VCB4043/VDB4053Z- Engineers in Society-Semester January 2020 - Extended

Assignment (EA)
[Note: Write your name, Id, Dept on all answer pages, Answer all 3 questions]

Question 1:
You have been employed by the Ministry of Environment and Water. The Ministry
publishes weekly articles on sustainable development to create greater awareness
among the people. You have been assigned to write an article for the coming week.
The focus of your article should be, how today’s sustainability tries to secure present
needs without compromising any of the THREE (3) essential pillars of society, namely,
environmental protection, social development, and economic growth. Your article is to
include the sustainability development roadmap for Malaysia until 2030, and how each
of the pillars effectively contribute to the successful achievement of these goals. Your
article should include the relevant ‘Acts and Regulations’ and statistical data. (Make
your answer in 1000-1500 words).
[40 marks]
Question 2:
Nowadays, managers of manufacturing companies are confronted with an array of
new operation management systems to improve the company overall production
efficiency. Each new system has challenged old assumptions and ways of doing
things. These innovative methods are completely changing not only manufacturing
processes but also the operations management. Factory managers must decide which
approach to adopt to meet current and future needs. Selection of any management
system would require several years to train the company personnel and it incur millions
of dollars. Within this turbulent context due adverse effect of Covid-19 on the world
economy, you are as factory manager responsible in completing a comparative
assessment of Just-In-Time management system. Just-In-Time (JIT) management
system implemented Kanban as part of its production control and Lean Production to
eliminate various types of waste. Giving appropriate examples, develop a framework
and argue in 1000 -1500 words on how a manufacturing company could implement
Kanban system in its Lean Production practices by considering all challenges in term
of rules and regulation, financial constraint, social impact and company reputation
together with statistical data.

[30 marks]
Question 3:
Abdul Rahman is an engineer working in the quality control department at a computer
chip plant. Abdul Rahman's subordinate generally identifies defective production rate
in manufactured chips at a rate of 1 in 150. The general industry practice is for
defective chips to be repaired or destroyed. David, Abdul Rahman's superior, recently
announced that defective chips are to be destroyed because it is more expensive to
repair a defective chip than it is to make a new chip. Abdul Rahman proceeds on the
basis of David's instructions. A few months later, David informs Abdul Rahman that
his quality control staff is rejecting too many chips, which is having an effect on overall
plant output and ultimately company profitability. David advises Abdul Rahman’s staff
to allow a higher percentage of chips to pass through quality control. David notes that
in the end, these issues can be best handled under the company's warranty policy
under which the company agrees to replace defective chips based upon customer
complaints. However, Abdul Rahman objected to this practice and refused to go along,
and as a result he was transferred to another department and replaced with
incompetence new staff, Halid. Halid is a person that follow all David’s instruction
without considering rules, regulations and specification. If you are under Abdul
Rahman's situation, write a report in 1000 -1500 words on his ethical obligation under
the circumstances and justify your answer in terms of engineering ethics and all
relevant rules and regulation under Engineers Act to support your argument together
with statistical data.
[30 marks]