Activity 2

IET 120 Ricky Hamilton & Stephen Smith Spring 2014

Purpose & Background

The purpose of this project is to give the people of Makurdi, Nigeria sanitary, reliable, and safe water to use for consumption. The problem of unsanitary water has plagued this region for many years and hopefully our efforts will resolve the problem found in this region. We feel it is necessary to provide safe water in order to improve the quality of life found in the region today. As of today the life expectancy of the male population is 53 years and 56 for females with an infant mortality rate of 130-160%. Currently the percent of the population affected with HIV stands at 9.3% and this is contributed to poor living conditions as well as the culture of the people who believe in multiple partner relationships.

Customer/Society
The people of Makurdi, Nigeria need a way to obtain clean water, but the process to supply this essential necessity must be relatively cheap to obtain due to extreme poverty conditions found in the area. Many projects have been started to supply the people of the region that havent been completed and many deaths occur each year due to consumption of what local call dirty water. It is common for anyone in the region to know someone who has died from drinking water that wasnt safe for consumption. Water is supplied to the region from the Benue River, but over the years this river has been extremely polluted. Examples are garbage being dumped into the river as well as raw sewage. For the households that do receive public water, the conditions arent much better. Many of the water treatment plants located in the city are well outdated and not properly maintained. Another condition plaguing the city system is contaminated pipes that cause the people consuming the water to become ill.

Product Design and Function

PVC pipe brings water to treatment facility. Polyester or nylon mesh is affixed to each end of the PVC pipes to filter out as many objects as possible. These can be changed out and cleaned. Water is treated by moving dirty water from one chamber to a second chamber where its treated. The treated water is then moved from the second chamber to a third chamber for use. The dome which is transparent allows sunlight to help cleanse the water and allow light in for the workers.

Drawing/Visualization
Top is a zoomed in view of the treatment plant. Bottom is the overall view of flow.

3D Model Visual

Manufacturing floor layout

Manufacturing Information
The name we chose is Affordable Water LLC. We manufacture polyester and nylon filters for PVC pipes. The primary material is rolls of nylon and polyester. Supplied using a supplier of nylon and polyester fiber. Inventory is managed using lean Kanban and JIT principles. Two locations chosen. Pikeville KY & Makurdi Nigeria.

Demographics and Education

The population of Makurdi, Nigeria is 500,797 and the major ethnic groups are the Tiv, Idoma and Igede. There are no recent male to female ratios as the last census was taken in 1996.