The development of an integrated management system in the personal care products industry.

[摘要] More and more companies are realising the benefits of implementing managementsystems, integration of these systems would lead to a more efficient and effectivemanagement system.Environmental, quality, health and safety management systems are discussed aswell as how each is implemented independently. Where the systems overlap orhave common goals, in order to avoid duplication and unnecessary extra work, thedevelopment and implementation as an integrated management system (IMS) isessential and forms the major part of this project. A long term plan to implementthe IMS is developed and will be implemented in this company through stages.A holistic approach is being used to improve not only the effluent but also theprocess and raw materials. The company being focussed on is broken down intodifferent sections and each section carefully investigated to find possible processimprovements. The company is looking to become as automated as possible toreduce human error, but due to financial concerns, everything is to be done aseconomically as possible, or over a longer time span.The company is looking to implement an environmental management system(EMS) to become ISO 14000 certified and a quality management system (QMS) tobecome ISO 9000 certified as this would:• improve product marketing,• minimise long term costs,• ensure the future development of the company, and• help give the company an edge in the highly competitive market.A brief background of the organisation is given in order to determine the current(pre-implementation) status of the company. The EMS, QMS and Operational Health and Safety are discussed as well as howeach is implemented independently. A gap analysis of each of the managementsystems is carried out and where the systems overlap or have common goals,these systems are integrated.The different functional departments of the organisation nl. inventory, productionand administration are investigated and suggestions on how to improve these aredocumented. These suggestions are to be carried out first as these are the mostobvious and currently cause the most problems. Once these problems are fixed,the gap analysis of each system is to be looked at and implemented.The water use of the organisation is investigated and some practical ways ofdecreasing the water use are suggested. Different ways of treating the effluent isdiscussed and it is decided that the best setup would be two tanks in series,including a flow equalisation tank and a chemical neutralisation tank. Depending onthe pilot plant investigation an extra tank can be used to improve the water quality.One of the fundamental foundations to an effective and efficient managementsystem is management commitment and the management at AIC are notcommitted enough. Employees should be motivated through fair pay, training andrecognition as this will reduce human error and also improve the general feeling inthe organisation. The IMS will be greatly enhanced if business ethics and socialresponsibilities are incorporated.Training seems to be the major problem in the organisation at present and oncethe appropriate sections of the IMS have been completed, training should becomepart of the company's routine.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University