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Water Conservation in SMEs through. Small and medium enterprise. Importance of Water in the Manufacturing Processes. Water Use in Manufacturers as: Primary products: beverages, water related drinks, canning etc.
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Water Conservation in SMEs through Small and medium enterprise
Importance of Water in the Manufacturing Processes Water Use in Manufacturers as: • Primary products: beverages, water related drinks, canning etc. • Means to obtain products, washing process, cleaning operation, heat treatment, cooling operation etc.
Wastewater generated from manufacturing process • High amounts of wastewater with low pollutant loads. • Low amounts of wastewater with high pollutant loads. • .
Lack of water conservation policy in SMEs • Water is considered cheap. • Some washing process and cooling water do not need treated water. • Without environmental regulations or weak enforcement
Water Conservation • Water conservation in large scale factories was normally taken into consideration during the planning and design stage. • SMEs are neither equipped with new technology, nor properly planned during the design stage, water conservation seems to be a difficult task for them.
GP methodology for implementation in manufacturing organization. • Getting started • Planning • Generation & Evaluation of options • Implementation of Options • Monitoring and Review • Sustaining
Water consumption monitoring • Water meters installation • Direct measurement like stop watch and volumetric flask. • Direct measurement in the tanks (containers) • Spillages may be measured by using containers shaped like pans or other specific shapes. • In some areas, weir notch could be a good method to measure wastewater flow instead of water used.
Level of monitoring there are 4 levels of monitoring in industries 1.Plant level this will show the overall input and overall output of the plant itself 2. Department level or process levelin many SMEs,, we may need to dig deeper into areas, departments or processes to obtain information on water use. 3. Sub-department level that will need to go further in each process for clarification of water used. 4. Machine level In each process, some particular machines may have a greater and more significant water consumption than other machines.
1. Plant Level From General Input Plant Output 2. Department Level Storage Process 1 Process 2 Offices 3. Sub-Process Level Washing Canning Sterilizing Storage 4. Machine Level To Specific Washing Machine 1 Machine 2 Tank 3
Options for water conservation With proper information obtained from examining, options for water conservation could be identified. The following are few examples of options for water conservation.
Examples of options for water conservation in food industry sector
Examples of options for water conservation in food industry sector (Cont)
Examples of options for water conservation in food industry sector(Cont)
Case study of Food Industry Water conservation from food industry sector in northern Thailand is as shown in table. Significant amount of wastewater reduction could be obtained through implementation of recommendations.
In some cases, attempting in water conservation might give other benefit for factory. In a demonstration project of a ginger factory in Thailand, water monitoring in the factory is as shown in table
Major use of water was from fresh ginger washing and floor washing. (460 cubic meters per day) • Other uses combined were about 80 cubic meters per day • The main cause of using high wash water was that the raw ginger contain too high soil content. (12.11%) • In the brainstorming , the suppliers should be instructed to reduce soil content in raw materials.
Production Information Before and After Implementation ( Cont )
Financial monitoring and evaluation was performed and shown in table . The total expenses before and after were 144.814 US$ and 163,786 US$ respectively. Compare to the products, expenses per case would be 2.51 US$ and 2.28 US$ respectively. The saving cost of 0.23 US$ per case was obtained in the year 2000. Compare to the number of production at 71,836 cases. The saving of expenses would be 16,522.28 US$.
Summary Water conservation could be obtained from GP implementation in SMEs. Water may be considered as cheap resources but without proper management it could turn to an expensive resources in the manufacturing process. With proper monitoring program, water could be effectively utilized and the SMEs would in turn obtaining benefits from GP implementation.