Application of Lean Tools & Techniques in Cigarettes Production – A Literature Review

To better understand how lean tools and techniques can be integrated into the cigarette manufacturing industry, it is crucial to delineate the fundamental processes involved in cigarette production.

Cigarette Manufacturing Process

The production of cigarettes involves two primary processes: primary processing and cigarette manufacturing. The majority of wastewater generated in these processes is attributed to primary processing. In contrast, the cigarette manufacturing phase produces minimal to negligible amounts of wastewater.

• Primary Processing

The stage of processing tobacco takes place before the production of cigarettes.  The figure below outlines the fundamental step of this process;

Figure 1: Primary Tobacco processing (source: EPA, 2006)

The tobacco obtained from various sources, including local, offshore, and reconstituted, passes through conditioning cylinders, where steam is added to moisten and loosen the tobacco. The tobacco which has been conditioned is sent to storehouses, where blending is performed. Various tobacco blends are seasoned in barrels, dried, and then moisturized. Any local "Burley" tobacco utilized as a part of the mix is processed independently (flavour is added, and it is dried) before the last round of blending. The last tobacco mix is cut, dried, and re-moisturized. The tobacco is then directed to flavouring chambers for final flavouring. The prepared tobacco is sent to storehouses and the cigarette assembly processes.

Cigarette producers also include low-density tobacco, also called expanded tobacco, in their blends amid the last steps of the tobacco primary processing stage. The tobacco is exposed to carbon dioxide gas and conditioned such that the carbon dioxide becomes solid inside the tobacco. The solidified tobacco is warmed quickly, releasing carbon dioxide vapour. As the vaporization occurs, the tobacco cells grow, making tobacco with a low density.

Cigarette producers mix the flavours, representing their tastes in the diverse brands of cigarettes. Flavourings are produced in the form of batches. The different elements for the diverse flavours are blended in tanks and pumped to the flavour chambers utilized for primary processing. Once in a while, flavor-blending tanks are washed out, which creates wastewater. These wastewaters are released along with other primary processing waste streams, and they constitute a small fraction of the wastewater created and released during the entire manufacturing process.

• Manufacturing Process

Cigarette makers use tobacco from the operations in the primary processing to produce cigarettes. The figure below portrays the accompanying steps by and large included in the cigarette manufacturing:

Figure 2: Cigarette Manufacturing Stage (Source: EPA, 2006)

The blended tobacco, which may incorporate reconstituted, expanded, and different assortments of tobacco, is passed on from the primary processing storage to the machines in cigarette production. The cigarette-producing equipment inserts the tobacco onto the cigarette paper as one rod before pasting the paper around the tobacco and slicing the rods to the right length for the cigarettes. The containers that hold the glue from the cigarette-producing machines are exhausted intermittently and washed with boiling water.

The cigarette-producing machines then place filters between two cut cigarettes, attach the filters to the cigarettes using filter paper, and slice the filters to make two cigarettes. The equipment downstream of the process performs the packaging of the cigarettes.

• Waste Management

The various types of wastewater produced in different processes are documented in descending order of volume:

1. Process of Reconstituted Tobacco: This includes excess water for dilution from the sheet forming process, surplus concentrated tobacco extracts, steam condensate from installed evaporators, blow-down from air contamination control equipment and evaporators, machinery runoff, and floor washing water.

2. Primary Processing: Some process chambers (e.g., flavouring chambers) employ rotoclone hydrostatic precipitators for air contamination control. These rotoclones purify the air by capturing dust in water, releasing the resulting water-dust slurry as a blow-down stream. This constitutes the primary portion of the wastewater generated in primary processing. Waste is also generated during operations for treating wastewater at direct dischargers.

The treatment of wastewater for tobacco products at direct production centres generally involves biological treatment with nutrient removal, known as BNR. The key steps in the BNR treatment process include:

1. Primary clarifiers
2. BNR wastewater treatment (comprising activated sludge, phosphorus removal, nitrification, and de-nitrification)
3. Secondary clarifiers
4. Dewatering of sludge(s) from clarifiers
5. Post clarifiers

Application of Lean Practices in Cigarette Manufacturing

Due to the increased expectations of customers and worldwide competition, industries attempt to expand productivity at lower costs and to deliver the best products and services. Under these conditions, it is important to actualize lean manufacturing systems to enhance the process environment with sensible investment. The concept of JIT can be introduced, enabling the cigarette manufacturing industry to enhance the benefits and profit on investments through a decrease in stock levels, improvements in product quality, reduction in variability, decrease in production as well as lead-times of delivery, and consequently enforce a reduction in various expenses, primarily which associated with machine setups and equipment breakdown (Koskela, 2010).

Even though the complete success of applying lean thinking, in the long run, relies on a good understanding between the administration and on-site workforce, viable administrative information systems are needed to instil proper organizational values and lean programs such as “Continues Improvement”. If these management standards are coordinated with available resources, this lean system can be incorporated effectively to achieve higher yields. Specifically, the possibility of turning the batch process into one continuous process can be investigated while reviewing the primary process. Other processes, such as material handling and blending, can also be reviewed, considering the state-of-the-art efficient technologies that can be used to improve the overall process of manufacturing cigarettes. In short, in light of the continuous improvement techniques, each block of the process can be reviewed, and possible alternatives can be recommended, which may prove to be more effective in the longer run of the organization.

The TQC, an administration tool for enhancing overall performance, can also be applied in cigarette manufacturing. The quality development plan will undertake investigations of raw materials while utilizing systems based on statistics. In Japan, the quality development initiative undertook a plan that went from mere inspection of items/materials to total quality control of products (Shingo, 1988). The quality enhancement plan can be extended from raw materials in the primary process to the end product of the cigarette.

Accordingly, future studies can be carried out on supply chain administration to attain good control, consistent performance and reliability. Moreover, the lean procedure related to Total Productivity Maintenance (TPM) can also be applied in the manufacturing of cigarettes. The TPM is an insufficient maintenance of facility equipment, ensuring optimum working conditions at all times for production. The optimum utilization of resources is also applied to waste treatment procedures and waste reduction.

Therefore, it can be concluded that adopting lean techniques can enable the cigarette manufacturing industry to improve its production efficiency. The improvement is expected to have a positive influence on the overall business of the organization in terms of the reduction of all forms of waste. Considering the long-term objectives, continuous improvements through adopting lean principles will generate positive results for the cigarette manufacturing industry.