Optimization of material flow at steel and tube industries,Uganda.

Abstract

Steel and Tube industries (STIL) - Uganda, faces challenges of varying throughput rate and the production of second quality products. The continued failure to enhance the process incurs high production cost, generation of rework, scrap and time wastages characterized by the long durations. The second quality products can however be sold at relatively low prices compared to prime quality products or recycled to generate new products. There is an extra cost associated with this additional processing and in turn it lowers the profit margin of the steel rolling mill. Therefore, there is a need to identify and address the gaps in material flow and thus minimize company costs in the long run and thus the need for research to inform the company stakeholders. The study utilized a descriptive cross-section design where both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed and Material flow analysis (MFA) procedure. Using both purposive and random sampling techniques, 15 respondents from SHED1 participated in the research. Systematic designed questionnaires which had closed ended questions were used to extract responses from the respondents interviewed from SHED 1. In addition, the guides to observation were also used in collecting data and QI macros were used to analyze the data and developed graphs using excel software. The main proposed solutions to optimize the material flow in tube manufacturing process were: (a) time inter-campaign. (b) Storage of raw-material and processed materials and (c) Local process time improvements and (d) optimize the output of tube mill. The results of this research as per root cause analysis, it was established that the main root causes of varying throughput included machines, men and methods. The Pareto analysis revealed that the vital few factors resulting to high NVA time at the tube mill section and slitting are inspection of pipes and slitting inspection. In conclusion, STIL should mainstream the emerging innovations through establishment of research and development department and the establishment of planned maintenance program/strategy. The amount this could improve the processes in terms of throughput, processing time and cycle time in production of these steel products using simulation model is worth exploring.