7. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
7.7 Root Causes of Problems in the Sugarcane Milling Areas
7.7.1 Preliminary root problems in the milling areas
Some of the factors that were perceived by the stakeholders to negatively affect the performance of the four sugarcane milling areas are source vertices in the milling areas’
networks. These factors may be considered as the preliminary root problems in the milling areas. These factors may provide an idea of how many root problems can be identified from
90
100 99
91 5
1
5 54
0 20 40 60 80 100
Eston Felixton Komati Umfolozi
Percentage of indicator factors
Name of sugarcane milling area
Unique Shared Common
85
stakeholders’ interviews alone. The percentages of the preliminary root problems to the factors that were perceived by the stakeholders to negatively affect the performance of the four milling areas are 37%, 20 %, 24 % and 22 % for the Eston, Felixton, Komati and Umfolozi, respectively. This indicates that a majority of factors that were perceived as problems by the stakeholders were not root problems. This finding is in agreement with the assertion by Goldratt and Fox (1986) that most of what people perceive as problems are merely symptoms of problems.
Table 7.15 Preliminary root problems in South African sugarcane milling areas
Eston 26. Frost
11. More mechanical
harvesting 3. Higher sugar quality 1. Poor knowledge 27. Wind
12. More stock stored at
loading point 4. Over irrigation 2. Less farmers 28. HIV/Aids
13. Poor communication
infrastructure 5. HIV/Aids 3. Less seed cane 29. Legal cutters
14. Less preventative
maintenance 6. Vehicle schedule implemented 4. Alternative
industries/crops 30. More undetermined losses
15. Breakdowns and
accidents 7. More cane rolling 5. Social grants
31. Less spending on input
costs 16. Drought 8. Less ripening
6. Less stock stored at
loading point 32. Aged equipment Komati 9. More silt on leaves
7. Rain 33. Drought 1. A-pan saturation 10. Drought
8. Lower boiler capacity
34. Lower back-end
efficiency 2. Wind 11. Poor nutrition
9. Standing trucks 35. More in-field loading 3. Lack of skills 12. Less stockpile
10. Less land use plans 36. Breakdowns and accidents 4. Rain 13. Less spending on input costs 11. More runaway fires
37. Less preventative maintenance
5. Less stock stored at
loading point 14. Pay days 12. Cane diversions 38. High labour cost 6. More in-field loading 15. Wind 13. Lower dewater milling
efficiency 39. Strikes 7. Bullwhip in transport
16. More stock stored at loading point
14. RTMS implemented 40. Hail
8. Breakdowns and
accidents 17. A-pan saturation 15. Incorrect time for
applying inputs Felixton 9. Strikes 18. More upstream floods
16. Land bond repayments 1. Wind
10. Less spending on input
costs 19. Aged equipment
17. Cold 2. Strikes 11. Drought 20. More land claims
18. Pay days 3. Aged equipment 12. Over irrigation 21. High rainfall
19. Poor training and
management 4. Lack of skills 13. Low stacking efficiency 22. High evaporation rate 20. Less stockpile
5. Less stock stored at
loading point 14. Aged equipment 23. Lower topping 21. Few load sensors 6. High humidity
15. Less preventative
maintenance 24. More mechanical harvesting 22. Other industries 7. RTMS implemented 16. More mud recycling 25. Longer hauls
23. Poor nutrition
8. Less spending on input
costs Umfolozi 26. Crop damage
24. Skills shortage 9. Low stacking efficiency 1. Rain
25. Overestimates 10. Few load sensors 2. More imbibition water
Cane production and harvesting Cane transport and supply Cane milling Environment
Quality Economics Labour Cross cutting
The percentage of factors that were perceived to negatively affect the performance of the four milling areas that were not reachable by the preliminary root problems were 13 %, 42 %, 63
86
% and 42 % for Eston, Felixton, Komati and Umfolozi, respectively. This indicates that the stakeholders’ interviews did not reveal all the root problems in the milling areas. It can therefore be argued that stakeholders’ interviews may not always reveal all the root causes of problems in a system unless the interviews are very detailed. The foregoing argument justifies the use of a generic network for developing networks for systems. Subsequent sections will show that more root problems can be identified from a network that has been developed from a generic perspective compared to the one that has been developed from stakeholders’
interviews alone.
