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TIMBERE ORTDEVELOPMENTBOARD EDB

MANPOWERDEVELOPMENTFOR'I'llEGllANAWOOD unUSTRYTRAININGCENTRE(WITC FD12/98Rev. 2(I)

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F'. K. Odoon Consultant

ARBORNOVALT, (Forestry & Industry Consultants) July, 1999 ,

Acknowledgements

The Consultant would like to express his sincere gratitude and thanks allthose who in diverse ways have provided support during the implementation of this study. This includes allthose who were visited and contacted in the industry and the TEDB Special thanks go to the following:

TEDB Mr. S. K. Appiah Managing Director

WITC F. Hans Gstrein -Technical Director 1.0. K. Gyamfi -Dop. Director, Ag. Head, Department J. A. Sagoe -Kiln Drying Consultant KwasiLumor -Head, doctoring/Saw milling S. A. Boyd-Awuah -Principal Instructor, Saw doctoring E. Adu-Fukuo -Srir. Engineer, Kiln Drying Sammy Dolphine -Assistant Training Officer, Computer Dept George Graham-Smith -Assistant Training Officer, Computer Dept Joseph Oduro -Principal Technician, Furniture Production Mensah K. Sampson -Principal Technician, Furniture Production

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, Acronyms

BRM Binm Wood Complex CAAST College of Applied Arts Science and Technology CDl Centre for Development of Industry ERP Econoinic Rehabilitation Project ESS Ehwia Saw doctoring School FIRA Furniture Industry Research Association FMSC Support Centre FORTG Forestry Research Institute of Ghana FPIB Forest Products Inspection Bureau FRMP Forest Resources Management Project GDC General Development Corporation GIS Geographic Information System GRCC Grading Rules Consultative Council GTZ German Technical Cooperation unD Higher National Diploma IRNR Institute of Renewable Natural Resources ISO International Standards Organisation ITTO International Timber Trade Organisation KNUST Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology LIL Low Impact LKS Lesser Known Species LUS Lesser Used Species MOE Ministry of Education PF Phenol Formaldehyde SBS Saoud Brothers and Sons SFS School of Forestry, Sunyani Sss Senior Secondary School TEDB Timber Export Development Board TUC Timber Utilisation Contract Up Urea Formaldehyde USAID United States Agency for International Aid . WITC Wood Industries Training Centre

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CONTENTS Page I. INTRODUCTION 5 I . I Study Objective 5

2. EXECUTIVESUMMARY 6

3. BACKGROUND 9

4 STUDYMETHODOLOGY 10

5 FINDINGS OFTHE STUDY 11 5 . I Overview of the Forestry and Forest Industries Training 11

5.2 Overview of Past Observations on the 12 52.1 Some Common Characteristics ofthe Wood industry 12 52.2 Logging and Logyard Operations 13 5.23 Sawmilling 15 5.24 KilnDrying 16 5.25 Moulding PlantOperation 18 5.26 Veneer and Production 19 52.7 FurnitureProduction 22

5.3 The Wood Industry Training Centre (WITC) 25 5.31 Historical Background 25 5.32 CurrentTraining Programmes and Services 26 53.3 Current WITC Technical Staffand Training Facilities 30 53.4 Review ofSome Suggested Curriculaofthe WITC 32 53.5 Some of the Constraints Facing the WITC 33

6 GENERALCONCLUSIONS 34 6. I The WITC's Mission Statement 34

6.2 The Skills requirements by the Wood Industry 34

6.3 The Training Requirements of the WITC Tutors 36

, 7. RECOMMENDATION 38 7. I Suggested WITC Goals 38 71.1 Extension and Consultancy Services 38 7.12 Standards forthe Wood Industry 39

7.2 Some Concepts for WITC Curricula Development 40 7.21 Suggested Coursestructure 40 7.22 Management Training 40 72.3 Training in Logging 41

7.3 41 Training programme forthe WITC Tutors ~ 7.4 Suggested Upgrading of Training Facilities 41 74.1 Saw milling 41 74.2 KilnDrying J 42 74.3 Veneer andPlywood 42 74.4 Sawdoctoringand Tooling 42 7.45 Computer Training

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Bibliography 44

Appendices 45

I. Terms of Reference 46 2. Questionnaire 48 3. List of People Met 51 4. Qualifications of the WITC Trainers 53

Tables 5 . I Summary of participation in Courses in 1998 5.2 Staffing of the WITC 5.3 Resource Persons Organisations to the WITC

