This paper presents an analysis of the essential characteristics of the TQM philosophy by comparing the work of five notable authors in the field. A framework is produced which gather the identified TQM enablers under the well-known operations management dimensions of process, business and people. These enablers are linked with sustainable development via balance scorecard type economic and non-economic measures. In order to capture a picture of Libyan Company’s efforts to implement the TQM, a questionnaire survey is designed and implemented. Results of the survey are presented showing the main differentiating factors between the sample companies, and a way of assessing the difference between the theoretical underpinning and the practitioners’ undertakings. Survey results indicate that companies are experiencing much difficulty in translating TQM theory into practice. Only a few companies have successfully adopted a holistic approach to TQM philosophy, and most of these put relatively high emphasis on hard elements compared with soft issues of TQM. However, where companies can realise the economic outputs, non-economic benefits such as workflow management, skills development and team learning are not realised. In addition, overall, non-economic measures have secured low weightings compared with the economic measures. We believe that the framework presented in this paper can help a company to concentrate its TQM implementation efforts in terms of process, system and people management dimensions. 

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate quality factors that are absolutely essential for successful implementation of total quality management (TQM) in Libyan oil and gas companies (LOGCs). Design/methodology/approach – In all, 11 quality factors with 42 elements were identified to develop a questionnaire to carry out the survey in order to identify the quality factors that are seen by LOGCs to be critical to the success of TQM implementation. In total, 45 questionnaires were provided by hand to quality-related managers from the Libyan oil and gas sector. A total of 42 were returned sufficiently completed, that gave us a response rate of approximately 93.33 per cent. Findings – The empirical analysis demonstrates several key findings: the analysis indicated that 24 quality factors are found to be critical and absolutely essential for successful TQM implementation. These factors classify into three levels of criticality. All of the factors were found to be supported by similar studies and cited literatures. Research limitations/implications – The research is subject to the normal limitations of survey research. The study is using perceptual data provided by quality managers and engineers which may not provide clear picture. It may be suitable to consider gathering information from various stakeholders such as employees, customers, suppliers and even competitors. However, this can be overcome using multiple methods to collect data in future studies. Interestingly, the findings here may be generalisable outside Libya, i.e. South Mediterranean countries. Practical implications – LOGCs should consider TQM as an innovative tool for improving business performance in today’s competitive environment. The findings suggest that the TQM critical success factors should be implemented completely as a whole package rather than on a fragmented basis to get the full potential of the TQM. Originality/value – The study investigate the critical quality factors for successful TQM implementation which will direct an organisation towards business excellence and enhancing success of TQM practices in the oil and gas sector. Very few studies have been performed to investigate and understand this issue. Therefore, the research can make a useful contribution

The main purpose of this research is to construct a generic model for successful implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in Oil sector, and to find out the effects of this model on the organizational sustainability development (OSD) performance of Libyan oil and gas companies using the structured equation modeling (SEM) approach. The research approach covers both quantitative and qualitative methods. A questionnaire was developed in order to identify the quality factors that are seen by Libyan oil and gas companies to be critical to the success of TQM implementation. Hypotheses were developed to evaluate the impact of TQM implementation on O SD. Data analysis reveals that there is a significant positive effect of the TQM implementation on OSD. 24 quality factors are found to be critical and absolutely essential for successful TQM implementation. The results generated a structure of the TQMSD implementation framework based on the four major road map constructs (Top management commitment, employee involvement and participation, customer-driven processes, and continuous improvement culture).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the quality management dimensions, based on Deming Management Model, in Oil industry in Libya. Questionnaire, semi structured interview and open interview were used to collect data from random sample of 42 qualityrelated managers from the Libyan Oil industry. Forty-five questionnaires were provided by hand to quality-related managers from the Libyan Oil companies. A total of 42 were returned sufficiently completed, that gave us a response rate of approximately 93.33%. The regression analysis indicated that these organizations implement total quality management practices. The findings suggest that an integrated approach is required to implement the total quality management practices in order to realize strategic quality objectives. This research is subject to the normal limitations of survey research. The data is based on individual opinion of quality related managers, which may bring in some bias. Further research needs to be done to advance our knowledge and to further support the findings. For instance, a larger sample size and more items per Deming principle may be used in future studies to duplicate these results and to increase the internal consistency of the scales. Deming Management Model is applied to one industry in this study. Therefore, to establish the generalization of the Model within the context of Libya, it needs to be tested in other industries setting, both in public and private sectors. The study extends the applicability of the Deming Management Model to a new industry and country. Collectively, the results of the research provide more understanding of issues relating to quality management in developing countries and a framework for enhancing organizational effectiveness. Therefore, the research can make a useful contribution.