Categories of preliminary root problems in SA milling areas
The preliminary root problems in the four milling areas can be grouped into three; viz. (1) those that were common to all the four milling areas, (2) those that were shared by at least two milling areas and (3) those that were unique to a milling area. Figure 7.11 shows a categorisation of the preliminary root problems in the four milling areas.
Figure 7.11 Categories of preliminary root problems in South African sugarcane milling areas
Common preliminary root problems in the milling areas
Four preliminary root problems were common to the milling areas; viz. (1) drought, (2) wind, (3) aged equipment and (4) less spending on agricultural inputs. Apparently, drought and
4 4 4 4
12 10 10 9
24
2 2
13
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Eston Felixton Komati Umfolozi
Number of source vertices
Name of sugarcane milling area
Unique Shared Common
87
wind are environmental factors that mainly affect cane production. On the other hand, aged equipment and less spending on agricultural inputs may be indicative of a high degree of uncertainty concerning the future of the sugar industry. Businesses are less willing to invest in equipment and production inputs when there is a high degree of uncertainty in an industry.
Shared preliminary root problems in the milling areas
Table 7.16 shows the shared preliminary root problems in the four milling areas. It is evident that most of the shared preliminary root problems fall under cane transport and supply thematic area. This may suggest that transport and cane supply factors may be some of the major root causes of poor performance in the SA sugar industry. However, these results must be treated with caution because the preliminary root problems are not yet ranked.
Table 7.16 Shared preliminary root problems in South African sugarcane milling areas
No. Name of vertex Eston Felixton Komati Umfolozi
1 Over irrigation
2 More mechanical harvesting
3 Low stacking efficiency
4 Few load sensors
5 Less stock stored at loading point
6 More stock stored at loading point
7 More in-field loading
8 RTMS implemented
9 Less stockpile
10 A-pan saturation
11 Rain
12 Strikes
13 Poor nutrition
14 HIV/Aids
15 Pay days
16 Lack of skills
17 Breakdowns and accidents
18 Less preventative maintenance
Cane production and harvesting Cane transport and supply Cane milling Environment
Quality Economics Labour Cross cutting
Unique preliminary root problems in SA milling areas
Table 7.17 shows the unique preliminary root problems in the four milling areas. In general, these results tend to agree with the milling areas’ descriptions in Chapter 6. For example, frost, high humidity, bullwhip in transport and upstream floods are some of the unique preliminary root problems at the Eston, Felixton, Komati and Umfolozi milling areas, respectively.
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Table 7.17 Unique preliminary root problems in South African sugarcane milling areas
Eston Eston (Continued) Felixton Umfolozi
1. Less seed cane 14. Hail 1. High humidity 1. Crop damage
2. Less land use plans 15. Other industries
2. Poor
communication
infrastructure 2. More cane rolling 3. Incorrect time for
applying inputs 16. Less farmers Komati
3. Less ripening 4. More runaway fires 17. Alternative industries/crops
1. Bullwhip in
transport 4. Lower topping 5. Overestimates 18. Land bond repayments
2. More mud
recycling
5. Vehicle schedule implemented
6. Cane diversions 19. High labour cost 6. Longer hauls
7. Standing trucks 20. Social grants 7. More imbibition water
8. Lower boiler capacity 21. Legal cutters 8. High evaporation rate
9. Lower dewater
milling efficiency 22. Poor knowledge 9. More upstream floods
10. More undetermined
losses 23. Poor training and management 10. High rainfall
11. Lower back-end
efficiency 24. Skills shortage 11. More silt on leaves
12. Cold 12. Higher sugar quality
13. Frost 13. More land claims
Cane production and harvesting Cane transport and supply Cane milling Environment
Quality Economics Labour Cross cutting