Browsing by Author "Chindondondo, Brian"
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- ItemAnalysis of a time based and corrective maintenance system for a sugar producing company(South African Institute for Industrial Engineering, 2014) Chindondondo, Brian; Nyanga, Lungile; Van der Merwe, Andre Francois; Mupinga, Tapiwa; Mhlanga, SamsonENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Southern Africa sugar producers’ market is under threat from Brazilian sugar, with the latter’s sugar landing in Southern African countries - Zimbabwe in particular – at 75% of the selling price of local producers. This paper outlines an investigation of the current maintenance systems of a Zimbabwean sugar producer and its shortcomings, with a view of optimization. Research has shown that maintenance can contribute between 15 to 75% of production costs, thus playing a critical role in product pricing and consequently competition. Maintenance records and interviews to maintenance personnel from the company were used to extract data relevant to the study. A bottleneck asset in the production line was chosen as a subject to measure the impact of the current maintenance system in cost terms. The study shows that the company is using a hybrid of time based and corrective maintenance. The paper also shows that the current maintenance philosophy resulted in downtime of eighty (80) hours on the subject asset over a four (4) year period, that translated to an equivalent of USD1.9 million in potential revenue lost; which downtime could have been avoided with better maintenance methods. The paper concludes by recommending the introduction of Condition Based Maintenance on the subject asset as an alternative to optimize the maintenance function of the company.
- ItemDevelopment of a condition based maintenance system for a sugar producing company(South African Institute for Industrial Engineering, 2014-07) Chindondondo, Brian; Nyanga, Lungile; Van der Merwe, Andre Francois; Mupinga, TapiwaENGLISH ABSTRACT: With globalisation taking centre stage in almost every market; traditionally monopolistic manufacturing companies in Zimbabwe are struggling to compete with international companies whose operations are optimised. This paper focuses on maintenance practises of a Zimbabwean sugar manufacturer with an aim to improve the company’s asset care plans. The company’s current maintenance philosophy and its shortcomings on certain equipment in the plant were identified together with the associated annual maintenance costs. A pareto analysis on the equipment’s breakdown history was used to determine the conditions that can be monitored using Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) and experiments to establish the feasibility of monitoring these conditions were done. A cost benefit analysis of the company’s customary time based and corrective maintenance to a proposed CBM system on the subject equipment was used to show a probable significant reduction in annual maintenance costs should the CBM be implemented. The paper concludes by recommending an implementation matrix for the proposed CBM system with its three main elements of data acquisition, data processing and maintenance decision to introduce an optimised maintenance system that will reduce overall production cost thus bringing an opportunity to compete globally for the local sugar manufacturer.