The current concept of an asset management (AM) system focuses on the lifecycle of engineered assets and little has been done in the literature on its link to organizational strategy. In this paper, the AM system′s position within an organizational structure and its role in competitive strategy has been explored. Two case studies involving AM have been analyzed using a proposed framework which is comprised of a set of planning and control activities maintaining a control mechanism and a relationship with the strategy-making process. It is argued that the AM system structure and the mechanism play a key role in the organizational strategy. The existence of the AM system is hypothesized by this framework which stipulates the asset performance required for strategic success. The use of this framework allows for conclusions to be drawn on the requirements for building an effective connection between AM activities …

A numerical simulation of a two-stage reciprocating compressor has replicated the operations of the compressor under various conditions for the development of diagnostic features for predictive condition monitoring. The simulation involves the development of a mathematical model of five different physical processes: speed–torque characteristics of an induction motor, cylinder pressure variation, crankshaft rotational motion, flow characteristics through valves and vibration of the valve plates. Modelling both valve leakage and valve spring deterioration has also been achieved. The simulation was implemented in a MATLAB environment for an efficient numerical solution and ease of result presentation. For normal operating conditions, the simulated results are in good agreement with the test results for cylinder pressure waveforms and crankshaft instantaneous angular speed (IAS). It has been found that both the IAS 

Purpose–The purpose of this paper is to presents a methodology to assist in the performance improvement of the process. The purpose is to assist operation processes to control and reduce cost of operations.

Methodology/approach–The paper is based on literature studies, research and experience which can be applied by an organisation in order to identify the potential benefits.

Findings–This paper provides a methodology used in this paper suggested that there will be a significant opportunity to improve the performance of the majority of the existing assets. Through benchmarking, gaps are identified and an outline of a procedure to quantify existing gaps was provided. All the tools provided by the methodology of benchmarking within the process focus on quantifying a financial gap; this sets out the priorities and justifies the case for continuous improvement. The improvement in the time of the process will lead to an increase in the value of the production, thus creating financial savings.

Originality/value–This is the first attempt framework, measures and industry world class targets, to benchmark best manufacturing practices in a company at the oil sector in North Africa. The paper provides some useful insights and can help companies to implement best practices and benchmarking to improve their practices.

The induction motor is the most common driver in industry and has been previously proposed as a means of inferring the condition of an entire equipment train, predominantly through the measurement and processing of power supply parameters. This has obvious advantages in terms of being non-intrusive or remote, less costly to apply and improved safety. This paper describes the use of the induction motor current to identify and quantify a number of common faults seeded on a two-stage reciprocating compressor. An analysis of the compressor working cycle leads to current signal the components that are sensitive to the common faults seeded to compressor system, and second- and third-order signal processing tools are used to analyse the current signals. It is shown that the developed diagnostic features: the bispectral peak value from the amplitude modulation bispectrum and the kurtosis from the current gives rise to reliable fault classification results. The low feature values can differentiate the belt looseness from other fault cases and valve leakage and inter-cooler leakage can be separated easily using two linear classifiers. This work provides a novel approach to the analysis stator current data for the diagnosis of motor drive faults

Abstract. In many cases, it is impractical to measure the vibrations directly at or close to their source. It is a common practice to measure the vibration at a location far from the source for condition monitoring purposes. The vibration measured in this way inevitably has high distortions from the vibrations due to the effect of the attenuation of signal paths and the interference from other sources. The suppression of the distortions is a key issue for the remote measurements based condition monitoring. In this paper, the influences of transducer locations are investigated on a typical gearbox transmission system for the detection of the faults induced to the gearbox. Several signal processing techniques’ analysis results show that the attenuation and interference cause high influences on the gear transmission signals. However, time synchronous average (TSA) is very effective to detect the local faults induced to the gear system.