CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

1.1 INTRODUCTION

The moving of materials from one place to another can be time consuming and expensive. The
material can be damaged and even worse. It is important that the moving material be smooth and
in direct fashion, with the proper equipment under the full control of those undertaking it. There
are several factors that must be taken in to consideration when a material handling system is
designed. To mention some of them:

 form of material at point of origin (whether It’s in liquid gas or solid state)
 characteristic of material
 original position of material
 final position where the material is needed
 the available material handling equipment
 from and position needed at destination
 integration with other system equipment
 degree of control required

Material handling add expense and is not a value adding activity by definition and the duration it
takes or the handling process, the frequency with which it is done, the distance that the material
moved and overall cost showed be reduced.

The most efficient way to handle material is strait steady flow. The use of mechanical
equipment instead of human power is usually but not always desirable depending up on the
duration of the specific task, frequency, load factor and characteristics of material. When
equipment is used maximizing its utility by using the correct equipment proper maintenance and
following safety guidelines are important consideration.

For proper material handling equipment selection, analyzing the material the rout it must take
from point of origin to point of destination and the available equipment showed be considered.
The path material take through a plant process can be shown on a flow chart and flow plan.
These tow show only distance and destination but also time require load and other information to
suggest which type of handling equipment can be needed.

Material handling can be divided in to classification of action related to several stage of the
process. For some materials their first stage is directly related to their form in natural state. In
other case the first stage would be its receipts at a plants receiving dock.

The general field of materials handling may be technically divided into five distinct
functional divisions or spheres of activity and into three main groups according to
their design features. The five distinct functional divisions or spheres of activity are:
1. Bulk handling
2. Unit handling
3. Packaging
4. Warehousing
5. Carrier Handling

1.2. OBJECTIVE

Material handling as such is not a production process and hence does not add to the value of the
product. It also costs money; therefore it should be eliminated or at least reduced as much as
possible. So our objective is to identify the problem of the company related to material handling
and to solve this problem in order to make the company competitive and efficiently to utilize
resources i.e. manpower, machines, space, time and cost etc. by doing this the company can
achieve competitiveness and customer satisfaction.

Specific objective

The specific objective of this project is to identify a problem in an industrial plant and attempt to
provide a solution to that problem by applying knowledge of material handling equipment In the
following manner.

 Identify the problem

 Application of area of material handling equipment
  Identify the equipment that are in use by the industrial plant chosen for this project.
 Selection of material handling equipment
 Design and problem analysis

1.3 METHODOLOGIES AND SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

The scope of this project is to focus on material handling of MOHA Soft Drinks Industries. More
emphasis is given to the safety and handling of material flow in the plant located at summit. The
study is limited by the geographical locations of the plants. MOHA Soft Drinks Industry S.C.
which owns 6 plants and 1 Co-Packer or franchises (Summit Beverage). There are plants of the
company located in different regions of the country which are not considered in this particular
project. Therefore, the result from the project does not reflect the reality in other plants of the
company concerning the issue of material handling safety. The project has faced difficulty in
obtaining sufficient information to understand what has been done so far in this regard.

Material handling is not value adding activity that costs money; therefore it should be reduced to
make the company competitive and efficiently to utilize resources like manpower, machines,
space, time and cost. By doing this the company can achieve competitiveness and customer
satisfaction. To identify the problem of the company related to material handling and to solve
this problem we employed the basic data collection technique which involves particularly direct
observation and interview.
CHAPTER TWO

BACKGROUND OF THE ORGANIZATION

Mohammed Hussein Al-Amoudi (MOHA) Soft Drink Industry S.C was formed and registered
under the commercial code of Ethiopia on the 15th of May 1996. This company was formed after
the acquisition of four Pepsi Cola plants located at Addis Ababa (TekleHaymanot Plant and
Nefas Silk Plant) Gonder and Dessie which were purchased by Sheik Mohammed Hussein
AlAmoudi on the 18th of January 1996, through BID which was tendered by Ethiopian
Privatization Agency. The hand-over of the factories was finalized on the 4th of April 1996

2.1. ESTABLISHMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

Pepsi cola traces its origins to 1898 when CalebBrad ham, a pharmacist in New Bern, North
Carolina, created a curative drink for dyspepsia called Pepsi Cola. Pepsi Cola later referred to
simply as Pepsi, was a mixture of carbonated water, cane-sugar syrup, and an extract from
tropical kola nuts. To sell this product Brad ham formed the Pepsi cola company in 1903. In
addition to selling the drink at drugstore. Bradham bottled Pepsi for sale on store
shelves.

At this time, bottling was a new innovation in food packaging. However, due to major increases
in the price of sugar, Brad ham began to lose money on Pepsi and in 1923 he filed for
bankruptcy. The Craven Holding Company of Craven country, North Carolina, purchased the
company’s assets.