Figures 5 . I Trends in the Structure of the Wood Industry (1991-1999)

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4 I. INTRODUCTION

This project forms part of the ITTO's "Manpower Development for the Ghana Wood Industry Training Centre (WITC)" - Project No. P012/98 Rev. 2(I). The latter is meant to upgrade the technical manpower capacity of the WITC in saw milling, veneering, plywood production, kiln drying, saw doctoring, moulding and furniture processing to meetthe tertiary wood processing in Ghana and within the West African sub-region

The study was under the auspices of the Timber Export Development Board (TEDB). It was undertaken by Mr. F. K. Odooin of Arbor Nova Ltd. , Takoradi, Ghana

1.1 Study Objective

The objective of the study is the analysis of the training needs of the technical staff of the WITC to meet the technical skill requirements of the wood industry. This is to facilitate the formulation of proposals to address the deficiencies in the numbers, skills and competence of the WITC Tutors so as to enable the training of personnelto meet the needs of the wood industry. The results are expected to form the basis for the implementation of the above-cited ITTO project - "Manpower Development for the Ghana Wood Industry Training Centre (WITC)" - Project No. P012/98 Rev. 2(I).

The details of the Terms of Reference can be found in Appendix I. It includes

. Assessment of the training needs of the technical staffat the WITC; . Assessment of the technical manpower requirements of the wood industry; . Comments on the adequacy of the current curricula at the WITC, and . Recommendations to address the deficiencies in the skills of the Tutors at the WITC

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2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The technical manpower requirements of the wood industry have been assessed in addition to the analysis of the training needs of the technical staffofthe WITC.

The effectiveness of any upgrading programme for the skills of the WITC Tutors is intimately linked with the adequacy of funding and the training facilities for the school Hence, apart froin the Tutors' skills development, the study has also dwelt on the other cited factors that will ensure the effective delivery of service by the technical staffofthe WITC

The results of the available past studies and other relevant literature on the skills requirements of the wood industry in Ghana have been reviewed. The management of the TEDB, the staffs of the WITC and selected informed opinions on the wood industry have also been interviewed. Based on these, the following recommendations have been made with respect to the development of the capacity of the WITC to provide a pool of technicians trained in the requisite disciplines that are necessary for the efficient processing of wood by the industry. These are

7/1eAssessed Tech"foalski//Req"ireme"ts @1the Wood/"of"siry The needs of the wood industry range over a wide spectrum of disciplines. It has, however, been recommended that the WITC concentrate on the priority areas in wood processing. These include:

. The fitting and setting of wood processing machinery including the layout of production lines and the machinery/equipment for the transportation of work in progress in the factory; . Saw milling and kiln drying; . Sawdoctoring and tooling; . Downstream processing including moulding plant operation, veneer/plywood production and furniture production . Production process controlincluding production and operations management, production economics and material handling and storage.

, Training Req"ireme"ts @1the WITC Tech"ic"1stof The numbers of Tutors at the WITC as well asthe range of skills and experience do not suffice to cover the requirements of the wood industry. The relevant academic qualifications of the existing Tutors are concentrated in the areas of furniture and cabinet Inaking, wood technology, kiln drying, saw doctoring and mechanical/plant engineering. Most of the qualifications in the latter fields have been obtained at the diploma and certificate levels with a few at the degree level. There have also been virtually no refresher courses for most of the Tutors in their areas of specialty since their graduation. Hence the training students beyond basic foundation courses are not

possible for some of the Tutors. ~

The recommendations are: . The training of the WITC Tutors should give priority attention to the crucial skill requirements of the industry as described above;

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o At least one Tutor as well as one Technician should be trained for each discipline of interest. The Technician would be used for such tasks as practical demonstrations;

. The WITC Tutors In ust be trained in pedagogy as well as the relevanttechniques of extension practices to enable theIn to be able to impart their knowledge and also render extension services effectiveIy to the trainees and the wood industry respectively;

. For the short- to Inedium-term experienced specialists should be attached to the WITC as instructors to guide the local counterpart Tutors untilthey have been adequately trained to fill such positions. This must be complemented with short study tours by the counterparts to selected institutions overseas;

. For the long-terin, young trainee Tutors with the appropriate background and aptitude to adopt modern technology and teaching methods should be chosen for training as future Tutors for the WITC in the relevant disciplines

Propos"ISIor C"rric"ICDevelopme"t The WITC course contents are generally stated in broad terms withoutthe requisite time distribution between theory and practical. The short courses are usually focused on attempts to solve the prevailing skill problems in the wood industry. The curricula for the short and formal courses are yet to be approved by the National Accreditation Board.

