CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The Student Industrial Work Scheme (SIWES) is a skill development

programme initiated by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) in 1973 to bridge the gap

between theory and practice among students of Engineering and Technology in

institution of higher learning in Nigeria. It provides for on-the-job practical

experience for students as they are exposed to work methods and techniques in

handling equipment and machinery that may not be available in their Institution.

The Scheme also prepares students for works situation they are likely to meet after

graduation.

Before the inception of the scheme, there was a growing concern among

Industrialists that graduates of institutions of higher learning in Nigeria lacked

adequate practical background experience preparatory for employment. Thus,

employers were of the opinion that the theoretical education provided by higher

institution was not responsive to the needs of the economy. It was against this

background that the fund during its formative years, introduced SIWES to provide

students with the opportunity of exposure to handle equipment and machinery in

industry to enable them acquire prerequisite practical knowledge and skills.

At inception in 1974, the scheme started with 784 students from 11

institutions and 104 eligible courses. By 2008, 210,451 students from 219

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institutions participated in the scheme with over 164 eligible courses. However, the

rapid growth and expansion of SIWES, has occurred against the backdrop of

successive economic crises which have affected the smooth operation and

administration of the scheme, most industries in Nigeria today, are operating below

installed capacity while others are completely shut down. This has impacted

negatively on the scheme as institutions of higher learning find it difficult to secure

placement for student in organizations where they could acquire the much needed

practical experience.

Issues such as poor supervision of students by industry, institution, and ITF-

based supervisors, as well as delay in payment of stipends, among others affect the

operation and products of the scheme. It is expected that the products of the scheme

must have acquired necessary technical skills needed by them to be self reliant and

gainfully employed.

1.1 Objectives of SIWES

Specifically, the objectives of the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme

(SIWES) are to:

a. Provide an avenue for students in institution of higher learning to acquire

industrial skills and experience in their courses of study, which are restricted

to Engineering and Technology including Environmental studies and other

courses that may be approved. Courses of NCE (Technical), NCE

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 (Agriculture), NCE (Business), NCE (Creative Arts and Design), NCE

(Computer) and (Home economic) in colleges of Education are also included.

b. Prepare Students for the industrial work situation they are to meet after

graduation.

c. Expose students to work methods and techniques in handling equipment and

machinery that may not be available in their Institutions.

d. Make the transition from school to the world of work easier, and enhance

student contacts for later job placement.

e. Provide students with an opportunity to apply their knowledge in real work

situation thereby bridging the gap between theory and practice.

f. Enlist and strengthen employers involvement in the entire educational

process and prepare students for employment on Industry and Commerce.

1.2 Role of the Student during SIWES

My role as a SIWES student was to stay focus and learn from practical

knowledge being impacted by Industrial base supervisor and also take part in all the

processes involved in physicochemical analysis of an overhead tank of water,

preparation of standard solution, uses of some laboratory machines, ashing of food

samples, digestion of food samples, proximate analysis and mineral analysis.

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1.3 The Logbook

The logbook is a book given to the students for recording of writing the daily

activities carried out during the SIWES programme, the logbook contains the

column that the supervisor will comment, sign and stamp after daily activities.

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 CHAPTER TWO

2.0 GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE FACTORY

2.1 Brief History and Location of Bisco Water Limited

Bisco Water Limited, No. 40 Arotiba Street, Oke-Ogun, Owo, Ondo State,

which has been in operation since the year 2000, making 20 years in existence. The

major areas of operation are in production of Bottle and Sachet water. The

employment size for Professionals, including an Accountant is about 15; Quality

Control Personnel are 3 while non-Professionals are over 100. In terms of Capacity

of plant, Freedom Beverages Ltd (Olivia Table Water) is in full operation. Their

capital investment since establishment till date is over 15 Millions.

2.2 Company Mission

The vision of the company is to provide an affordable and hygienic products

that will increase food production, also to provide lasting solution to the menace

under nutritious food, and to provide the society with quality and quantity of food

product that will meet their daily demands and can also provide them with basic

nutritional values, and to maximize profit since that is the major aim of any sole

proprietorship.

