602
H. Nakano et al.
Improvements of Separation Work of Waste Lead-Acid
Battery
Problem
The company treats used lead-acid batteries from automobiles as raw materials for
lead smelting. These batteries are manually separated into three parts: electrolyte,
grids and pastes, and plastic cases, in the pre-treatment plant. The work of the battery
separation was interrupted frequently by several reasons and becomes the production
limiting step in the smelter.
Analysis Results and Countermeasures
Video cameras were set at the pre-treatment plant. By analyzing the video data of the
work, the longest waiting time was found to be the line workers waiting time for the
transportation of batteries from storage, about one hour. As line workers and batteries
transport workers started the work at the same time, line workers had to wait for a
long time until batteries were on the line. So start time of batteries transportation
work was changed 20–30 min earlier than before.
The next longest waiting time was the stoppage of the line in order to remove
garbage such as the packing materials of batteries. As a countermeasure, the manual
garbage removal facility was installed. And the batteries with a lot of garbage are
pretreated by the new facility before put into the line.
Results
As a result of these improvements, the amount of throughput per unit man-hour
increased by 20%. The work is now not the production limiting step.
Conclusion
This paper reports on “Improvement of working environment around furnaces”,
“Treatment of high concentration fluorine wastewater”, “Rationalization of the closed
dam monitoring”, and “Improvements of separation work of waste lead-acid battery”. These are the important topics of the improvements of the next future 10-year
plan. Hosokura Metal Mine Co., Ltd., will continue to improve safety of workers,
environment, and stable operation and profits.
H. Nakano et al.
Improvements of Separation Work of Waste Lead-Acid
Battery
Problem
The company treats used lead-acid batteries from automobiles as raw materials for
lead smelting. These batteries are manually separated into three parts: electrolyte,
grids and pastes, and plastic cases, in the pre-treatment plant. The work of the battery
separation was interrupted frequently by several reasons and becomes the production
limiting step in the smelter.
Analysis Results and Countermeasures
Video cameras were set at the pre-treatment plant. By analyzing the video data of the
work, the longest waiting time was found to be the line workers waiting time for the
transportation of batteries from storage, about one hour. As line workers and batteries
transport workers started the work at the same time, line workers had to wait for a
long time until batteries were on the line. So start time of batteries transportation
work was changed 20–30 min earlier than before.
The next longest waiting time was the stoppage of the line in order to remove
garbage such as the packing materials of batteries. As a countermeasure, the manual
garbage removal facility was installed. And the batteries with a lot of garbage are
pretreated by the new facility before put into the line.
Results
As a result of these improvements, the amount of throughput per unit man-hour
increased by 20%. The work is now not the production limiting step.
Conclusion
This paper reports on “Improvement of working environment around furnaces”,
“Treatment of high concentration fluorine wastewater”, “Rationalization of the closed
dam monitoring”, and “Improvements of separation work of waste lead-acid battery”. These are the important topics of the improvements of the next future 10-year
plan. Hosokura Metal Mine Co., Ltd., will continue to improve safety of workers,
environment, and stable operation and profits.