NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING

ENGINEERING

STUDENT NAME: PHIRI JASINTUMBA M. M

STUDENT NUMBER: N02131222Y

DESIGN & CONTROL OF MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS [TIE 6111]:

ASSIGNMENT: MATERIAL HANDLING

LECTURER: Eng.S.MHLANGA

DUE DATE:10 March 2022

1 Analysis of Facility layout
1.1 Background
Nestlé is one of the world’s largest food processing companies. The company was founded by
Henri Nestlé (1814-1890) in 1866 in Switzerland. In his lifetime, Henri Nestlé worked as a
chemist, businessman and inventor. He launched his first infant formula Farine lactée Nestlé’s
milk food in 1867.The first Nestlé factory was located in Vevey in Les Bosquets quarter. The
nest was chosen as the logo of the brand. Nestlé means little nest in German, a place where one
is harbored from danger, a symbol of security, nourishment and a sense of family. In 1875, the
Nestlé Company was bought by a group of businessmen who created a limited society. From
then onwards the company has seen some mergers with other companies to become a leading
world class food processing company. Nestlé employees 253 000 people in 487 factories in 84
countries and its products are on sale worldwide. US investors hold over 30% of the capital. Paul
Balche has run the company as the C.E.O since 1997 and the headquarters have remained in
Vevey, Switzerland.

Nestle is a leading food, beverage, nutrition and wellness company. It is a worldwide leader in
product categories such as soluble coffee, infant nutrition, bottled water, chocolate and malted
drinks, chocolate and confectionary, condensed and evaporated milk, as well as ice cream. Nestlé
Zimbabwe is a subsidiary of the multinational corporation, the Nestle Group. The organisation is
presently divided into three zones namely Asia Oceania and Africa (AOA), Americas (AMS) and
Europe (EUR). These zones are divided into regions with each region being led by a market
head. Nestlé Zimbabwe was established in 1959 and its operation began in 1961. Nestlé
Zimbabwe (Private) Limited is one of the operating companies under Nestlé East and Southern
Africa Region (ESAR) Limited. Nestlé Zimbabwe has four subsidiary branches in major four
cities, Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare and Masvingo. The Head Office is based in the Central
Business District of Harare and the Harare Southerton factory supplies products to the local
market and exports to South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi.

The Harare Southerton factory at the moment is running only two of its main plants, Milks Plant
and the cereals Plant. The Beverages Plant & Culinary Plant were shut down at the peak on
inflation in the country in 2008. The milks Plant was temporarily shut down as well due to the

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same effect as cost of production became too high and unstable economic conditions made it
almost impossible to operate. In response the organization reformulated most of its products that
are still being manufactured to date and substituted imported materials for locally available ones
for business sustainability and continuity. Some products that could not be reformulated where
halted processing and the company now imports those products from its factories in South Africa
and distributes them locally in Zimbabwe. Such products include Nan, Milo, Maggi, Condensed
Milk.

Hard competition is experienced both in the external and internal market. The local market is
been surged by cheap imports from Zambia that come in the face Delight brand. Also the
insurgence of other Nestlé products from south Africa are finding their way into the local
markets posing a threat to the existing market share that nestle Zimbabwe processes. Other
competitors in food industry include;

 Kellogg’s
 Delight
 Bokomo
 Alfa and Omega

1.2 Products variety and volume

The layout design generally depends on the products variety and the production volumes. Four
types of layouts are commonly referred to in existing literature, which include: fixed product
layout, process layout, product layout and cellular layout.

The layout implemented at Nestle Zimbabwe is the product layout mostly suitable for high
production volumes and a low variety of products. The facilities are organized according to the
sequence of the successive manufacturing operations that follow in this case batch preparation
coming before drying and then mixing follows with filling at the end of the line.

For this assignment, this milks plant layout and processing procedures will be used. Cereals Plant
reference will be made where its production systems/process best exemplify a specific aspect in
question.

