I was a maize grit miller in Crush Milling Ltd in the past. There, we produced maize grit for breweries. We met production targets regularly except on very rare occasions when there was a major technical fault. Our daily production was 10 tons per shift. And we had two shifts, day and night, giving a total of 20 tons per day.
There was a time I visited a good friend of mine, Amah, in another maize milling plant, Jukas Milling Plant. He was the manager of that company.
In the course of our discussion he revealed that they were having a serious challenge in meeting their production targets. He said they hardly produce 5 tons in a shift.
"What do you think is the problem," I asked, showing a sign of surprise on my face.
"I can't really say whether my factory workers and supervisors are equal to their task," he replied.
"Have you interviewed the supervisors to know what problems they're facing?' I asked again.
"I have but, they have no convincing reasons," he said, and in the same breath, he sent for the supervisor on duty, Obike.
"How can you be producing only 5 tons in a day?" I asked no one in particular as we waited for Obike to come.
"Meet my good friend from Crush," he said, talking to Obike as soon as he came into the office standing, after greeting us.. "What is the main problem facing you, such that we cannot meet our production targets?"
"Sir, the main problem is blockages," Obike replied. He continued, "We spend a lot of time clearing the blockages in the conveying pipes, especially around the Roller".
"Blockages?" I asked. The question was not directed to anyone.
"Yes," they talk of these blockages all the time," Amah said. "They talk of blockages but, we've not been able to fix that".
"What ways have you tried to tackle the issue?" I asked.
"I had thought they were loading too much maize into the system but, the reduction of load has not helped," Amah replied.
Let them start all the machines without feeding the maize. Let's just stay here and listen to the sound," I suggested.
Obike left, and in less than five minutes, all the machines started. I listened to the sound of the mill for a while, and nodded my head. I noticed that the sound was not as deep as our own even though we had the same machine system.
"Let's get inside the mill to listen to the machines," I told my friend.
We went, and I told them to put off all the machines. They did.
"Start the Big Fan first," I said.
They started it and I listened to it for few seconds.
"Start the Roller," I said.
They started it and I listened to it for few seconds.
"Now, start all the machines in the production line."
They did and after listening for a minute or so, I asked them to put them off, with the Big Fan being the last.This was after I put my palm over one conveying pipes to feel the pressure of the air there.
When we went back to Amah's office I told him the problem was with the Big Fan. Its bassy sound was not as deep as it should, meaning that it was not generating enough air to carry the maize in production line as fast as it should.
"What do we do?" Amah asked, almost helplessly.
"Simple," I said.
"Simple?" Amah questioned, raising his voice a little and appearing as if I didn't mean what I said.
"Yes, simple," I repeated.
"Please, be serious let's talk business."
"You see, the point is that the Big Fan is not generating enough air pressure to carry the maize in the pipes, to transfer them from one machine to the other.
"What you do is to reduce the pipes feeding the Roller, and the ones taking away products from the Roller, so that the amount of air available for the Roller will be concentrated in few pipes for them to convey the products effectively.
"You need only two pipes (not four as you have there) to supply the Roller, and two (instead of four) to take away products." I concluded.
This reconstruction was carried out and their story changed for good. It was a remarkable shift from the ugly past. Not only did their production rate increased significantly, the flow of products became smooth, and the factory workers who were suffocating under the strenuous task of clearing blockages breathed fresh air and had respite.
Image from https://pixabay.com/photos/corn-kernels-food-maize-grains-264520/