Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of sustainable manufacturing practices in Malaysian palm oil mills (POMs) by comparing the status of their current achievements and the levels of priority placed on their practices. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was used to collect data about 20 sustainable manufacturing practices from 51 POMs located in Malaysia. A five-point Likert scale was considered for recording variations in priorities and current practices with regard to sustainable manufacturing. A Cronbach’s α reliability test and a binomial test were undertaken to assess the internal consistency and the validity of the survey data. Spearman’s ρ correlation analysis was employed to determine the linear correlation between each of the sustainability practices identified. Factor analysis was conducted to reduce the number of sustainable manufacturing practices based on factor loading and to derive a clustering of these factors. Findings The results showed that employees’ well-being has the highest level in terms of both priority and current achievement. However, for other sustainable manufacturing practices, there was a difference where the current achievement of these practices in the Malaysian POMs was seen to be slightly lower than the priority given to them. Strong correlation of significant value was observed between the minimization of production waste and pollution prevention practices. From factor analysis, 15 practices of high factor loading were grouped into a proactive sustainability strategy and a preventive sustainability strategy. Research limitations/implications The study was still relatively exploratory. Future studies could investigate the barriers to the implementation of sustainable manufacturing practices at Malaysian POMs. The sample, which consisted of 51 Malaysian POMs, represented an important sector of the Malaysian economy. Reliance on stated, rather than revealed, preferences may limit the implications of the analysis undertaken for this study, but it does represent a major step forward in understanding the past in what was a highly recommended sector for investigation due to the paucity of extant data. A more broadly based, random sample of POMs from other countries would provide a better understanding of issues related to sustainable manufacturing practices. Practical implications The results of this study can be used by practitioners to adjust the sustainable manufacturing practices currently applied and further studies may go on to examine the reasons and implications for discrepancies between priorities and desired sustainability goals in more detail. Originality/value The survey conducted about sustainable manufacturing practices amongst Malaysian POMs was focussed on the three dimensions of sustainability, namely, the economic, environmental, and social elements involved.

No abstract

This paper focus on the translation of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) measure into manufacturing sustainability based on literature study. It examines the three OEE contributing factors; availability, performance, and quality; and the sustainable manufacturing components including environmental conservation, social efficiency, and economic enhancement. The OEE measure is not only possible to improve productivity through the identification and elimination of manufacturing major losses but its implementation has its own merits towards sustainable manufacturing. The findings can be used as an initial reference for manufacturers to consider OEE measure to advance the goal of manufacturing sustainability.

<span>Defect inspection emerged as an important role for product quality monitoring process since it is a requirement of International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001. The used of manual inspection is impractical because of time consuming, human error, tiredness, repetitive and low productivity. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are industries that having problems in maintaining the quality of their products due to small capital provided. Therefore, automatic inspection is a promising approach to maintain product quality as well as to resolve the existing problems related to delay outputs and cost burden. This article presents a computerized analysis to detect color concentration defects that occur in beverage production based on texture information provided by gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM).</span><span> Based on the texture information, GLCM cross-section is computed to extract the parameters for features of color concentration. The distance value between two colors is then computed using co-occurrence histogram. The defect results either pass or reject is determined using Euclidean distance and rule-based classification. The experimental results show 100% accuracy which makes the proposed technique can implimented for beverage manufacturing inspection process.</span>

This paper presents an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model for prioritizing multicriteria sustainability impact of Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA). It focuses on the Malaysian palm oil mills that have been widely criticized on various sustainability issues. The data collection for pair-wise comparison of decision judgement are taken from three experts of palm oil milling process and an additional expert from the academic background. The multi-criteria of each sustainability impacts (technical, economic, environmental, and social) are assessed for the weights of the occurrence, severity, and detection of the FMEA. The result of the study suggested that the degree of failure severity for social impact is considered as the highest priority for palm oil mills. This paper provides insights for management to improve organizations’ sustainability performance at the operational level by considering sustainability impact in analyzing failure mode and effect of equipment.