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2.3 Establishment Organogram/Organization Structure

BOARD

GENERAL MANAGER

MANAGER

ASST. MANAGER

SALES CLARK ACCOUNTANTS

MARKETERS

PRODUCTION DEPT.

PRODUCTION ROOM PRODUCTION STAFF

LABORATORY CLOAK’S ROOM

Fig 1: Flow Chart of Organogram.

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 CHAPTER THREE

3.0 MATERIALS/EQUIPMENTS AND PRODUCTION PROCESSES

For every one with the intention to start a bottle or sachet water production

factory, it is appropriate to know the facilities, equipment, accessories and sundry

materials needed for the successful operation of a water production factory.

The factory should comply with NAFDAC regulatory standards as regards

sectioning, directional flow of departments, operating procedures and other sundry

requirements. The NAFDAC Guidelines for setting up a Packaged Water

Factory and Food Manufacturing Factory gives a better outline of the registration

process. The basic equipment and materials for bottle or sachet water production in

Nigeria are outlined below:

3.1 General Safety

 Fire Extinguishers

 Fire Blankets

 Sand Buckets

3.2 Raw Water Production Equipment

This is your source of raw water for producing your packaged bottle or sachet water.

The submersible pump is meant for factories that use boreholes instead of municipal

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or other water source. All the pumps must not be made from galvanized metal.

Three (3) Storage Tanks are ideal. One tank for Raw Water storage, another for

treatment process and the third tank for post-Treatment water Storage.

 PVC Water Tanks (Black Colour preferably)

 Submersible Water Pumping Machine (1HP or more)

 Surface Pumping Machine (1HP or more)

 Aeration faucets

 PVC Pipes and plumbing fittings

3.3 Water Treatment Equipment and Reagents

There are completely automated combo units with RO Filter systems for water

treatment, these are more expensive. The fibre filter plant is the next best filter

module followed by the regular carbon and sand filter units. Dosing can be

manually done, however, dosing pumps make for easy addition of chlorine and

other chemicals during the treatment process.

 Reverse Osmosis (RO) Module

 Industrial Water Filtration Modules (Fibre Plants, Activated Carbon Bed &

Sand Bed Filters)

 Ozone Generator

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  Micro-Filter Cartridge Housing/Casing

 Micro-Filter Cartridges (0.5µ (Micron), 2µ and 5µ pore Size)

 Ultra-Violet (UV) Sterilizer

 Ultraviolet (UV) Lamps (Switches should be placed outside the rooms!)

 Dosing Pumps

 Liquid chlorine

 Calcium hypochlorite powder

 Hydrogen peroxide

 Isopropyl alcohol (IPA)

 Green sand, activated carbon/charcoal, ion exchange resins (cations &

anions)

 Alkali (NaOH, KOH)

 Mineral acid (HCl, H2SO4, HNO3)

NOTE: Some of the chemicals listed above are for cleaning the RO membrane,

others are for disinfection purpose in water treatment, or factory cleaning and

sanitation.

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 Fig 2: Reverse Osmosis Water Purification Machine

Fig 3: Ultra Violet Light Filtration For Small Scale Pure Water Production

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 Fig 4: Pure Water Sealing Machine in a Pure Water Factory

3.4 Packaged Bottle & Sachet Water Production Equipment

For Bottle Water production, the machines can be fully automated combo units or

semi-automated units. Manual filling methods are not allowed by regulation for

conventional plastic bottles sizes except for dispenser bottles.

 Fully Automated Bottle Water Production Line (Automatic washing, filling

& capping combo unit)

 Semi-Automated Bottle Washing Machine

 Semi-Automated Bottle Filler

 Semi-Automated Bottle Capper/Corker

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  Automatic or manual electric Batch coding machine

 Automatic labeling machine (labeling can be done manually)

 Shrink wrap machine (shrink wrapping can be done with > 500W electric

shrink guns or gas lamps).

For Sachet Water production, an analogue or digital automatic sachet water filler

machine is the standard. The read out screen and knobs is what differentiate

analogue sachet water filler machines from digital ones.

 Automated Sachet Water Filler (Analogue or digital) with batch coding

capacity.

