Supply chain management (SCM) not only supports a company's goals and information sharing, but also supports a company in meeting and satisfying customer needs better than its competitors. Managers are faced with many barriers in implementing SCM. Implementing SCM in a developing country, such as Iran or Malaysia, is still considered to be a major challenge due to several barriers. It is essential for all managers to understand these barriers and try to minimize them and improve competition strength. This article presents the SCM implementation barriers between Iranian and Malaysian companies and suggests significant variations between these two countries regarding the barriers faced. This article also compares and highlights the results obtained from a literature study. A survey questionnaire and structure interviews were used to gather the data needed. The questionnaire was distributed to 600 automotive companies in Iran and Malaysia and a total of 132 replies were usable. The data were analyzed using SPSS software. The survey revealed that both Iranian and Malaysian companies suffer from a lack of expertise and lack of awareness about SCM, which are major limitations to implementing SCM. However, Iranian companies showed that lack of information and awareness about SCM is another major barrier as compared to Malaysian companies. The followup interviews were conducted with 10 Iranian and five Malaysian managements to investigate proper methods to counter these obstacles. The findings of this research provide invaluable information to all researchers who investigate the barriers of SCM implementation and to company managements who desire to implement SCM and to assist the development of an effective strategic plan as well as to design programs to overcome the SCM barriers.

Problem statement:The purposes of this study are twofold: First, to recommend a range of angles for driving posture comfort from measurement of participants and second, to investigate the relationships between drivers' anthropometric characteristics, comfortable postural angles and seat adjustment. Approach: Forty five participants were involved in the study. Both anthropometric data and postural angles were measured and recorded by using the photographic technique and analyzed further using software. During the study, each participant was required to sit on the driver's seat in his or her preferred comfortable driving postures. Images of the participant's driving posture were taken after 5 min he or she has been in the driving position to allow him/her to adapt with the seat environment and fabrics. The seat adjustment data were measured manually after the seat is adjusted for comfort by the participant. Prior to that, 10 anthropometric data of each participant was measured and recorded. Data on comfortable driving postural angles, anthropometry and seat adjustment were analyzed statistically with Pearson correlation using the SPSS software. Results: From the study, a range of angles are proposed based on the participant's perception on comfort. The ranges of comfortable angles for Malaysian citizen proposed shows significant different between Caucasian and Korean populations. The relationships between the comfortable postural angles, anthropometric data and seat adjustment were analyzed and discussed with several outcome shows that taller participants preferred a driving posture with their arms outstretched in order to achieve comfort, participants with bigger body dimension have a tendency to sit farther back from the steering wheels and smaller participants prefer to sit closer to the steering wheels with a slightly greater trunk thigh angle. Conclusion: The result obtained and discussed in this study can be applied in the driver's car seat design and construction to ensure comfort and safety.

This paper presents the factors contributing to a bus driver's performance. A bus driver's performance is important in ensuring the smoothness and safety of a journey. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The target population was the bus drivers along the east coast of Malaysia (Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan). The data for the research was collected by using a questionnaire.

Oil palm workers perform daily activities that exposed themselves to various ergonomics risk factors. To harvest oil palm fruits from tall trees, specific technique is required. To quantify the ergonomics risks factors, postural analysis was conducted using Quick Exposure Check (QEC) system. It was found oil palm workers were exposed to many postural problems while performing harvesting and collecting fresh fruit bunch (FFB) activities. However, to quantify the actual load, many limitations of the QEC have been revealed such the missing of legs assessment, the crude analysis for arm and shoulder, no pushing and pulling assessment and the biased may be existed due to the workers' perception on the ergonomics factors. Thus, it can be concluded that QEC system was not suitable for conducting postural analysis during harvesting in oil palm plantation especially in tall trees due to the above limitations.

