Department of Mechanical Engineering

Work Integrated Learning P2 Report

Name: Lungelo Treasure MwelaseStudent No.: 20401998

Company: Unilever SA (Pty) LtdDuration: 02 November 2010 to 23 December 2011

CONTENTS

Description Page

Acknowledgement 3Abbreviations 3Introduction 4Maintenance work 4Sap work 5Stores handling 6TPM (Line 5 & Stores) 6Drier 6 soap feed pump replacement 7Refurbish Glycerine Cooling Tower 9Install electrical mixers to effluent tanks 11Remove brine tank (in progress) 11Laundry soaps pumps monitory (in progress) 11Assistant Manufacturing Engineer 12Future proposals 12Conclusion 12Declaration 13

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Acknowledgement

I would like to extend my utmost gratitude in making my experiential

learning program possible to the following:

The Durban University of Technology for their patience and guidance

throughout the course. For the theoretical and technical skills I have

acquired during my studies.

Unilever, for giving me the opportunity to complete my training. Our

Engineering Manager, Mr V Ellero and our Assistant Manufacturing

Engineer, Mr S Moonsamy, which I’ve been reporting to throughout my

time.

All my colleagues throughout the different disciplines in the factory but

most importantly the Maintenance team where my practical knowledge

really appreciated.

AbbreviationsSAP Systems Application Product

BOM Bill of Materials

RMS Raw Material Storage

WO Works Order

w.r.t. With respect to

P & ID Pipe & Instrument Diagram

GA General Arrangement

PPM Pre Planned Maintenance

TPM Total Productive Maintenance

CEP Capital Expenditure Proposal

5s Seiri - Organizing

Seiton – Neatening

Seiso - Cleaning

Seiketsu - Standardisation

Shitsuke – Sustaining

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INTRODUCTIONUnilever is an international brand which produces various home,

personal and food products. The training was done at Maydon Wharf

Soaps Factory, which is situated in Durban. The Soaps factory is

divided into two sections producing Laundry soaps and Toilet soaps.

The factory runs 24 hours a day across three shifts. The appointment

was for P2 as the learner had already held his P1 from previous

employment. Rules and regulations were clearly explained to the

student while the induction was also carried out as per company

procedure prior to appointment. Due to the learners’ discipline it was

seen appropriate that the learner report to the Mechanical Packaging

workshop.

Most of the learners’ time here was spent on extensive maintenance

work but the main objective of project work was also achieved, this

arrangement also proved productive to the learner as a lot is learnt on

maintenance work.

Maintenance workA large portion of the program was spent on maintenance work

together with the maintenance team. A lot is learnt in this discipline as

one gets hands on experience of servicing and overhauling machinery.

This section is also advantageous as it lets one put theory into practice.

Below are a few highlights of the work done.

Soap manufacturingMostly worked on:

PPM and overhauling pumps

Driers

Heat exchangers

Cooling towers

RMS area

Pipelines and flexible

Highshear mixers

Condensers

Reactors

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Soap packagingMostly worked on:

PPM on packing lines

Breakdowns

Spares brought in workshop

Conveyer belts

Carousel area conveyers

Workshop housekeeping and 5S

Sap workThe learner was tasked to help the maintenance planner in updating

the BOM on the SAP system. These are different parts that make up a

plant or component. The Legacy system (as it was called) had to be

discontinued and the Unity SAP (which is used by Unilever globally)

was to be introduced. Basically the BOM from the Legacy system had

to be copied to the Unity SAP while also verifying the BOM.

The learner was also exposed to

making and closing notifications

different types of notifications

converting notifications to WO

editing and closing off WO

stores stock taking (gather info on spares)

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Stores handlingSome time was also spent on learning more about how the stores

department operates. Stores control also uses the SAP system to

handle stock. For every spare drawn, the team leader for that particular

department is responsible for making a re-order through their work

centre. When a certain number of orders are reached, the system puts

the order through to the supplier for delivery. Should the supplier delay

then the store man follows up the order. When receiving spares, it is

necessary to count them against the order and then sign for them. The

invoice then goes to the store man for payment process. From time to

time it helps to perform stock taking, this is where spares are counted

physically then compared to what the system registers. This is helpful

to recover any unaccounted spares in time as the major stock take is

done once a year, where every spare has to be accounted for.