In 1931 Charles G.Guth of the Loft Company in New York City purchased Pepsi cola from the
Holding company. Guth had difficulty getting the business going again, but increased sales by
selling larger bottles at an unchanged price. By 1933 Pepsi cola was sold by 313 franchised U.S
dealers bottled in the United States, Cuba, and England, and sold in 83 countries.
FOUNDATIONS AND EXPANSIONS
There are currently seven operational units of Pepsi plants in Ethiopia among them here are
ordered in their chronological order:

1. Nefas Silk Plant

It is the first Pepsi cola plant in Ethiopia and was established in 1966
as a share company with an initial capital of 1 million birr. The capacity of bottling line at
that time was 20,000 bottles per hour. In 1986 the plant was renovated and expanded to a
capacity of 50,000 bottles with twin fillers, and total revolution and expansion investment
cost was Birr 6,647,944.
2. Tekle Haymanot Plant
it was established in 1961 as “Saba Tej” share company,
but nationalized in 1975 replacing the olds line and started producing Pepsi cola, Mirinda
, and team brands in January 1978.
3. Gonder Plant
Before nationalization, was owned by private individuals,
produced Wilk-Fite water. After nationalization, took place it started producing Snap
Cola and Snap Orange. Since the demand of these products was going down, the
Ethiopian beverage Corporation made a new feasibility study on Pepsi Cola product
which got the blessing of the government to erect the currently operating plant in 1986.
4. Dessie plant
Dessie Soda Industry was established in 1952 by an individual owner. In
1979, the plant discontinued other Soda products and started producing Pepsi Cola,
Mirinda, and Carbonated Tosa Water.However, due to old age and poor technical
condition of machinery and equipment, the production of soft drinks was discontinued
starting from October 1996 and the plant totally shifted to bottling of carbonated Tosa
water. In the meantime MOHA has set a
crush program to rehabilitate or relocate the existing factory so as to reactivate the soft
drinks production as well as increase volume of the mineral water product to a level
where it can meet the demand of both products in the region.
 5. Hawassa Pepsi Cola Plant
A new Pepsi Cola plant with capacity of 36,000 bottle per hour
of 300 ml is planted in Hawassa which can cover the demand of soft drinks of the
southern region.
6. Bure Plant
7. Summit plant
This is located around cmc and this is one of the largest plant which is found in Addis
Ababa. And founded much later after the two plants found in Addis Ababa. It contains
the largest store where raw materials necessary for Addis’s demand is provided from.

2.2. MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

The manufacturing process starts from the collection of the emptied glass bottles from different
part of the city to the plant. Once the empty bottles reach the processing plant the remaining is
the processing which takes place on the bottle. This is summarized as follows:

1. Workers will be standing around a roller conveyor and put the crates which contain the
empty bottles. The workers are shifted every 30 min. so that they can take a rest.
2. Once the crates are fed to the conveyor they are carried to a machine called a De – Crater
whose main function is to take out the 24 empty bottle and make it ready for the next
procedure.
3. After the bottles and the crate are separated they are carried to the next step which is
cleaning by two separate conveyor belts to the actual cleaning section.
4. The bottles are fed to a very large, two story machine called Pocket Carrier whose main
function is to cleanse the bottles using pressurized water, steam, caustic soda. It has a
capacity of taking 80 bottles at instant.
5. Once the bottles are cleansed in the pocket carrier it is deposited at the second section of
the production area, which is partitioned from the DE cratering section.
6. The next stage is the light inspection area, at this sections workers will be sitting in front
of beam of fluorescent light so that they can easily identify if there is any incomplete
cleansing or any broken or fractured bottles so that they remove it on a cart. Which in
latter process is taken back to the cleansing process again or recycling of the bottle.
 7. Once it is assured that the bottle is safe for filling it is transported to the section of bottle
filler where the actual product is poured into the bottle. This machine is one of the
expensive unit in the plant.
8. After the soft drink is filled the next stage is where cork is sealed on to the bottles by a
machine called Crown Corker.
9. Then finally the product is RE crated and is ready for distribution. The same is true for
the PET the only difference here is that the plastic bottles are not recollected and hence
doesn’t require high level of cleaning and inspection are not necessary expect this it’s
quite similar with that of the glass bottle filling process.

2.3. COMPANY ORGANOGRAM

MOHA operates with a Head Office located at Addis Ababa (located around Bole) led by a Chief
executive Officer (CEO) appointed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Hierarchically,
the CEO is accountable to the Chairman of the Board.

The Division Heads at the Head Office mainly deal with conceptual activities to support the
CEO. The Plant General Managers are delegated with autonomous right to direct, organize, plan,
control, and administer the overall operation of their respective plants within the limit of their
approved budget.

The summit plant which we have specifically have visited has seven departments which enables
for ease of control and guidance. Thes are listed as follows:

a) Human Resource (HR)

b) Finance
c) Procurement and store
d) Production
e) Quality control and food safety
f) Technical department
g) Market and sales
2.4. GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION

As we have tried to mention in the establishment and development section MOHA Soft drinks
have seven operational units currently. But they have told us they studying two places to
construct a new plant so that they can reach wider population. Amongst the seven operation units
are:

1. Nifas Silk Plant

2. Tekle Haimanot Plant
3. Summit Plant
4. Gonder Plant
5. Dessie Plant
6. Bure Plant
7. Hawassa Plant

Hawassa and Bure started operation after acquisition.

2.5. MAIN PRODUCTS

MOHA Soft Drinks Industry S.C being a company which emphasizes product quality, it intends
to sell its wide variety of products depending on the use and targeted customers. The particular
type of products are: -

1. Mirinda (Orange flavor)

2. Mirinda Tonic

3. Mirinda Apple

4. Pepsi cola (Cola flavor)

5. 7 up (Lemmon flavor)

6. Tosa Carbonated water (not mineral water)

7. Bure Kool Water

8. PET Bottles Soft Drinks and Kool water

9. Keg Soft drinks and Kool Water