1.1 Introduction
Maintenance of Manufacturing System is defined as the set of various maintenance interventions and the general structure in which these interventions are foreseen. The maintenance concept forms the frameworks from which maintenance strategies are developed and is the embodiment of the way a company thinks about the role of maintenance as an operation function (Waeyenbergh et al., 2002). Manufacturing plays a key role in enhancing and sustaining high standard of living in any economy. The reverse could hold if some defined factors. Since productivity could be defined as the actual output compared to the actual inputs. This means that the productivity is function of the production process efficiency and effectiveness. Also, since it is possible to analyze the causes of the changes in profitability, and know how the changes in productivity affect the profit, separately from the changes in the uncontrollable factors.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Traditionally, maintenance has been considered as a necessary evil, but in fact it is a profit centre rather than just unpredictable and unavoidable expense (Al-Najjar et al., 2001; Al-Najjar and Alsyouf, 2004). The question of how maintenance could improve the company productivity and profitability need to be investigated further. Using effective maintenance policies, failures can be reduced to a minimum level. This could result in great savings. Therefore, maintenance is gaining more and more significance because of its role in the corporate long-term profitability. It has an impact on the production and its operational aspects such as capacity, quality, costs, environment and safety (Al-Najjar, 2002).
Maintenance is defined according to the European standard (Alsyouf, 2004) as the combination of all technical, administrative and managerial actions during the life cycle of an item intended to retain it in, or restore it to a state in which it can perform the required function. Also in the same vein, maintenance are needed for keeping a system/ product within its life cycle in a functional, operative and condition, or restoring it to a state it can perform the intended function. The performance of the maintenance process is critical for the long term value creation and economic viability of many industries.
Many researchers have worked in the area of productivity, maintenance and quality. Korkut et al, (2009) investigated the process of a parquet enterprise’s transition to preventive maintenance which has been implementing maintenance technique in case of breakdown. Dhaf et al, (2006) developed methodology for quality improvement in manufacturing organizations. His methodology comprises a model for the identification of various sources of quality defects on the product; the model would include an analysis tool in order to calculate defect probability, a statistical measurement of quality, and a lean manufacturing tool to prevent the presence of defects on the product. Veldman et al., (2011) presented a study in condition based maintenance and emphasized its relevance to productivity.
Cassady et al, (2002) explored the impact of the size of a staff of equally trained maintenance technicians on the productivity of a serial production line. Companies within process and chemical industries such as paper mills and refineries are using extremely expensive and fully automated production lines. At the same time, the pressure is increasing to protect the ecological environment from the danger of harmful industrial waste and pollution. All these changes tie up much invested capital, which means that the plant should be used effectively, efficiently, and provide high quality products in addition to showing concern for the environment and safety.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Impact of Quality and Maintenance on Productivity of a Manufacturing System.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that the problem face by 7-up Bottling Company Aba is lack of market report on sales and on the stock. And also lack of facilities to analyze, recording and reporting of data aimed at solving a given problem or identify an opportunity in the company. The main problem of the 7-up bottling faced was inability of the manual system to maximize company’s opportunity and profits.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Impact of Quality and Maintenance on Productivity of a Manufacturing System. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To examine how maintenance of equipment affect standard of production in the area under study;
- To find out how maintenance of equipment affect efficiency and speed of production in the area under study;
- To identify the effect of equipment maintenance on quality production in the area under study;
- To identify the problems militating against effective quality control and equipment maintenance in the area under study;
- To proffer possible solutions to the identified problems affecting the Manufacturing System.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- How does maintenance of equipment affect standard of production in the area under study?
- How does maintenance of equipment affect efficiency and speed of production in the area under study?
- What is the effect of equipment maintenance on quality production in the area under study?
- What are the problems militating against effective quality control and equipment maintenance in the area under study?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There is no significant effect of equipment maintenance on quality production in the area under study
- H1: There is significant effect of equipment maintenance on quality production in the area under study
Hypothesis Two
- H0: There are no significant problems militating against effective quality control and equipment maintenance in the area under study
- H1: There are significant problems militating against effective quality control and equipment maintenance in the area under study
1.7 Significance of Study
This study will contribute to policy formulation as regard equipment in organization. The result of the research will be useful especially as they utilize the finding to enhance the maintenance of their plant and equipment. The study will also contribute to existing body of knowledge on the subject matter. It is worthy to know that the research will be a good reference material to incoming students who may wish to use the research as reference material or a springboard for further research.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Impact of Quality and Maintenance on Productivity of a Manufacturing System using 7-up Bottling Company Aba, Abia State as a case study.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Organizational Performance: This is a rapid change in an organization to achieve the basic goals and objective such as customer’s satisfaction, productivity, sales turnover, profitability etc
Quality: This deal with character and attribute of a product and service that makes the product or service: different form each other.
Risk: This refers to as a degree of uncertainty from a specific outcome
Productivity: This refers to as the improvement in the level of production.
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