TPM (L5 & Stores)TPM is a very important integral in Unilevers’ production. Every

employee has to be involved in TPM. Personally TPM is seen as a very

productive way of living, either be at work or casually. The learner was

placed to be part of production Line 5 and Stores department. The

learner acted as a circle leader for Line 5, the inconsistency and

attitude amongst shifts and constant rotation of personnel makes it very

difficult to maintain TPM improving on the Line. In the stores

department the learner was called upon mostly to help implement the

improvements that had been in place. The main improvement was to

put Perspex doors on the shelves and paste descriptive pictures of the

spare in that particular place. This is also helpful in the sense that even

if one doesn’t know the stock number of the spare, it can be seen on

the template. A pilot area was availed where all the changes and

improvements are to be made before concluding with the whole

department. It was also thought that a catalogue containing part

number, description and shelf number of all the spares in the store to

be put together and made available to everyone. This is still work in

progress.

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Below are the shelves before and currently:

Before After

DRIER 6 SOAP FEED PUMP REPLACEMENTIntroduction

The general task of this plant is to dry the soap in the stock-tanks and

send it through to the laundry soaps production lines. There are three

driers currently doing the job with the other two already on the

proposed pump unit.

Previous pump and problem statementThe pump previously used is a Trilobe pump which frequently caused

problems with its inability to pump the soap and reoccurring jamming.

This is not good as it has to be overhauled frequently.

Problems that were generally found with the pump

Clearance on the lobes was too fine thus jamming the pump due

to the foreign particles that came with the rework soap.

Viscosity of the soap too thick for the pump, the pump used to

run for a very short period of time before repeatedly breaking

down.

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Very costly compared to the proposed pump and its

maintenance and overhaul take time to conclude.

Basically it’s the wrong pump for application.

Installed pump and its advantagesThe new pump is a Blackmer NP2 vane pump.

Cost effective, about a fifth of the Trilobe.

Maintenance cost is good as it is cheap to replace pins and vanes.

Very compact and simplified pump as there’s not much to do when

overhauling.

Can handle semi-solid soap*.

Requires little power than other positive displacement pumps when

handling viscous fluids.

Can handle high viscosity shear sensitive fluids due to the unique

design of its sliding vane rotor.

DiscussionThis project was more of a practical assignment for the learner to prove

his trade using tools. The learner had to use necessary tools to make

the assignment a success.

Firstly the old unit had to be removed, after proper isolation it was

removed in separate parts as it was a big unit. The coupling was

separated to remove the pump and the gearbox was separated from

the motor. The base was also removed and the surface was ground as

it was previously welded. On arrival of the new unit, all measurements

were taken for new mounting and material to be ordered. Instead of

building a plinth as a base it was seen better to modify and use the

base removed from the previous unit, this also proved cost effective.

The base plate and shimming bars were then marked off and drilled as

for the new unit. The unit was then placed in position and a welder was

called up to tack it down. Then it was time to call upon pipe fitters to

modify piping accordingly to the new unit as the delivery sides of the

two pumps were different.

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Thereafter an Electrical Engineer was called upon to help commission

the pump on the 14 March 2011.

Below are the two scenarios:

Before After

FeedbackThe pump was initially run with non-standard vanes which didn’t last

long, as expected. After excessive wear they were replaced with

standard ones, which are a stock item. The pump has been running

successfully although it is not used as often as the other ones in the

plant, as it’s primarily dedicated to the Germiguard variant.

REFURBISH GLYCERINE COOLING TOWERIntroduction

The general purpose of this plant is to provide cooling water to the

driers as the temperatures here can get to very high measures; it also

plays a major role w.r.t. vacuum in the system. This cooling tower

hasn’t been in use for some time as the glycerine plant was

discontinued after some improvements in the raw materials.

DiscussionCooling tower maintenance has mostly been done by C/T specialists,

Wasser Cooling Tower. On some occasions it was done internally by

Artisans, which took some time despite having a fairly moderate

number of Artisans. Contact with Wasser was made regarding the

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project but before calling them in it was seen first have a look at the

tower to see just how much work needs to be done. Using experienced

personnel, the tower was examined so as to know exactly what needs

to be repaired and avoid paying for nothing.