It has been recommended that the courses to be run at the WITC should be as flexible as possible to cater for the range of requirements by the industry including refresher courses and complete courses. In this respect, any curricula to be proposed should be composed of a basic structure/contents with the following options: a) A complete course covering the whole of the course contents, with each section lectured and practiced adequately which will eventually end up with final thesis and project and its defence to obtain a certificate or diploma; by Individual courses based on complete major sections of the curricula, and c) Short courses focused on parts chosen from the major sections G

It has also been proposed that there should be the possibility for course types b) and c) to be organised as building-block systems which can eventually lead to the award of a certificate/diploma when the whole contents of a particular curriculum have been covered and a formal examination taken.

Collaboration with the National Accreditation Board with respectto the recognition of the certificates that are issued by the WITC has been indicated

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bygrading ofTr"inting Facilities Some of the departments at the WITC do not have the necessary array of equipment for training purposes. As this is an essential aspect of technical training for the wood industry, suggestions have been made in this respect

The lack of any facility forthe training in veneer and plywood production has been has been identified as an important aspectthat has to be given a priority attention.

Funding @1the WITC Currently there is no written agreement for support for the WITC with the exception of the TEDB. The achievement of the long-term goals of the centre is very much dependent on this. Even though the WITC should be financially independent eventually, it would require Inuch more support than the TEDB alone can provide in the short to mediuin term. It has been proposed that plans for the gradual progress towards the school's financial self-sustenance should be worked out

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3. Background

The major bottlenecks facing the wood processing industry in Ghana include the lack of adequate skilled and formally trained middle level management such as technical managers, supervisors and machine operators. A number of expatriates have consequently been employed to such positions by the mills that can afford them. The lack of such personnel has resulted in in6thciencies and wastage in the harvesting and processing of timber.

The inadequacy of the said skills has led to machinery and the related tooling being badly maintained with a resultant poor quality and finishing of products in general is usually not properly dried before usage. Organisation of workflow as well as production planning and controlis poor. Hence, delivery times are usually riot Inet. Usually, the appropriate costing and financial control procedures are not applied. The latter coupled with the inclusion of inefficiencies into costs result in un-competitive pricing. The wood industry is also confronted with inadequate investment and working capital. As a result, In OSt of the mills or firms in the wood industry are usually unwilling to pay the "real" prices for quality raw Inaterial

Middle-leveltechnical manpower constraints have been the main obstacles to improved production and increased export by the wood industry. Whereas the skills required in the logging and transport sectors of the forest industry are InOStly available (even though most of these are not formally trained), a shortage of skilled personnel becomes progressive Iy more acute beyond the saw In illing stage. This imposes a serious limiting factor on how rapidly these industries may be developed by the mere injection of finance without a corresponding attention to skills upgrading and development

There is also quite a number of obsolete and inefficient equipment in the industry that usually lead to low recovery rates in the mills concerned. It is rare to find a with more than 309'0 recovery for export grade and an additional 109'0 for local grade lumber In the case of mouldings, the recovery from lumber is in most cases below 50% with respect to export grade

Operating and raw material costs are rising and the industry will have to change by , adopting the appropriate technologies and skills so as to increase yield and minimise waste. This is the only way to surmount the adverse economic conditions. It is in this q respect that the role of the WITC becomes very important to the wood industry in Ghana

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9 4. STUDYMETHODOLOGY

The method that was adopted forthe forthe study were

Review of previo"s work on the wood inof"stry needs in skills. This includes results of the available reports on past workshops, seminars and the relevant studies on the wood industry of Ghana. The TEDB skills upgrading programmes that were executed under the Forest Resources Management Project(FRMP) were found to be the main activities that had been undertaken in wood industry skills development area for an extensive period of time (1993 to 1997)

Design of q"ustio"""ire. A questionnaire was designed to guide the author in his interviews in the field. A copy can be found in Appendix 2

Fieldwork ""of I"terviews. Selected wood industry firms in Takoradi, Kumasi, AGCra and Oda were visited. The list of the firms visited is placed in Appendix 3. Some of the interviews were done informalIy through supported discussions or guided interviews Others were interviewed and questionnaires filled by the author. Those who were interviewed included informed opinion in the industry as well as the management and staffofthe TEDB in Takoradiand the WITC at Akyawkrom near Kumasi.

