Rai Plywoods Limited

RAI PLYWOODS COMPANY LTD- A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
RaiPly started off as Rai Timber, formed by two Indian brothers who were previously thriving businessmen in Uganda, until they were kicked out of the country (with other Asians during the Idi Amin regime). Rai Timber started off its wood processing interests in Mt Elgon then began expanding. It later moved to Eldoret where the Rai brothers partnered with the late Shabir. At this time, Rai Timber did not venture into gazette state forests for free hardwood harvests as it had not applied for the government granted forestry management concessions (given to select companies). In 1993 the new business changed its name to RaiPly (K) and immediately jumped into Kenya’s state forests. The company also acquired a 20 acre plot they sought to set up a tree nursery near Eldoret. RaiPly immediately became a tough competitor to Timsales (K) whom they learnt a lot from. From the exotic hardwoods, Timsales and Raiply trucks and loggers blaze through in their harvests that eventually yield; veneer, chipboards, plywood, ceiling boards, block boards, parquet, wooden tiles, doors, mattresses, polypropylene sacks, and even polythene bags for special orders to sugar parastatals (Mumias, Sony etc). RaiPly (K) has eyed a quiet habitat full of hardwoods outside Kenya’s borders. RaiPly (Malawi), a subsidiary of RaiPly (K), is now the biggest wood processor in Malawi.
 
AIMS OF THE COMPANY
The company is bent towards achieving goals and visions with the environment in mind. Some of the company’s aims and objectives include:
i. To produce quality and adequate wood products in East and Central Africa.
ii. Create employment opportunities to locals and professionals.
iii. To achieve the international standards of measurement and quality.
iv. To be a leader in environmental give-back i.e. protects the environment as much as benefit from it.

 
PROCESSES
RaiPly is a company with several departmental factories that produce different products. The various departments include:
1. Plywood factory- This is the major factory in the company. Detailed processes are as explained below.
2. Polyurethane Foam plant – This is the factory in charge of producing foam mattresses and mattress products in high, medium or low density. The raw materials used are imported from Korea. The foams are sold to the local market whereby the company sells to supermarkets and wholesalers in bulk. The company also has a sales office from which the products from the foam department can be bought directly
3. Polypropylene plant- This is the factory that produces polypropylene package bags. The processes start from initial thread creation, weaving and spinning the threads into bags and finally printing the bags to be used by several companies (e.g. Mumias and Sony Sugar companies) that have contracted RaiPly for the job.
4. Power plant- this is a power generation plant that produces emergency power for the factories when the power supply from Kenya Power & Lighting Company is rationed. This allows for continuous production and minimizes downtime in the factories.
The processes explained here-in are for the Plywood Plant Factory which is the core factory of the company.
i. Receiving Raw Materials- Plywood is made from several different species of trees. Most softwood plywood is made of Douglas-fir or southern pine. Some of the most popular hardwoods are oak, red gum, poplar, birch, cherry, and walnut. Plywood has to be straight and round. They also must be relatively free from knots and decay. These are taken from forests to the factory by lorries. They are weighed at the gate entrance to get the quantity of wood received. The first step in the manufacturing process of plywood is the selecting of the logs. The logs that are selected are chosen for their straightness and roundness. They also must be relatively free from knots and decay.
ii. Debarking- This is where the barks are removed from the logs. The logs are fed in from the right by chain conveyors. The logs are going to be stripped so therefore the logs are rotated by ridged wheels as the cutting head on the track reverses the log from end to end. The wood is loaded by overhead crane onto the cutting section.
iii. Peeling- The next step of the manufacturing process is peeling the log. The log sections, which show the marks of the debarking knives, are fed into the lathe loader where the log revolves around on a huge lathe against a long cutter blade which is reduced to a 6-inch core or sawed into lumber or chipped.
iv. Ribboning- Following the peeling process, the next step in the manufacturing process of plywood is taking the logs and making them into a continuous ribbon of wood. The cutting edge of the lathe is forced against the spinning log. The wood is unwound in a continuous ribbon varying in thickness depending on how it’s used. The following illustration is a good example of this process.
v. Cutting- This is where the logs are cut into defined sizes by an automatically operated electric power saw. The standard size for the pieces of wood to be cut is 4’ X 8’. The machine operates on the principle that when the wood hits the front part set, the set length and the whole conveying process stops and the chain saw cuts and the small pieces which remain are removed. These small logs are put on a splinter – machine which splits them into wood pieces for firewood used for heating in the boiler.
vi. Block board section- This is where wood is sliced by a machine into small long splits. These splits are then cut into small varying lengths and there after taken to the composing machine.
vii. Wood gluing- The gluing process plies together in order to determine the desirable thickness of the plywood sheet. Modern methods of manufacturing use synthetic plastics such as urea resins or phenol-formaldehyde for bonding the plies together. These glues are mixed mechanically and then spread on alternate layers of lumber by passing between pairs of grooved metal or hard rubber rollers. The machine has a heating plate which is supplied by steam from the boiler. The heating helps the glue to stick together and that helps in binding wood together.
viii. Furniture Section- This is where wood is cut and joined using glue or appropriate nails. Using dowel nails ensures uniform strength of joint unlike a nail joint where after some time the nail may be stronger than wood hence making the joint to be weak. The wood products are then sand papered to give uniform smoothness and finally applied wood finish.
ix. Breakdown machine- As the name explains, it splits wood into small sizes which are machine able. The machine is stopped when the hog hits the stopper then it is sliced. This helps in removing irregular surfaces. The resulting wood pieces are used in wood chip manufacturing while the logs are used for timber production.
x. Chip board- As the name suggests originates from small pieces of wood. The waste wood product is fed into the wood chipper/chipping section which splits them into small chips. The wood chips are taken to the rotary kiln. The kiln is supplied with steam from the boiler. This steam dries the chip woods and the dried chips are sprayed of a chip bed with already added binding chemicals.
xi. Plywood section- The uniform log of one meter is put in a machine known as radial peeling machine. This machine peels the wood into curls of thickness 1.88mm. The peeled 1.8mm is the inner core of the plywood. Then the same radial machine peels another log a thickness of 0.65mm to produce a thin curled wood sheet which forms the face. The faces are dried by steam in a heating plate to a moisture content of 14%. Then the inner core and both faces are spread glue. The pre-press which is unheated operates at pressure slightly below that of the hot-press. The plywood is taken to a double slotter machine which trims the edges to be uniform then they are cut in the required length of 8 feet (knots, holes are filled patched.
xii. Fillers- Fillers may be used to assist in reducing penetration of the glues into the wood, increase its viscosity at the critical time before setting, and tend to fill small cavities between veneers, thus preventing starved joints. Fillers are usually finely ground inert minerals such as clay or wood/grain flour finer than 180 mesh.
xiii. Pressing veneers into ply woods- The panels to be pressed are assembled directly behind the spreader, building up a bundle or package of uncured panels with aluminium caul plates interspersed alternatively with every one or two plywood panels. The caul plates assist in handling, protect the face veneers and help keep the panels flat. The time between the spreading of the glue and the application of full pressure in the press of the uncured panels is called the assembly time or period. Close control of the assembly time is necessary in order to prevent defective glue joints occurring due to either pre-curing or hardening of the glues before adequate pressure is applied.
xiv. Conditioning, Trimming, Sanding and finishing plywood- these are the final stages in plywood development. The wide belt sander has been used to an increasing extent for sanding. Steam heating is used in conditioning the wood. Trimming aids in getting the correct sizes. The top belt machine is more commonly used over the bottom belt machine as the operator can continuously observe the panel’s surface. After sanding, boards are graded for defects in various qualities and sheets cut down to the proper size that is desirable to the consumer. This is what makes the final smooth edges that are seen in the modern lumberyard. The finished panels of plywood are then divided into two groups indicating whether they are for interior or exterior use. Plywood may carry a quality grade, which is indicated with the letters A through C, with A being the highest quality.

