Track: Automation and Agility

Abstract

The University of Johannesburg and various stakeholders launched a community engagement project in Gwakwani village in the remote area of Limpopo province, South Africa, where a solar powered bakery was deployed. To ensure the sustainability of the project, bakery staff was educated and trained in the processes of baking and business management processes. One of the biggest challenges around the initiative is that the bakery staff has no prior knowledge of how to operate and manage a small business. This paper presents the development of a bakery management system to assist the staff in the day-to-day management of the bakery. It discusses the human machine interface developed for potential lower literacy levels and experience of the bakery staff in mind. This paper presents the development of the user interface of the management system as well as results from a preliminary training session on how to use the management system.

Keywords: community engagement, decolonized human machine interface, management systems, rural bakery