Browsing by Author "De Alwis, AML"

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    The Customer satisfaction on the railway infrastructure in Sri Lanka: a study on railway stations
    (Ceylon Institute of Builders - Sri Lanka, 2023-07-21) Perera, MAKN; Nazeer, FS; De Alwis, AML
    Railway infrastructure is one of the core items of railway systems, which ensures the quality and efficiency of the service. As it appears, the railway infrastructure in Sri Lanka is not well maintained. This underperforming situation can lead to a considerable negative impact on the satisfaction of railway users. Hence, conducting an in-depth investigation on customer satisfaction in railway stations under railway infrastructure in Sri Lanka is a timely requirement. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the present customer satisfaction level at Sri Lankan railway stations. Specifically, this study focuses on improving customer satisfaction at railway stations based on the services and facilities provided. A comprehensive literature review has been conducted to review the railway infrastructure, Sri Lankan Railways (SLR), facilities and services provided by SLR, and factors that affect customer satisfaction. Further, data was collected through the distribution of a questionnaire survey among a sample of railway users. The quantitative research approach was undertaken to derive reliable outcomes with the support of RII analysis. As per the key findings, customer satisfaction on railway stations remains in a low to medium level based on several factors. The key issues recorded under the facilities and services of railway stations are delays in train arrival, uncleaned condition, and lack of data sharing.
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    Industry 4.0 based sustainable manufacturing model for apparel industry in Sri Lanka
    (Ceylon Institute of Builders - Sri Lanka, 2022-06-24) De Alwis, AML; De Silva, N; Sandanayake, YG; Waidyasekara, KGAS; Gunatilake, S
    Global industrialisation creates many challenges in achieving the balance of sustainability pillars called social, economic and environmental. Manufacturing is the largest subsector of industrialisation. Hence the sustainability of manufacturing greatly affects the sustainability of industrialization. Thus, the research community and industry professionals give attention to the Sustainable Manufacturing (SM) concept. Further, they have realized the significance of technology when focusing on SM. Accordingly, they have aligned the path of achieving SM with the recent manufacturing technology called “Industry 4.0” (I4.0) for more innovative and efficient outcomes. The developed countries and some of the developing countries drive towards the I4.0 concept to achieve SM. However, in terms of the Sri Lankan context, there is no clear evidence to demonstrate the integration of the I4.0 and SM. But there are few studies based on implementing I4.0 for apparel manufacturing in Sri Lanka. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the present status of the application of the I4.0 concept towards achieving SM in apparel manufacturing in Sri Lanka by selecting three large scale apparel manufacturing case studies. This was tested using a model which links the I4.0 pillars and the key opportunities for three dimensions of SM from nine technology pillars observed through previous studies. The findings from the case studies proved that there is a huge gap in the application of I4.0 for SM in the Sri Lankan context.
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    Maintenance inventory management in the healthcare facilities in Sri Lanka: a study on current issues and possible improvements
    (Ceylon Institute of Builders - Sri Lanka, 2023-07-21) Edirisingha, AS; Nazeer, FS; De Alwis, AML
    Effective inventory management in any organisation is essential as it aids in keeping organisational resources under control while managing time and expenses to enable efficient operations of facilities. Inventory management in maintenance management is crucial as this service is found to be essential to streamline maintenance management activities effectively. However, maintenance management in healthcare facilities is considered a top critical function as it has to maintain and ensure patients' quality of life and life safety. Hence, to have smooth maintenance management, well-performing maintenance inventory management is required. Accordingly, this study aims to evaluate current maintenance inventory management practices in healthcare facilities in Sri Lanka to uplift the practices by identifying the current context. A qualitative research approach was adopted. The three case studies were conducted with semi-structured interviews with three professionals in healthcare facilities. The findings of case studies present existing issues in maintenance inventory management such as unpredictable demand, high administrative expenses, lack of awareness of inventory handling, lack of support from management, hiding slow-moving items, and quality issues. The study will emphasise the possible improvements that can be implemented to overcome those identified issues, particularly for healthcare facilities.
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    Smart village concept for rural area development in Sri Lanka: a study on implementation, benefits, and challenges
    (Ceylon Institute of Builders - Sri Lanka, 2023-07-21) Ayodyani, IVM; Nazeer, FS; De Alwis, AML
    The Smart Village (SV) concept can be mentioned as a potential enabler for rural area development by integrating smart technologies. Many developed countries adopted the Smart Village concept to develop their countryside for example “Digital Village” in Germany, the “Cowocat rural” project in Catalonia, etc. This has brought a key advantage called improved quality of rural life and public services. But in the Sri Lankan context, the evidence of the successful implementation of Smart Village for the development of rural areas is almost nil in parallel there is no significant development seen in rural areas. Thus, the study aimed to investigate the implementation, benefits, and challenges of using the Smart Village concept for rural area development in Sri Lanka. The mixed research approach was undertaken to accomplish the aim. A comprehensive literature review followed by semi-structured interviews was carried out with 07 experts knowledgeable in the Smart Village concept. The data were analyzed through the RII method and the manual content analysis. The results demonstrate, that the most implemented Smart Village feature in Sri Lanka is smart education, however, the most required Smart Village features are listed as smart connectivity and smart agriculture. Further, the technologies like ICT, AI, IoT, GIS, 5G, and smart grid can be adapted to raise the Smart Village concept covering agriculture, education, transportation, health, and infrastructure was presented. However, lack of network cooperation, difficulties in raising funds, and transitioning to low-carbon economies, were found to be the top key challenges in implementing Smart Village in Sri Lanka