UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, MAURITIUS

Assignment Grading
Name: __________________________

Student ID: ________________

Module

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Assignment Title

Assignment 1: UNITED SUGAR COMPANY

Date : 4/5/2015

Word Limit: 2000 to 3000

Due: 18/5/2015

Basis of Assessment

Basis of Grade

Presentation and style

10

Evidence of Reading/Application of theory

20

Use of applied example (in context)

15

Logical development/Structure of argument

20

Development of insight

20

Summary or conclusion

15

Total

100

Actual Mark

Please attach this sheet to the front of your assignment

ASSIGNMENT FORMAT
1.
Word limit: Your assignment (excluding index, cover page, list of references
and appendices) must not exceed 3000 words.
2.
You assignment must include a Table of Contents Page.
3.
Text: Font Arial or Times Roman (12), spacing 1.5 lines
4.
All text must be justified at each margin
5.
Your answers must include any theories, charts, tables, appendices or exhibits
necessary to support your answers, analysis and recommendations.
6.
References At least 10 sources of reference (textbooks, journals, press reports,
internet, etc.) must be included in your list of reference.
7.
The Harvard System of referencing must be used.
Plagiarism will be heavily penalised.
Mode of submission: Please submit a/one hard copy to your lecturer Mr Temen Ganoo.

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT CASE STUDY

Read the following case study carefully and answer all Questions.

UNITED SUGAR COMPANY

Introduction
The Savola Group is a Saudi public listed company managing a wide portfolio of businesses. Established in
1979, Savolas first business was in the edible oil industry in Saudi Arabia. Savola's sugar business began in
1994 by establishing a refinery of 500,000 tons annual production in Jeddah, now expanded to over 1.2
million tons with exports and distribution across the entire Middle East region.
In 2008, the Savola Group established the United Sugar Company of Egypt (USCE) in the Ein AI Sokhna
Port, Egypt. The USCE refinery produces 750,000 tons of sugar annually. It supplies sugar products for other
industries such as beverages and sweet manufacturers in bulks ranging from 50 kg up to 22 tons. In addition,
USCE produces sugar in retail packs that vary from 1 kg to 10 kg having the famous brand name "AI Osra" in
Egypt. This represents 50% of the total refinery capacity.
Sugar Production
Raw sugar is imported from the countries with excess raw capacity such as Australia, Brazil, and countries in
South Africa. Raw sugar is unloaded by grab cranes from containers. Raw sugar is received at stage 1, where
sugar is weighed to determine the amount of tax to be paid and is then moved by front loaders and bulldozers
into 120,000 tons flat stores using underground conveyors.
Stage 2 is the storage of sugar. Large storage facilities are used to allow for economic purchase of large
amounts of sugar when market conditions are attractive. Underground chutes are then used to transport the
sugar to the next stage.
Stage 3 is the first step in refining the raw sugar. Received sugar is made up of sugar crystals that have a thin
film of impurities on the surface. Raw sugar is mixed with hot syrup which softens that film. This mixture is
fed sequentially into centrifuges. Centrifugal force separates the raw crystals from the syrup. The sugar is
sprayed with water for a few seconds during spinning, which helps to remove the last traces of impurities.
Clean raw sugar crystals from these centrifugal machines are then dissolved in water to produce partially
purified liquor juice.
To further remove impurities and to obtain a better colour for sugar, liquor juice is mixed with lime in a
second refining step at stage 4. The mixture is then passed through filter presses working in parallel in which
the liquor will be purified. This removes about half of the color, together with virtually all the fine debris and
solid matter. The resulting pressed liquor is then filtered twice to completely remove the colour from the
liquor. The de-colourised solution is known as thin sugar juice.
After removing the impurities from the sugar, different processes are implemented to separate the sugar from
the sugar juice. An evaporator is used at stage 5 to remove some of the water prior to crystallisation. The
resulting syrup, which is known as thick sugar juice, is about 74% solids.
The thick sugar juice is fed into large vacuum pans where the sugar crystals are formed at stage 6. The syrup
is heated indirectly by steam to about 80C, where it boils owing to the vacuum applied on the vessel. The use

of vacuum and reduced temperature helps to minimise the colorization of sugar during the process.
At stage 7, the mixture of sugar crystals and syrup is centrifuged to separate the white sugar crystals and
molasses. The separated molasses is sent to another crystallisation stage as it still contains significant amounts
of sugar that can be retrieved. The separated white sugar crystals discharged from the centrifuges still contain
up to 1 % moisture.
Stage 8 removes the remaining moisture percentage by passing the sugar into a rotating two-stage dryer,
through which filtered, heated air is passed. The moisture level of the sugar at this stage is about 0.06%.
Further drying occurs during conveying to the silos or packing areas and in conditioning silos. Finally, the
sugar produced will have 2 grain sizes; fine grains that represent 95% of the total production and coarse
grains.
Stage 9 is the packaging and storage of sugar, where sugar is packed into bulk tankers (22 tons), flexible
intermediate bulk containers (1.25 tons), small industrial bags (50 kg), and retail packages (10 kg, 5 kg, and 1
kg). Bagged sugar is either moved directly using conveyors to the warehouse or is palletized and moved using
forklifts.
Quality
The company has acquired different certifications for quality assurance and management such as the OHSAS
18001:2007 for occupational health and safety, ISO 22000:2005 for food safety, and ISO 9001:2008 for
managing its quality systems to ensure customer satisfaction.
The quality of sugar is checked at many points within the production flow, with automatic online analyzers at
some points. Product compliance to specific standards is mainly with respect to the colour and uniformity of
crystal sizes.
Maintenance
Maintenance in United Sugar is mainly planned maintenance different types such as preventive maintenance,
instrument calibration, shutdown maintenance, condition monitoring, and project modification.
The main maintenance program implemented is the preventive maintenance program; however, there are still
some unplanned maintenance jobs owing to breakdowns and emergencies.
Emergency Jobs
Emergency jobs are carried out as per the Emergency and Breakdown procedure. There are 4 job priorities
based on the jobs' level of severity. A job with priority (4) is coded as EMERGENCY and is carried out
immediately; it is related to personnel, plant, and product safety. Jobs with priority (3) are URGENT cases, and
require work to be done in the next 24 hours to prevent further damage or plant shutdown. A job with priority
(2) is work that needs to be performed within the next 72 hours, and is considered a NORMAL case. A job with
priority (1) is work with duration of less than 2 hours and has no effect on equipment history, and is called a
MINOR case.
Students are expected to describe and use relevant diagram, models and theories to support

their arguments wherever appropriate.

Questions
1.

Briefly describe sugar production, from raw sugar to refined sugar crystals.
[20 marks]

2.

Briefly describe the types of maintenance efforts in United Sugar.

[15 marks]

3.

What are the different types of material handling equipment used in USCE?
[15 marks]

4.

Give a brief description of how USCE is maintaining the quality of its products.
[20 marks]

5.

In what ways are United Sugars customers most likely to judge the quality of its

6.

What are some ways that the operation manager could increase productivity?

products?
[15 marks]
[15 marks]

[Total marks 100]

NOTE: FOR EACH OF THE FACTORS OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT THAT YOU COME
ACROSS TO ATTEMPT THE FOLLOWING:
1.

STATE ITS PRINCIPLE/THEORY.

2.

GIVE A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FACTOR.

3.

DESCRIBE ONE TOOLS OF THE FACTOR THAT CAN BE USED IN THE CONTEXT
OF THE CASE.