Evaluation of an automated cane analyser for cane payment purposes

Code (CO)	MSI08P4322
Author (AU)	Curpen, S
Title - English (ET)	Evaluation of an automated cane analyser for cane payment purposes
Thesis-Parent title (TH)	Thesis, MSc Quality Management, University of Mauritius, Faculty of Engineering
Document Type(DT)	thesis
Date of publication (DP)	2008
Source (SO)	141 p.: 22 tbls, 30 figs, 18 appen.
Language of text (LT)	En
Language of summaries (LS)	En
Abstract (AB)	The aim of this study is to evaluate the use of an Automated Cane Analyser for cane payment purposes at the Cane Planters and Millers Arbitration Control Board (CPMACB). In this context, four aspects were investigated, namely 1) a financial analysis for the implementation of the Automated Cane Analyser; 2) Comparing results generated by this new system to result generated by the conventional method; 3) Employees' perception about improvement in ISO/TQM practices with the implementation of the Automated Cane Analyser; 4) Planters' perception about improvement in service quality with the implementation of the Automated Cane Analyser. The financial analysis reveals that the implementation of the Automated Cane Analyser will reduce the operation cost of the CPMACB. The payback period is relatively short (2.4 years) for an investment of about 110 millions rupees. The statistical comparisons of results generated by the Automated Cane Analyser and conventional method reveal that results obtained by the two systems are statistically similar at 99 percent confidence interval for parameters brix per cent juice, Pol per cent juice and Fibre per cent cane. The analysis of employees' percention about ISO/TQM practices reveals that both samplers and officers perceive that these practices will improve with the implementation of the Automated Cane Analyser. However, there is room for improvement for the leadership dimension. The analysis of planters' perception by a SERVPERF questionnaire reveals that most planters perceive the service quality of actual system of the CPAMCB is not up to expectation but the implementation of the Automated Cane Analyser will improve all the dimensions of the CPMACB service, especially the trust dimension.
Descriptors - English (DE)	Automated Cane Analyser cane payment financial analysis NIR Near infrared spectroscopy chemical analysis
Descriptors - Geographic (DG)	Mauritius
Sort Key 1(K1)	Cane sugar manufacture
Sort Key 2 (K2)	Analysis and control: Instrumentation and automation
Date record entered (DA)	2008-12-18
Language of analysis (LA)	En
Location (LO)	LIB
Processing status (PS)	CAT
Number of copies (NC)	1
MSIRI Staff (MS)	ST