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 Milk Egron
Milks Daystore
transfer to Millk TS Scheffers SprayDry mixing Filling &
Batch preparation
scheffers Condensing plant
enhancing drying and Packing
Plant filling

Figure 1:Production Sequence at Nestle

1.3 Material handling systems

A material handling system ensures the delivery of material to the appropriate locations. Material
handling equipment can be conveyors (belt, roller, wheel), Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV),
robots, etc. (El-Baz, 2004). Tompkins, et al. (1996) estimated that 20-50% of the manufacturing
costs are due to the handling of parts and then a good arrangement of handling devices might to
reduce them for 10-30%.

When dealing with a material handling system, the problem consists of arranging facilities along
the material handling path. Two dependent design problems are considered: developing the
facility layout and selecting the handling equipment. The type of material-handling device used
at Nestle Southerton Factory ranges from conveyors, blowers, hoists, and trucks.

1.3.1 Conveyors
Flat belt conveyors are used in the filling lines whereby they convey product from the Filling
machine to the belts before the case sealer and palletized on the case sealer. On the filling line
conveyors are also used to send product to the PSA.

1.3.2 Forklift
The forklift is used to dispatch raw and packaging materials to the production department.
The unit load concept is utilized in pallet forms for ease of handling as well as economical
benefits. The forklift also carries finished product from the PSA to Storage in the warehouse.

1.3.3 Hoists
Hoists are used in handling the bulk big bags that are supposed to be loaded on to the filling
machine at approximately 500kg big bag. Figure 4 below shows the Big bag hoisting station

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 Figure 4: Big bag hoisting station

1.3.4 Blowers
Blowers use pressure differential to move bulk material from one region to another. It is most
used in the conveyance of powders and small; flake size bulk materials. at the plant blower line
used in both cereals and milks plant. In the milks plant it is used to convey sugar from the
milling station to Egron Spray Drying tower were the sugar is mixed with bulk
Everyday/Cremora milk powder.

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2 Facility Layout Problem and Solution

Nestle Zimbabwe ltd has a facility layout problem that require implementation of the tools that
have been gathered so far in facility and flow analysis layout problems. The current problem is
that the company is embarking in an exercise to increase output for their Southerton factoory as a
result they require a more optimal layout with zero nonadjacent loads. The activity relationship
diagram for the proposed change is as shown in Fig 5 below

Figure 5: From to Proposed

Proposed solution to the problem above will be to determine the closeness rating for the
proposed layout as given previously. The following steps will address the problem

a) Analyze material flow

b) Define activity relationship chart
c) Construct activity relationship diagram
d) Construct space relation diagram

FROM/TO TOTAL
FLOW
1&2 27
1&3 82
1&4 15

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 1&5 120
1&6 49
2&3 0
2&4 0
2&5 68
2&6 0
3&4 21
3&5 8
3&6 74
4&5 30
4&6 0
5&6 53
Table 1:Analysis of Material Flow

The highest value is 120 between section 1 and 5, if we divide by 30 resulting in the following
ratings

 0 loads moved is rated as U

 1 to 30 is rated as O
 31 to 60 is rated as I
 61 to 90 is rated as E
 91 to 120 is rated as A

b) Activity Relationship Chart

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 Figure 6: Activity Relationship Chart

c) Activity Relationship Diagrams

Next step will be to use nodes to represent activities and these nodes will be connected by line
indicating the closeness rating. We have:

 Four lines showing A

 Three lines showing E
 Two lines showing I
 One line showing O
 No line showing U
 Wavy line showing X

Rearrangement was needed to bring the sections closer based on testing to come up with optimal
layout and non-adjacent loads resulting in figure 7 below.

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 Figure 7: Initial arrangement for Sections

Figure 8: Rearrangement based on closeness rating

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3 Material handling Problems and Solutions
The main problems from MH system at Harare Factory can be categorized into five main
challenges that is Reliability, Buffer levels, Delivery Quality, Information Flow and Safety issue.

3.1 Reliability and Buffer Problems

Material handling ineptitude is the single most common source of production inefficiency; when
workstations cannot receive the material they need, when they need it, productivity suffers
drastically. Materials from warehouses are pushed to assembly lines in accordance with the
assembly schedule provided by the processing department beforehand. However, in practice, this
approach does not operate well since assembly schedules vary regularly due to a variety of
factors such as missing components, client requests, and changes in shipment dates, among
others. Furthermore, there is no real-time information link between the assembly department and
the warehouses to discuss last-minute modifications and alter the material supply plan to the
lines. As a result, most of the time, warehouses pick and deliver the erroneous orders, while the
ones that are genuinely needed sit on shelves. This system inefficiency generates waste by
increasing wasteful material moves inside the facility, reduces delivery performance, and causes
production line stoppage.