SAFETY MEASURES
a) There are instruction manuals attached to each machine in the several factories to aid in its running and maintenance.
b) There is an employee in charge of factory safety- the factory’s safety manager who overlooks all matters related to safety of workmen and machine operability.
c) Various sign posts and warning signs are placed in different places warning against working without protective wears.
d) There is a machine for spraying wood with paint. Fumes form in the place which is sucked out using a fan.
e) The risk of fire is taken seriously by the management. In addition to various fire assembly points, they have their own fire-fighting brigade on stand-by for any emergency.

PROBLEMS FACED
i. The major problem facing Raiply is the government’s new stand on forest cover especially state-owned natural forests. These are sources of hardwood trees. Illegal and unplanned felling of trees attracts heavy penalties.
ii. Transportation costs- The cost of transporting the raw materials from as far as Mau is high considering the weight of fresh logs and the ever shooting cost of fuel.
iii. Government policy- The Kenyan government has limited the number of trailer axles to three axle-loads in line with road maintenance. This has lead to redundancy in some of the vehicles.
iv. Environmental policies- The Company faces stiff penalties when coming to waste disposal from their factories.
v. Employee dissatisfaction- This arises due to the harsh conditions involving some processes in the factory. Thus pay rise and incentives keep the employees productive.
SOLUTIONS
There are serious financial implications arising from trying to solve the problems faced by the company. On the positive note, the Company gains reputation from its employees and also quality assurance from relevant authorities. These solutions, in the long term, are worth investing on for the continuous productivity and growth of the Company.
i. The company has invested in developing its own tree nurseries to transfer to large forest lands the company owns near Burnt Forest and Timboroa.
ii. To curb the rocketing costs of transportation, the Company has invested in nearby forests so as to reduce distance travelled by the trailers.
iii. The company has had to buy more vehicles which are compliant to the road regulations set by the government to aid in transportation. This has also called for the sale of old and unroadworthy vehicles.
iv. The company has also come up with modern waste disposal measures that are compliant with the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) policies.
v. As stated earlier, the Company is forced to listen to the pleas of their employees or face stiff and harsh conditions resulting from employee industrial action.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The products of this factory are mainly sold locally to furniture shops and small-scale and large-scale, wholesalers, supermarkets and carpentry workshops for distribution by sale to the citizens. This in a way gives back to the local community and the environment where so much is taken from as part of raw materials. Wood processing products are very vital in human life and thus we cannot live without them, therefore we should encourage the production of timber products but in a positive way like planting more and more trees in order to have a better environment tomorrow.
That said it has to be noted that though the company seems to be achieving a lot, it does so by use of very archaic machines which are a problem to maintain nowadays. This is particularly so especially in the Ply Wood factory. A decent overhaul of the machinery here would be a huge boost.
REFERENCES
a. Referential notes taken during the industrial visit to Rai Plywood Factory, Eldoret on the 18th of May 2011
b. Extended research on the internet (Blogs and editorials)