Trains and cars are the most important modes of transportation throughout the world. In highly developed countries, trains have become essential for human use as the most well-known form of public transportation, whereas the car plays a significant role in prompt human travel from one place to another. The high magnitude of vibration caused by trains and cars may cause health problems in humans, especially low back pain. The aim of this study was to evaluate and validate the values of daily exposure to vibration A(8) and the vibration dose value (VDV) in passengers travelling by train and car and to assess the effects produced by this exposure on the human body. Moreover, this study introduces a newly developed whole-body vibration measurement instrumentation system. One train travelling from the east coast to the south of Malaysia was chosen to conduct the study. Whole-body vibration exposure was measured over 8 hours, which is equal to the duration of normal occupational exposure. One car was chosen randomly and whole-body vibration exposure was measured for 5 min and 10 min. All the data were computed using an IEPE(ICP TM ) accelerometer sensor connected to a DT9837 device which is capable of effectively measuring and analysing vibration. The vibration results were displayed on a personal computer using a custom graphical user interface (GUI). Matlab software was used to interpret the data. From the results, the whole-body vibration exposure level could be determined. It can be concluded that the whole-body vibration absorbed by the human body is enhanced when the magnitude of the vibration exposure experienced by the passengers increased. This was shown by the increased values of daily exposure to vibration A(8) and VDV calculated in the study.

Problem statement:The study investigated the prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) among workers who perform the Manual Material Handling (MMH) task in an automotive manufacturing plant in Malaysia. A cross sectional study was carried out among the workers in an automotive manufacturing plant. Approach: Respondents were selected through random sampling. Then, a Body Parts Symptoms Survey (BPSS) data sheets were given to the workers to obtain the prevalence of MSD among them. Later, a few workers were selected based on the In-House Clinic (IHC) visitations data for interviews. Results: Five hundreds workers showed that the highest prevalence of MSD was Low Back Pain (LBP). It was found from interviews of 17 workers who had 3 or more visitation times to the IHC that the main reason of the ergonomic risk comes from the task that they perform. It was found that the highest prevalence of MSD was lower back pain, followed by pain at feet/ankle and pain at upper back regions. Almost one third of the study populations claimed to feel uncomfortable to their upper back and lower back. Conclusion: It was concluded that the back pain the workers are experiencing may be a result of their ignorance in the correct and ergonomic techniques in materials handling.

During their whole working time, taxi drivers are usually seated. Additionally, longterm exposure to whole-body vibration while driving may lead to diseases and adverse health conditions such as lower-back pain. The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between measurable whole-body vibration and lower-back pain. This study was conducted on two highways: Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway and the North-South Highway. A tri-axial seat accelerometer was placed at the point of contact between the driver and the seat pad. The assessment of whole-body vibration measurement is according to ISO 2631-1. Excessive whole-body vibration has been evidenced as leading to lower-back pain. Taxi drivers are recommended to drive no more than the allowable exposure limit. In this study, the whole-body vibration does not exceed the allowable exposure limit. Therefore, the taxi drivers in this study do not have lower back pain.

Problem statement: Thermal comfort has a great influence on the productivity and satisfaction of indoor building occupants. The exposure to excessive heat during work may cause discomfort and contributed to low productivity among workers. Malaysia known with its hot and humid weather where in most of the survey study published indicated that workers in Malaysia automotive industries had exposed to excessive temperature while working. The study investigated the thermal comfort level experienced by workers at Malaysian automotive industry. Approach: The study had been conducted at one automotive parts assembly factory in Malaysia. The human subjects for the study constitute operators at tire receiving section of the factory. The environment examined was the relative humidity (%), WBGT, air temperature and radiant temperature (°C) of the surrounding workstation area. The environmental factors were measured using Babuc apparatus, which is capable to measure simultaneously those mentioned environmental factors. The time series data of fluctuating level of factors were plotted to identify the significant changes of factors. Then thermal comfort of the workers was assessed by using ASHRAE thermal sensation scale by using Predicted Mean Vote (PMV). Further Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied (PPD) was used to estimate the thermal comfort satisfaction of the occupant. Finally the PPD versus PMV were plotted to present the thermal comfort scenario of workers involved in related workstation. Results: The trend of relative humidity curve from the graph also indicated the increasing level of discomfort. The radiant temperature observed seems consistent during the study while there was decreasing of WBGT start from afternoon due to the rain. The study revealed that the PPD value of 54% of the workers population at the workstation are likely to be satisfied with thermal comfort at this station while the PMV index from ASHRAE indicated the value 1.07-1.41. Conclusion: The empirical study from the PPD and PMV index indicated that workers working at this were influenced by the heat. The less of PPD value from 80% of the population satisfied with the thermal comfort showed the environment factors that were not good for worker while the PMV index showed the area of work is slightly warm