rajani - factory visit

Brief explanation about factory visit

Yesterday dated 21^st April 22, 2005 Mr.Nandan Ghiya had organized three factory visits:

• Recycled Aluminium sheet manufacturing unit & Machinery manufacturing unit
• Wood processing unit
• Water pump manufacture unit

At first we went to the recycled aluminium sheet manufacturer unit at Sudarshan pura industrial area. Mr. Rajendra Singh owner of this unit helps allot to understand the process of extraction of Aluminium from recycled Aluminium scrap products such as bus body part, wire scrap and also utensils scrap which is procured from the market within Rajesthan. They used to do the extraction as well as casting of molten Aluminium into sheets ready for making utensils or other product. Extraction of pure Aluminium by oxidation process is done in air blasted oil furnace at 650 degree temperature. By passing the chlorine gas within the molten Aluminium the impurities comes out in the form of fumes and remains on the surface. The pure molten Aluminium is taken out by tilting the furnace on one side and it is removed in a iron bucket. Then the molten metal is poured in iron book mould and after 30sec or 1min it is removed from it and then it goes for hot rolling where the thickness of sheet is reduced and the length of sheet increases but the width of the sheet remain same. After that sheet is cut into squares or circles depending on the requirement. The hot rolling makes the molecules of the sheet more cohesive and makes it compact. And lastly, annulling process increases the flexibility and reduces the strength of the sheet. The sheets were placed in annulling furnace at 400 temperatures for 1-2hr. Then the recycled Aluminium sheets are ready to sell. Mr.Rajendra Singh also shows the machinery manufacturer unit where machinery is made.

Then after post lunch we went to the Mr.Sameer Weaton’s wood processing unit in Malviya Nagar , graduate from NID also working as consulting designer for foreign export company. He showed us all the wood processing machine and how they work which was bought from U.K. The machines were very modern and technologically sound. He also showed some of their product which is for export such as conference table, some different type of folding chairs, also some mix material product like chair, sofa where he used leather, wood, stone and metal. As a design consultant, he also give us some basic ideas about design methodology which was very clear after seeing him product.

Then we went to Mr.Y.S Bahti’s water pump manufacturing unit in Sudarshanpura industrial area, where they used to make parts of pump using different plastic granules such as Nylon 66, Delerine, Polycarbonate etc, which they directly bought from the market. The parts were made by hand moulding tools. It was small unit so it does not help us as much as we expect.

This trip was a good exposure, which helped us to understand the possibilities in working with different material and also the associated problem areas. It also opened different avenues for further developing our product.

Rajani Pandey