Res"/t preparation ""of concl"sio"s. The findings of the interviews and the literature review were analysed to draw the necessary conclusions for the preparation of the report

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10 5. FINDINGSOFTHEST^DY

The observations from the reviewed literature from field visits and interviews with respect to training in forestry and forest industry skill requirements are summarised below

5.1 Overview of Other Forestry and Forest Industry Training Institutions

Tech"ic"I""of roc"ti0""11nstit"tes The various vocational institutes have been providing training, which include carpentry, joinery and building construction. The basic courses are craft or intermediate courses offered to students who either have previous working experience or have attended two- year pre-employment courses made up of schoolwork and industrial attachment,

The Polytech"ics These offer three-year HND courses in furniture design and construction for supervisors. The courses also aim to build up entrepreneurs capable of self-employment They are located in Kumasi, AGCra and Takoradi

Ehwi"SawDoctori"gSchool The erstwhile Ehwia Saw doctoring School(ESS), which was under the auspices of the TEDB offered certificate courses in saw doctoring froin 1970 to 1997. Thereafter, most of the staffwas transferred to the WITC. The ESS was the leading supplier offormally trained Saw-Doctors to the saw milling industry

Tile SchoolqfForestry, S""y""i'sFS;). SFS offers three-year certificate course and refresher courses in forestry for the forestry and wildlife sectors. Finnida has plans to assist the SFS in the training in saw milling using mobile mills. This assistance would have benefited the WITC more. Coordination of donor assistance to the training institutions is therefore necessary so as to channel them to the appropriate quarters.

The main employer has been the Forestry Department, which has put a freeze on the employment of new staff. The FD is undergoing restructuring which includes staff . reductions. With the introduction of the Timber Utilisation Contract (TUC) under the Timber Resources Management Act, 1998 (Act 547), the concessionaires are required to undertake forest management planning and implementation using qualified . This may pave the way for employment of the SFS graduates by the private sector.

The/"stir"te of Renew"ble N"t"ratReso"rces(TRNR), KMm"si. The IRNR at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, offers degree and diploma courses in Natural Resources Management and Wood Science/technology. The graduates from the IRNR are geared more for managerial positions in the industry than for the factory floor operations in the wood ~ industry

Tile Wood/"of"sines Tmini"g Centre (,,'170, Aky"wkrom vinK"must See Chapter 6

11 Inter-Relationships Between the Tr"ini"g Instit"tio"s Currently, there are no formally established relationships between the various institutions described above. The WITC however could benefit from a much closer relationship with the SFS, the vocational schools, the polytechnics and similar institutions as they can complement each other in training to meetthe skill requirements of the wood industry. The latter schools can also provide students who may either become entrants to some of the WITC courses or be upgraded in some of the skills required by the wood industry

The RECA, 1ST SYSTEM This system seeks to group all pre-service SSS institutions - such as Teacher training Colleges, Agricultural Training Colleges, Nurses Training Colleges - in each region into a College of Applied Arts Science and Technology (CAAST) which will in turn be linked to the universities under the Ministry of Education (MOE). It is planned that such colleges should offer courses leading to the award of diplomas and pre-diploma certificates

The RECAAST scheme is meant to harmonise the training, certification and the efficient utilisation of the available resources and facilities (e. g. teaching facilities, infrastructure and equipment) on a regional basis to InGet the national needs for the upper-middle and high level manpower. The scheme was conceived in view of the lack of long-terin strategy and planning in a large number of tertiary institutions including those which are riot under the aegis of the MOE but operated by such ministries as Lands and Forestry (e. g. SFS and WITC), Agriculture, Health and Information. The scheme is yet to be implemented

5.2 Overview of Past Observations on the Wood Industry

The status of the Inaripower and Inachinery in the wood industry as have been documented in the available past studies and consultancies is summarised below.

