Meghna Innova Rubber Ltd.: Reduced 35-40% utility and steam consumption.

REGA association with

Meghna Innova Rubber Ltd.

Meghna has export-oriented tyre and tube manufacturing factories in Bangladesh. REGA Consultancy was hired in Jan’2018 to inspect the existing facilities and submit the comprehensive recommendation on procurements, space & the BMRE needed to produce LCV & TBB tyre. Secondly, audit Energy consumption and suggest saving potential. Also provide recommendations for improving operational efficiency, process, productivity and quality for existing products. Last but not least, provide details on developing new size 6.50- 14 tyre.

Here are a few major benefits of the Meghna Innova Rubber Ltd. By partnering with REGA Consultancy Services:

Challenges

There were many challenges in raw material storage area, mixing area, 4 Roll Calender, Extruder, TBM, Curing Press, Air Compressor, Gas power Generator, Boiler House, Quality Management System, safety compliance.

Two tyres: 6-50-13 & 6-00-14 had quality issues due to which they were not being sold in the market anymore.
High steam consumption which was almost double than the industries norms
High Air & Water Consumption.
Overall Hight Maintenance cost of the plant.
Lack of operational efficiency, process, and productivity

Findings

The Chief Consultant and Project Engineer visited the plant for 6 days. A very detail inspection was done on every production process from raw material storage to final product manufacturing and storage.

Both their tyres 6-50-13 & 6-00-14 were having issue with side wall separation and heating respectively. Awling of green tire is not proper.
Heating of tyre due to improper compound recipe and tread profile.
All TBMs have the provision for low and high air pressure for stitching roller but was not in use.
RB3 Building Machines air supply found block and do not have low and high air pressure provision for stitching roller.
Lots of defective steam trap. Nitrogen leakages of all curing presses.
Contamination present in Water Cooling line in Extruder. Air Dryer in Extruder Doesn’t remove water droplets from treads properly.
Air compressor do not have any auto system for unloading and stoppage.
Flaw in the design of Pricker Roll, Number of needles was not sufficient to pierce the fabric as required.
No defined organizational structure, No consistent and formatted records, No parameters set for daily performance.

Solution Provided

Corrective action was taken on these while onsite visit and these tyres were ready to be released in the market. Compound recipe, design specifications, die head design, curing parameters setting for Nitrogen curing, and QC were provided for this tyre and tyre 6.50-14 was manufactured on site. Operators and supervisors were instructed for good quality tire.

Improved and given tested compound recipe for the particular tyres.
Number of awlings (prickering) increased on side wall area.
Cross section of this tyre was brought to India for analysis and suggestions to improve tread profile was provided.
TBMs Air line cleaned, and modification was done for LP and HP air pressure.
All the defective steam traps were replaced to minimize cost of replacement. After correction of steam traps, condensate recovery from other shades to be connected in existing condensate recovery plant.
All Thermodynamic (TD) trap replaced with float Trap for long life and precision control.
Chart Recorder fixed for monitoring of N2 Leakage. Suggested to maintain daily production record.
By using PLC compressors unloaded and stopped as per requirement. This reduced power consumption and maintenance cost.
By changing the size of header pipe line (air supply pipeline) to 4 inch, minimized frictional losses.
Replaced all small size compressors with one or two high capacity compressors (400/500 cfm) to reduce power consumption & maintenance costs.
Required training to engineers and technicians were provided onsite by REGA Consultancy.
Integrated MIS to ensures that an appropriate data is collected from various sources, processed and analyzed for better management.

Results

Recommendations were provided for the shortcomings in the existing facility to overcome them and set compliance with proper quality management system. Required training to engineers and technicians were provided onsite by REGA Consultancy. Technical specifications were finalized for 4 roll calendar, dual extruder, tire building machines and curing press for future expansion project.

After corrective measures, the tyres: 6-50-13 & 6-00-14 were ready to be released in the market.
On implementation of provided recommendations, the steam consumption reduced by 45% . Hence one running boiler can be stopped.
Nitrogen consumption & Power consumption (Air compressor) reduced by 30%
On implementation of recommendations on machine operations and regular maintenance practices, maintenance cost reduced by 50% and defect & scrap percentage reduced substantially.

Meghna Innova Rubber Ltd.