The Nestle’s material supply was based on a push delivery mechanism. This resulted in several
concerns, including increased buffer levels, wasteful product transfer, production line pauses,
and inefficient use of shop floor space. Several approaches, such as the pull system and the JIT
idea, have been developed to address these issues. Standardized working practices, for example,
were suggested. Above all other factors, real-time information sharing is fundamental to increase
the delivery performance and achieve lower buffer levels on shop floor. Pull-based material
handling system local information provides ability to pull the necessary parts; and thereby, avoid
the undesirable activities in the shop floor. ingo et al., (2007) and Hassan (2006) have alluded
that Having an inefficient internal handling system leads to having high levels of inventory
stocks which is kind of a waste. It was found that there are high inventory levels of materials in
the department because the material handling system is lacking is some aspects. And this is the
one of the most challenging issues the department is facing. This is in line with what Baudin
(2004) stated in his findings that companies are faced with the challenge of choosing between

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having a quick material handling system and low levels of inventory in sections. As such the
issue is to balance the two. In giving a solution to this issue Domingo et al., (2007) stated that
Just in time (JIT) inventory management has proved to be an effective tool in this situation. With
Just in time (JIT), an organization holds the right levels of inventory in entire logistics system.
And this usually results into decreased or low levels of inventory in an organization.

3.2 Delivery Quality

Quality may be accomplished on the shop floor by getting the correct materials, under the proper
circumstances, and using the right processes. Similarly, improving material delivery quality and
performance is dependent on employing the proper methodologies with standardized stages. As a
result, time-motion studies and value stream mapping must be employed for order-picking and
material delivery operations to observe material handling stages and assess process timings. The
most serious issue observed was a lack of consistency in material handling operations, which
hinders steady throughput time of material supply and produces waste, making material delivery
timetable inefficient. To eliminate waste, created client orders must be tracked and assessed
based on value-added and non-value-added operations. Finally, the methodologies of process
mapping and value-stream mapping were classified.

3.3 Information flow:

There was no link between the sections in terms of real time information. Information
communication between the sections of the department is carried out on phone or paper. An
information system may be compared to an octopus with tentacles that travels everywhere
throughout a corporation, and as such has a significant influence on inventory levels in an
organization (Fitzpatrick and Ali, 2010). It was discovered that there is no information
connectivity between the computerized sections of the department. Communication is carried out
manually, on paper. This creates a slew of issues in and of itself. This is consistent with
Stevenson and Spring 2007) referred to this. They claimed that by putting in place an accurate
information system, inefficiencies in material handling systems might be reduced.
Instantaneously. This aids in the seamless flow of information inside a company. The difficulty
with information systems proved to be the most difficult challenge encountered. This promotes
the efficient flow of information throughout a company. The department's most difficult task was
the one with information systems. When an inefficient internal material handling system is in

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operation, the flow of information is frequently disrupted. To offer accurate and relevant material
and information flow, an accurate system that can identify materials in real time is required (Lins
1998; Spring 2007; Hassan 2006)

3.4 Safety Issues

Vallet (1999) emphasizes that by enhancing employee safety and ergonomics through material
handling equipment, productivity on the shop floor can be increased significantly. Hassan (2006)
points out the importance of safety while designing MHS, and states that overall safety and
ergonomics define system’s success and they should not be neglected. The case firm showed that
the intense traffic usage of the forklift poses a safety risk to the workers and has resulted in
certain personal accidents. Hassan (2006) has added to this. Argued for the inclusion of overall
safety in the material handling system because the system's success is dependent on its A
company's workers will suffer if ergonomics is not prioritized. There would be injuries and
accidents (Vallet, 1999). To find a solution, Hassan (2006) claimed that an efficient internal
material handling system is the solution to this challenge reduces worker injuries while also
ensuring that materials and equipment are in good condition

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