5.2. I Some Common Characteristics of the Wood Industr

The sidle of yepQir of wood working machinery. In most of the mills in the wood , industry in Ghana, second-hand and sometimes obsolete machinery is mixed with new or modern ones. Most of the machinery is composed of several different makes. Only a

, limited number of the second-hand machines have been factory overhauled. It is sometimes difficult to find spare parts for some of them. Vital parts of some of the second-hand machines are either missing or are not suitable for the intended purpose Some of the second-hand machinery are consequently difficult to set properly for the accurate cutting of wood that leads to low yields and waste in the system

Despite the state of most of the machines as described above, most of them are run without any proper implementation of preventive maintenance. In general, the ~ maintenance staffs are confined to repair work. These cause most of the problems associated with wood cutting whose perforinance are dependent on factors including the state of repair of the machinery involved. ,

Tooling. The tooling is also inefficiently maintained. Most of the factories do not have adequate stocks of consumables for maintenance. There are usually insufficient

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numbers of wood cutting tools in the mills to allow for their retention in the tooling shops to facilitate their proper checking and grinding. Saw doctoring machines are sometimes not protected against sawdust/dust and the lighting is generally inadequate for the achievement of the desired accuracy of work. The proper hand tools are also absent in most cases in the tooling shops. These coupled with the mixing of species of differing densities in one production process in some cases result in inaccuracies in the cutting of lumber as well as poor quality products

Those who have the toolinaintenance machinery are usually unwilling to hire or sell their spare capacity

Prodt, ciion and Operoii'ons Monogemeni. The organisational structure of businesses in the wood industry is typically functional with departments organised along job specification. Hence InOSt production managers have virtually no knowledge about how consumer specification has been communicated to the firm. The instruction passed to the production manager is one of simply getting on with the production according to loose specifications on contract documents. The finance department instead of coordinating the activities of the various departments is usually of the financial accounting type exercising little cost consciousness. The managing director is usually the link between the market and the relevant departinents.

In the developed market economies, the raw material handlers, the production, the engineering and Inarketing departments of the firm concerned share the objective of delivering a specified productto the market. The norm is forthe customer to specify the exact use of the wood product, the producer supplies according to the specifications applicable to the end-use

The selection of logs is usually not according to any end-use classification. Each log needs to be treated differently and classified for different applications according to dimensions, colour and structure. Every log should be assigned a unique number that is retained throughoutthe production process to the end-user. For instance, veneers can be stored by log number and the expected end use. Sale is by veneer bundles according to end use. Selection within a bundle attracts special price.

e There is no collection of information on production to facilitate efficient future planning and improvements in subsequent operations. Most of the firms do not have the I information to determine the costs of their products. In this regard, there is a tendency to underestimate waste and inefficiencies in production. No comparison between costing and actual values is also possible

91/01/01 Coniro/. A quality control system as would have been normally expected to start with the raw Inaterial and follow through the production to the finished product is not generally employed. Quality controljust before packing for the market can be very costly as entire production in terms of materials and labour costs can be lost ~

3 5.22 Lo in andLo ard O erations Even though the skills required in the logging and transport sectors of the wood industry are usually available, most of the work force has had no formal training, as it is the case

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with the other sectors of the industry. Most of the concession managers have learnttheir skills on the job from masters whose main qualifications may be just long working experiences. Hence a Inajority of the logging companies lack the planning capabilities to manage their concessions in accordance with any prescriptions from the Forestry Department

About 559'0 of those employed in logging are in the transport sector (TEDB, 1994). The aspects of vehicle operation and maintenance can be taken up by cooperation with other technical institutions such as the polytechnics. It is in the fields of forest management, species identification and directional tree that training that is currently required with respectto logging. This can also be taken up by the SFS.

There are advantages in the adoption of improved logging practices. For instance, with regards to Low In!poc! Loggihg(LIL), it is estimated that between 33% and 50% of the usable industrial wood cut in the tropical forest is left to rot on the forest floor. About 30-50% of the uncuttrees are destroyed or damaged under the selection logging system". In general, about halfofthe damage to residual is inflicted during felling and the remainder occurs during log yarding.

It has been demonstrated in the dipterocarp in Sabah, Malaysia, that felling damage can be reduced substantially if operators are trained to direct the fall of the tree to avoid destroying potential crop trees as well as facilitate skidding. Pre- felling cliinber cutting about a year prior to logging has also been found to reduce felling damage and fewer trees are torn down when opening skidding trails

Yarding with such as the bulldozer result in compacted soils that can impede regeneration, often for decades. The heavy equipment also damage the shallow tropical soils, which can erode quickly when exposed to the heavy tropical rains. The damage caused by the bulldozer can be reduced by restricting machine movements to designated skid trails and by maximising log winching distances. Well-planned logging road network that minimises the total area disturbed by roads and road-related activities can also contribute to reducing yarding damages.

