Impact of Lean Automation on Process Performance in Sugar Industries in Kenya: Case of Mumias Sugar Company

Abstract

Several challenges like high cost of production continue to affect the performance of sugar industries depicted by undesirable process efficiencies and productivity with average sugar productivity of 85%, which is below 92% recommended world average. This is attributed to lack of a holistic application of key components of lean thinking applied prior to adoption of advanced techniques like automation to reap maximally and more importantly enhance their process performance. More specifically, sugar industries in Kenya operate on conventional automation (LoA 4) among other factors for monitoring and controlling processes. Also, proper sensitization of lean automation and its impact on the performance of industrial competitiveness of sugar industry in Kenya is non-existence. This has resulted to uncompetitive and unsustainable process performance leading to collapse of Kenyan sugar companies. Lean automation is the technique of applying the optimum level of automation to a lean environment with a focus on robustness, reliability and minimization of complex tasks. With the objective of assessing the effects of lean automation through advanced LoA for full benefits, an experimental design in a case sugar industry was conducted to assess the status of real world circumstances for optimum level of automation. The indicators of lean manufacturing integrated with proper level of automation on sustained performance was assessed and compared, and the potential of lean automation simulated. Based on adaptive control, both LoA 5 and 6 recorded the lowest index of 0.21 compared to 2.1 for LoA 4 due to rapid changeover within a shortest time, thus LoA 5 and 6 ideal for real time monitoring. For quality in production, LoA 6 recorded the highest index of 84.96 compared to 84.03 and 81.29 recorded by LoA 5 and 4 respectively. Implying that, LoA 6 enables mornitoring and attainment of optimum performance of process parameter. Similarly, the continuous improvement index of 175.0, 430.0 and 430.0 for LoA 4, LoA 5 and LoA 6 respectively depicted a lower rate of production for LoA 4 at 100 T/h compared to LoA 5 and 6 at a rate of 360 T/h. For wastage reduction, LoA 6 recorded the least resource utilisation index of 2101.2 compared to 2103.6 and 3311.2 for LoA 5 and 4 respectively. This is as a result of minimum variations in the process parameters due to their real time monitoring and control with LoA 6. Finally, the overall process performance index for LoA 4, LoA 5 and LoA 6 was 65.69, 147.56 and 147.79 respectively. It is evident that lean automation which consists of LoA 5 (SCADA) and LoA 6 (DCS), provides the optimum AMT that the local sugar industry require to attain a sustainable and competitive process performance. Therefore, it should be considered for adoption and implementation within the sugar processing line as the appropriate AMT that will enable real time monitoring of process variables, minimization of resource wastages, quality production and continuous improvement in the sugar industry