Comparative Analysis of Excavator 755’s Lost Productivity between Day and Night Production Shiftsat African Mining Services-Ghana, Nzema Site

International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VI, Issue IV, April 2019 | ISSN 2321–2705

Comparative Analysis of Excavator 755’s Lost Productivity between Day and Night Production Shiftsat African Mining Services-Ghana, Nzema Site

Dorothy Alimah Dechie¹, Kofi Moro²

 Mining Engineering (Service Personnel) BCM Ghana Limited, Nzema Project, Ghana¹
MSc. Student, TU Bergakademie, Freiberg, Germany²

Abstract-The study investigates the comparative productivity of the Leibherr 984 Excavator (EO755) day and night shifts at the Nzema gold mining site of the African Mining Services (AMS) in Ghana. To determine the unique working conditions in both shifts to reduce delays and maximise productivity. The study uses mix-method by combining questionnaire and interviews and none-participant operational observations to elicit deeper response from 25 production shift workers in addition to gathering statistical primary and secondary data on operations and productivity at the site. The key finding that emerged from the study was that, the day shifts’ lost hours of 393.13 translating into some production and revenue loss of 143,175 bcm and US$ 691,253.50 respectively, was greater than that of night shifts’ lost hours of 333.68 equivalent to a production and revenue loss of 121,525bcm and US$ 586725.57 respectively. In addition, at was revealed that day shift working context was more stressful than night shift.The conclusion drawn from the study was that the Leibherr 984 Excavator (EO755) is more productive in night shift than day shift base on the environmental and working conditions context of the study site. The study thus recommends for strong cooperation between the supervisory and managerial staff (“big men”) of the companies (ARL and AMS) and production crew members to create an environment of “partners- in change” which will eradicate the perception of intimidation and minimize the feeling of tension by the worker which translates to stress and delays in the day shifts which in turn impact negatively on productivity.

Keywords–Production, Productivity, Utilization, Excavator, Delay.

I. INTRODUCTION

Ghana’s mining industry continues to be the leading contributing sector to the nation’s economy. Its contribution to direct domestic revenue improved from GH₵ 1.3 billionin2015 to GH₵ 1.6 billion in 2016, which represented a 23% growth rate (Anon., 2017a). This industry was responsible for over 9000 jobs in 2015 (Anon., 2017a).

The labour that occupied these jobs together with other factors is responsible for the revenues generated by the industry. However, this labour force is productive only if they make effective use of time allocated for production in the mining industry.

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