 Batch Coding Stamp (For machines without automatic batch coder)

 Receiving Basin

 Short stools/chairs (plastic or stainless steel)

3.5 Packaging Materials

 Bottle Mould (for branded bottles)

 Bottles (50 cl, 60 cl, 75 cl, 1 L, 1.5 L)

 Bottle Caps (28 mm, 30 mm )

 Labels

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  polythene shrink wraps (for bottle packaging)

 Packaging Nylon (printed sachet rolls)

 Packaging bags (wraps for sachet water pieces)

 Hot Air Gun ( for fixing labels and cap seals)

3.6 Personnel Protective Equipment

 Reusable or disposable Food Handling gloves (preferably powder-free

polyethylene or latex), as well as heavy duty rubber gloves.

 Hygiene Face masks

 Head Net/Cap

 Laboratory Coat/Apron

 Rubber Boots/Clogs

 Hand sanitizers

3.7 Quality Assurance Equipment (In House)

Large scale facilities have a fully functional laboratory. However, for regular

water production facilities, basic in-house quality assurance requires at least

physical checking of water products for odour, colour, particles and taste. The

measurement meters such as pH meters and conductivity meters are used to check

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the pH, conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids and a few other parameters that help

indicate the quality of the treated, and produced water. Full Laboratory analyses for

the water products are outsourced to IPAN registered laboratories.

 pH Meter (hand held or bench top)

 Conductivity/TDS Meter

 Weighing Balance (from 2kg Load capacity above)

 Glass Beakers (600ml/1000ml capacity)

 Glass Measuring Cylinder (500ml capacity)

 Water Testing Kit

 Plastic pallets. Technically a QC material with many preventive functions.

3.8 Cleaning & Sanitation

 Bottle Washer Brush

 Long-Handle Hard Brush (for cleaning the storage tanks)

 Food Grade Liquid Detergent

 Cleaning Mop

 Dust Brush/Sweeping Brush

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  Cobweb Brush

 Disposable Wipes

 Waste Bin

 Pallets (Plastic)

Your Bottle or Sachet water production factory is expected to have a means

of effective product distribution, production records and other necessities required

for successful operation of your business.

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 3.9 Major Production Processes

AERATION

STORAGE OR SETTLING

COAGULATION

FILTRATION

DISINFECTION

REVERSE OSMOSIS ULTRAVIOLET WATER STERILIZER

PACKAGING

WILSON LIQUID
PACKAGING MACHINE

Fig 5: Flow Chart of Production Process

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 CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 KNOWLEDGE GAINED DURING THE PERIOD OF SIWES

EXERCISE

During the SIWES programme at Bisco Water Limited, some knowledge in

bridging the gap between theoretical and practical aspect of learning were gained. I

was able to understand a lot of processes concerning production of water for

consumption and was able to identify the machines and raw materials involved in

pure water production. I was also able to carry out test for Hardness, Calcium, Iron,

Alkalinity, pH, Turbidity and Chlorine in water sample.

Finally, I was able to use the machine for packaging pure water in rolls and

preforms.

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 CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusion

The SIWES programme has been a source of knowledge and experience. The
familiarization with machines that are not usually available in the Educational
institution is one of the benefits of this SIWES programme. Bisco Water Limited
production factory has exposed me to various methods of processing water for safe
consumption of the populance.

5.2 Recommendations

I wish to recommend that SIWES programme coordinators should endeavor

to give students sound orientation on this programme because it afford students of
tertiary institution the opportunity of being familiarized and exposed to the needed
experience in handling machines and equipment’s which are not usually available in
the Educational institution.

I also recommend the consumption of Bisco Water Limited to the institution’s

community and beyond, because it is a well analyzed water that follow the due
process of the agencies regulating it, e.g NAFDAC.

Finally, I recommend that the SIWES allowance be paid immediately after

completion as this would attract more students to participate and gain the rewards of
the programme.

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 REFERENCE

A.O.A.C (1995). Official Method of Analysis (15th Edition). Washington DC.

NIS (2007). Nigeria Standard for Drinking Water Quality, Nigeria Industrial
Standard, NIS 554, pp, 13-14.

Tabatabai (1974). Determination of Sulphate in water sample using barium chloride.

Journal of water analysis. 10, 11-13.

WHO (2010). Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality, World Health Organization.

EPA (2003). Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 816-F-03-01

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