Machine replacement in cooking oil bottling process

Abstract

This project is a machine replacement project in cooking oil bottling process in a company. The objective is to plan and implement the replacement of the bottle making machine. The bottle making machine needed replacing for two basic reasons that were its insufficient production capacity which caused the bottleneck in the bottling process and high cost per bottle because of inefficiency. After the preliminary requirements of the project were identified, machine feasibility study was then done to sort out all the issues and to justify the selection of the option. Four options were considered. Justifications for option selection were based on financial comparison, using equivalent uniform annual cost, as well as intangible factors, using weighted scoring method. The selected option was to install a new machinery with some plant layout improvement. The implementation was carried out with project management approach. Post implementation audit was caried out to determine the success of the project. After implementing the project, the new machinery achieved the expected capacity to remove the bottleneck in the bottling process to make it meet the demand for the next five years. The production cost was lowered by 20%. The cost reduction was a result of the better efficiency of the new machine and the improved operation which reduced the handling of the bottles by 55%.