Checklist:

Open each cell and check condition of fibre glass, screens and

dirt that could restrict flow

Check discharge bay of each cell for leaks and condition of

supporting structures

Check main cold well for leaks

Check valves for passing

Cleaned and drained the cold well

Check cooling fans and motors for performance

Check pump motors for performance

Check condition of louvers

After checking all of the above it was observed that the tower was still in

good condition and not much was to be done. Wasser wasn’t required at

this time. The main major work to be done here was pipe work.

Work done:

Recondition fibre glass on 2 cells

Replaced corroded channels on 1 cell

Replaced louvers

Sent out 1 fan motor that wasn’t working for overhauling

Replaced 2 impellers which had broken blades

Installed pumps which had been stored in the workshop

Re-new paint on the entire C/T

Pipe work was handed over to Projects Dept; a layout was discussed,

finalized and put into place.

FeedbackAlthough the C/T is not yet in operation, the project is seen as a

success as it is due for commissioning soon. It is strongly suggested

that PPM be done (internally) on cooling towers as a lot of money could

be saved as repairing any defects found on the tower is not included in

the specialists’ quote.

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INSTALL ELECTRICAL MIXERS TO EFFLUENT TANKS (ATTACHED)

REMOVE BRINE TANKWhile working on the brine holding tanks, the Industrial Engineer

Trainee was also working on making some space around that area.

Thereafter it was raised to track brine usage using one tank in

operation and the other one blanked out. Thus far the plant has done

well with one tank without any complaints from the operators or anyone

in general. Looking at the duration that the plant has operated with one,

it can be safe to say that removing one tank will not cause any harm to

the factory.

After removal of the tank then the task of repositioning Brine pumps

should commence. The tank should not be destroyed though as it can

be used elsewhere, e.g. to help in the recently proposed condensate

recapture project.

LAUNDRY SOAPS PUMPS MONITORY Initially the learner had been more hands on with only the drier 6 pump

unit, but the task of monitoring most, if not all the L/S pumps was

raised. These pumps work in relation with the production lines; they

pump what’s required at that time. They have variable motors to alter

flow rate at any given instance, which is controlled electronically by

operators. It is easy to monitor drier feed pumps as they have flow

meters, a breakdown can be caught before it happens. As for the rest

of the pumps in the plant, one can only record causes and frequency of

breakdowns.

A monitory spreadsheet is attached to illustrate the above.

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ENGINEERING FOREMAN Some of the learners’ time was also spent on basic exposure to the above

mentioned role. Basically in this role one is responsible for all the artisans

in the department. This role is pivotal in helping the learner grow w.r.t.

people management and general management skills. This role requires

someone with passion and patience as one is required to deal with almost

everything and a lot of different personalities.

Below is just a few responsibilities situated with this role:

Prepare, layout and give out maintenance tasks to the team

Act as the main link between production and maintenance

Prioritize jobs to maximize production

Work with the Maintenance Planner to prepare jobs in advance

and down plan for any outstanding jobs

A lot of paperwork and supplier contact is also done here

Offering solutions and decision making is also vital in this role

This role was very intriguing and challenging as a lot has to be dealt with,

most of which at once.

FUTURE PROPOSALS• Remove one Brine holding tank and reposition brine pumps

• Reroute condensate pipe to effluent and use Brine tank to

collect condensate

• Remove cooling water lines on production Line 10 extending

from plodder to re-sealer, as they are not being used anymore

• Refurbish Drier 4 Cooling Tower

CONCLUSIONFirstly, Unilever is a very evolved and up to date organization; personal

growth is eminent with the structure and standards in place. Secondly,

the time spent and knowledge gained at Unilever is priceless and the

constant improvements in the factory prove informative hence also

keeping one up to date with the technology currently being utilized.

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Finally, it would be encouraging to see more students being exposed to

the opportunity that the learner experienced at Unilever SA (PTY) Ltd.

DECLARATION

I ___________________________ hereby declare that I have read through

the report being submitted by ____________________________ and agree

with the contents being disclosed there-in. The contents of the portfolio are a

true reflection of the work that was carried out by the learner.

__________________ _________________

Mentor’s Signature Date

Students’ Signature Date

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