The maintenance and servicing of sawmill machinery in some selected sawmills in Kumasi and Mim

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1994-09-03
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Abstract
Wood processing in sawmills uses machinery which are bound to fail at one time or the other, hence there is the need for a scientific approach to sawmill machinery maintenance to reduce the occurrence of sudden failures to the barest minimum. This will ensure high product quality, customer satisfaction and keep down overall production costs. This study seeks to gain insight into sawmill machinery maintenance and contribute to its improvement by: 1) Determining whether or not some sawmill machinery or components are prone to failure, 2) Investigating the causes of sawmill machinery breakdown, 3) Finding out the maintenance policies and practices existing in the sawmills, 4) Evaluating the reliability of sawmill machinery and systems, and 5) Determining the cost of prolonged breakdowns in terms of sales revenue loss. The methods employed were desk study, questionnaires, interviews, and field work. The desk study was carried out to compile relevant literature. Questionnaires and interviews were used to gather information from mill engineers and production managers about the management, operational and technical functions of maintenance; and certain aspects of system reliability. Field work involved observation of maintenance procedures, making of reliability block diagrams and collection of reliability data. The bandmill was found to be the critical element in the sawmill system. This is because its failure has the greatest effect on system effectiveness. Machinery failure could be broadly attributed to improper operation, poor maintenance practices and random shocks due to the environment. The maintenance policy used by the companies is a combination of preventive and corrective (breakdown) maintenance. Reliability data was available in only one of the five sawmills studied Even there, it lacked accuracy and depth, this limited the evaluation of machinery and system reliability. In the analysis of sales revenue loss, it was found that, a downtime of 8 hours could cost an estimated DM.14, 700 in sales revenue if Wawa was the main species processed at a rate of 30m3/8hr.
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A thesis submitted to the Board of Postgraduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Science in Wood Technology and Management, 1994
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