MESSEBO BUILDING MATERIALS PRODUCTION
PP BAGS DEPARTMENT
PP bag is one of the department in messebo building materials production which is dedicated to
produce laminated cement bag for cement packing. In this department the process flow includes
three main areas. Extrusion area, weaving area and finishing(bag conversion) area. Currently we
do have some technical and skill problems to run the machines to the desire level. i.e. we have
mention some basic problems in our department which needs support from mekelle university.
And we believe that if we work together and have common understanding we can come up with
valuable solutions.
1. On training
a. All our machineries are plc oriented machineries . in this regard the department
have two main problems
i. There are deferent type of Plc s but at this time we do not have the
software. i.e. it is butter to asses the type of PLC and furnish the respective
software
ii. The second one is the skill gap . the man power have great skill gap in
PLC so we need the theoretical and practical training for our technicians to
fill the gap.
b. Except the circular weaving machineries the others work by pneumatic system.
But at this time we do have skill gap in this area to maintain our machineries .
c. There is huge managerial skill gap in the leadership. Therefore we are looking
trainings like resource management , Total maintenance system, planning and
monitoring to fill the gap in this area
2. Research areas
a. In our process line there is one bottle neck machine called lamination (coating )
machine. This machine extrusion machine which is used to laminate the fabric
using PP coating and LDPE material. This machine have many problems . some
of them are
i. This machine manufacturer company is closed at this time. Due to this we
are not able to get spare parts and technical supports
ii. Since the beginning the machine do not have operational, maintenance and
spare parts catalog manuals. As a result, It is creating many problems in
identifying and solving problems on time with the required quality.
Therefore a team should be established from both sides and make a study
on the machine to come up with solutions and to highlight the level of the
problem to the decision making parties.
b. In the finishing (bag conversion) line, there is one machine called SL-convertex
machine. In this machine we do have one basic problem. When the machine is
stopped due to power off or holey days it do not start operation directly on the
next day. We have to stay for four to five hrs and the consequence is high down
time . this shows during the machine off some programs may stack and as a result
it do not start production directly when we on the machine. So it needs to study
the problem and come up with solution.
c. The most common raw materials we use for our process line are PP raffia, PP
coating, LDPE, caco3 and coloring material. But in selecting this material we do
have skill and exposure problems. Our laboratory is not equipped with the testing
equipments. As a result we are suffering lots of problems in the process line. For
example in the tape processing machine the design capacity is to run 450m/min.
but the material we are using now the machine is running at average 300m/min.
(66%). The material we are using now is low speed material. So it needs to study
the problem and come up with the right solution.
d. At this time the scrap ratio in our process line is 10-12% and the bag defect ratio
is also 1-2%. And we are running accepting these ratios as norm. But we have to
study the global standard in plastic industries specially companies like ours and
reduce the scrap ratio in both process line and bag to the minimum standard level.
3. Consultancy
a. As we all know plastic materials are highly exposed to fire. And the consequence
is also very disaster. But when we see our company it do not have the right setup
to protect such problems. Therefore we are in need of professional consultancy to
bring the right solution.
b. The 10-12% scraps come from the process line go to a recycling machine to
convert to granulated materials. At this time we are selling the granulated
material to other companies. But we have two options to use this material
i. To re use in the extrusion line in some percentage with out affecting the
quality of the tape and the process.
ii. Instead of selling this as raw material we can convert it to other products
by adding values. This may require small investment but it will be
profitable. To do this all we need expertise which can consult us in making
this idea practical.
4. Certification
a. From the total number of employs about 80% are machine operators and quality
workers. Their educational back ground is in technical fields. To identify their
skill and give training we have to give them COC exam. But this time we do have
one problem to implement. The TVET office do not prepare OS (occupational
standard) manual for machine in our department. Therefore we need support from
Mekelle University to prepare this OS manual jointly with TVET and our
department.