CHAPTER ONE

1.0     INTRODUCTION

A history of Bendel Textile mill Ltd as it was called in the then defunct Bendel state but now renamed Asaba Textile mill Ltd immediately after the splitting of the state into Edo and Delta states in 1991, was incorporation in 1965.It was located on the eastern side of the town, Asaba, the headquarters of Delta state. It is cited close to the Lagos-Onitsha Express way for easy accessibility. The mill was created to assist in the relief of unemployment and to reduce rural migration of people to urban areas. Amongst other objectives of the firm are the manufacturing of textile fabric (100% cotton), modernization and expansion. However, the product line of the company is Africa print with a planned production capacity of 4000 metres per day. Crey cloth which is 10,560, 000 metres per annum taking twenty –two working days in a month. Both the production capacities so far achieved are 30,000 metres per day Grey baft that is 7920,000-metre p.a.

The slack in the full capacity achievement is due to insufficient supply of raw material (R/M), high labour cost, high labour turnover mostly in the spinning and weaving departments at the beginning of every year and also the demechanization of machines. The company has to cannibalize to put some machines into operation and a colossal amount is spent on the importation of German expatriates to carry out the job of machine cannibalism.

More so, the mill has staff strength of 840 comprising Administration, factory workers, security unit and labourers. It has a total sale of over eighty million Naira (N80m) p.a.The raw materials used by the mill are; cotton hint, chemical and dyestuff. Some are sourced locally while some are imported. Indian expatriates own the mill.

1.2     STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The mill has chains of problems as regards the utilization of materials. A lot of problems of wastage are being suffered in the mill conspicuous amongst which are:
i.    Drops of cotton on the factory floor in the spinning department. This is of a common sight. As the bales of cotton are being put into the bale opener (machine) and to the scotcher where it forms laps which is taken to the cording machine to form sliver, raw cotton are seen everywhere littering on the floor. The propping cottons should be swept up or hand picked by the workers. Also workers should be provided by the with apron for keeping the dropped picked up good cottons and should be sent back to the scotecher to form a new lap.
ii.   Roving waste: In the speed frame section the shiver is turned in roving. Lots of waste occurs have as a result of machine rejects.Solution: The roving waste should be sent back to the roving machine which turns the roving into raw cotton which should then be sent back to the below room for lapping.
iii.   Half Weft: Wefts (wound prins) are normally in full. But in the pirn winding section, it is not uncommon to see half weft, which is automatically a waste, as machine will reject them.Solution: To avoid pirn wastage, pirns should not have a double end as this amount to waste. Also the supervisors should constantly monitor the operators and machines should be maintained to avoid mechanical fault.
iv.    Overdrawn Beams: Beams are supposed to be equal. But cases of overdrawn beams are rampant in some unsophisticated textile industries. This often results to waste.