NEW CANE SUPPLY MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES ENHANCE YIELD AND RECOVERY Complexity of harvesting planning, cane supply scheduling, yard balancing and transportation can be solved by using state of the art planning and scheduling computer programs. Coordination during execution can be achieved using modern communication tools. The data required for such planning is already captured as part of existing cane management systems. Putting scheduling and coordination processes in place would ensure continued supply of freshly harvested cane to the plant. WASTAGE REDUCTION IN CRUSHING AND REFINING WILL EXPAND PROFITABILITY The analysis of crushing and refining operations focused on the mill operations and identifies several opportunities for increasing sugar recovery and reduce plant operations cost: 1. Reduce non cane %: The non-cane % in machine harvesting was found to be significantly higher than manual harvesting. Machine operations were not standardised nor were the machines working effectively. The non-cane measurement practices were also not found to be robust. A focused on implementing robust practices in machine maintenance, and non-cane management, including measurement, incentives for farmers and CSI tracking by fields are straightforward solutions but proper execution is key. 2. Improve plant process control: While the plant has implemented a DCS system for measuring and controlling process parameters, it was found that process control mechanisms were inadequate. More than 60% of total process variables were found to have significant deviation outside the specified limits. These variance were resulting in sugar losses in molasses. Implementation of a well-defined process control approach for identified critical process parameters would improve sugar recovery without impacting costs. 3. Reduce machine down-time: Maintenance cost was one of the largest opex of the plant. Poor maintenance processes were also resulting in down time impacting crushing capacity. Establishing a TPM based robust maintenance practice regime would reduce downtime and improve performance. 4. Reduce spillage: The spillage losses of sugar were significant in the mill. A waste reduction program targeted at identifying all points of wastage and developing counter measures would reduce unwanted wastages within the plant. 5. Improve process productivity: The productivity in the retail packaging section was poor. Carrying out time and motion study and improvements in packaging process would improve the productivity of workers. 6. Dispose ineffective assets: The plant was found to have significant surplus equipment that was not used. These had resulted from plant expansion programs that couldn’t use existing equipment. Carrying out a detailed capacity assessment exercise to identify surplus machines and develop a plan to use or dispose them would ensure capital being released from unusable assets.
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