Gypsum/Plaster Factory

[AliZK]

I have been working in this factory for a few months now. I am a fresh graduate. so by all means I do not have any authority what so ever. The factory produces about 30k sqm of boards per day. what really irritates me is that the "superior" people here are using sqm/minute.
I have never seen this in my time studying. I have never seen area flow rate. please guide me as I do not really have much experience.
Feel free to ask any questions, and if you really would like to help me we could communicate further into the problem.

 

[Latexman]

Sqm/minute seems reasonable to me. Just because you have not seen sqm/minute in a textbook does not make it meaningless. The factory needs a way to measure and communicate the productivity that makes sense to everyone. Simple and direct is best. Sqm/minute seems a logical choice.

Are all of the boards the same width, or are various width boards made from time to time?

Good luck,
Latexman

Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[AliZK]

well depending on the production plan. currently they are on the 1200mmX2400mmX12.5mm. they do have other boards such as the 1220mmX1830mmX12.5mm. All I could think about is that if they are planning to produce the 9mm or the 7mm, the amount of additives should also be different, is it not?
they only increase some of the additives which are introduced to the mixer manually. the mixer is set only at 9.5 tons per hour and cannot be increased further.
what I think I should be doing is redo the calculations on a volumeteric flow rate, as in cubic meter per minute.

 

[mbt22]

What problem are you solving, and how will it make the owners more money?

Matt

 

[Latexman]

Ah ha! Length, width, and thickness vary! Does density change too?

Good luck,
Latexman

Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[Latexman]

Would a concept like board foot be useful? It's really a measure of volume.

Good luck,
Latexman

Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[AliZK]

@mbt22, the CEO of the company is an old wise man. let's just say he is a family friend. the more I tackle a problem the more I make the CEO happy. thus, my parents happy. and there's nothing like the feeling of your own family being proud of you. even though it's a minor issue. but small things matter over here in the Middle East. and as a Chemical Engineer I feel like it's my job to tackle such issues. I do not really want to get too personal on this. but you asked and I answered.

@Latexman the slurry density does vary from 1.15-1.22 kg/m3(I'm not sure if it's the right unit they use). I doubt that they do this precisely. they are using a plastic cup, then weight it, then divide the weight over the plastic cup's capacity. it may sound experimentally fine but the percentage of error here I have to say is between 5% to 15%(human error, cup not properly handled, etc)

 

[Latexman]

I'm sorry, I meant the density of the finished boards. Is the density of the finished boards changed on purpose to meet different specifications?

Good luck,
Latexman

Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[bimr]

You are working with a product that is sold on a unit basis of square meters. Why should that trouble you that the production machinery is rated on the basis of square meters per minute.

A simple spreadsheet program can easily convert the production capacity of square meters per minutes to determine the raw materials requirements in units of kg/sec.

 

[AliZK]

@latexman no, the density does not matter whatsoever in the final product.

@bimr fair enough, but different compositions have different effects on the board. let's say the moisture level, the bonding of the board, the flexural strength. lots of factors can get affected due to variation of the consituents, is it not?
they are not sold on a unit basis of sqm. they are sold on a unit basis of number of boards or stack. each stack has 62 boards. so it does not matter if the production units is sqm or kg/sec.

if, for example we were producing papers. then the sqm/min does not bother me. but the boards have a certain thickness and it varies from board to board.

 

[mbt22]

Sorry AliZK, I should have been clearer. Making a change costs money, even if it is in peoples time to think about it and understand what it is. If there is an existing way of doing things that gets product out the door, meeting the spec and everyone understands what is meant, why change?

If there is a shortcoming of the current method - perhaps a fraction get the wrong amount of additives, or you can't easily measure margin because you don't know the volume of raw materials - then the shortcoming that you are trying to rectify should tell you the what measurement you should be using.

Matt

 

[bimr]

Production machinery is customarily rated in unit capacity.

for example, consider a bottling machine in a food plant. Production rating = bottles per minute.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CD4QtwIwAg&url=http://

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heMs...=z_e9RKi7iXL7bhY4Fk_4bQ&bvm=bv.62286460,d.b2I

Food machinery is rated in bottle per minute despite the fact that the food content varies with production run and the product is delivered in case or pallet loads.

Your plant is making gypsum board in M2 quantities. Rating production in cases per year, pallets, stacks etc. does not make any sense when each pallet may contain different quantities, each board may be a different size, width etc.

The common denominator in production capacity is the M2 produced.

http://calculatelca.com/wp-content/themes/athena/images/LCA Reports/Gypsum_Wallboard.pdf