were executed within their time schedules. The findings revealed that the concept of phase development and fragmentation, using multiple contractors, was used for the execution of the projects. The two projects were executed within the time schedule, reducing the infrastructure deficit, ameliorating the negative effects of inflation, and resulting in value for money for the client. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]