Key findings from LIL studies in the Amazon in Brazilindicate that, as compared to . conventional logging practices such as practised in Ghana, the following benefits are achievable

I . reduction in losses from felling, skidding, and bucking; . about 30% fewer trees and 259'0 less of ground area was disturbed; . reduction in machine time of about 20%; . reduction of damage to residual trees which Inay improve growth and reduce felling cycles by In ore than half,

The implementation of the appropriate Log bucking in the bush can improve recovery

Production planning Inust commence in the forest by crosscutting the logs 'to lengths ~ according to standards/specifications with tolerances for crosscutting at later stages. This is generally not done. The result is wastage in the form of log pieces and butts during the preparation of the logs for processing at the log yards in the mills. This underscores the necessity for information sharing within a firm with respect to the market demands so as to optimise the use of raw materials and also to reduce waste.

14 Logsioroge . There is a general lack of basic knowledge in the storage and protection of wood in the log yard. Equipment for log protection (e. g. log ponds or water sprays) and debarking is given little attention. The proper stacking techniques in addition to the spraying of water and end coating of logs especially in the dry season is necessary to protect the logs against Grid-splitting as well as environmental and biological degradation.

In the current situation where the primary species are becoming scarce and the lesser- used (LUS) and lesser-known (LKS) species are being promoted, log protection from the forest landing to the log yard becomes crucial. Most of the LUS are much more susceptible to insect and sap stain (fungal) attack

Logs are also sometimes stored directly on the ground where they pick up a lot of dirt and small stories that have blunting effect on wood cutting tools such as and knives. Logs also tend to be retrieved on a "last in first out" basis

There is generally no assortment of logs according to the species density or hardness at the log yard, This does not facilitate the necessary preparation of the machines and the selection of the appropriate tools for the efficient processing of logs. The lifespan of the tools are consequently adversely affected

5.2.3 ' Some of the observations in the saw Inilling industry are lawns In Ihe sei-up of mochi'nery that has effect on the saws. These include: . n?achine vi'broil'ons due to wrong eccentricity of band saw wheels, play in bearings, loose bolts in the base of the machines, incorrect setting of bolsters; . Headrigs wrongly o11^ned wiih Ihe cornoges and compensated for by adjusting the saw guides. The saws performance and lifespan are consequently adversely affected in such cases; . Worn o111sz, 1:1Qce of the bondsaw wheels. In addition to this, the surfaces of the wheels are in some cases riot kept clean. The saw vibrates and gullet cracks are produced. . Wrong lensi'oning undposiiionihg of the sows on the pulleys. This leads to . "snaking" of the saws. In a majority of the mills, the position of the saw guides relative to log being cut is also not correct. This also has a significant effect on the stability and accuracy of the saws. . The sow blade speeds ore generally no! related to ihe teeth shape and gz, lief area of the saws. In some cases, high blade speeds associated with the cutting of soft are used

Other observations includejh"Its with yespeci10 sows rhoi have ofecion the quality of Ihe cullumber. In most mills in Ghana, the saw is only changed when the cut surface becoines hairy or when the saw starts to snake. Some of the observed faults in the saws ~ include: . wrong sow seiec/ion. It is necessary to keep saws forthe sawing of wood in accordance with their hardness. The density of the wood being cut determines the shape, pitch and the angle in addition to the speed with which the saw has to be run. With the exception of a few mills, this is generally not adhered to

15 Power consumption increases and the saw is overheated. The result is rough-cut lumber surfaces, snaking and curling of the saws. . saw Grinding Foul/s. The most common fault is over-heating due to coarse grinding, which cause fatigue cracks in the saws. Wet precision grinding is the most effective way of saw grinding that produces straight cuts. . Incorrect setting of sideways cleoronce offhe saw and bad set-up of the side dressing Inachines that lead to the production of lumber with 'very rough cut surfaces. This results in considerable waste when the lumber is further processed. Some of the In ills do not even have micrometer gauges forthe control of the sideways clearance in their saw shops. In some mills, onernoie reelh ore SIel/iied either due to ignorance or for econoinic reasons that result in similar effects on the lumber. The power consumption is increased and there is loss of strain in the saw. The ideal situation is where the cutting load is shared equally among alithe teeth . Incorrec! level/litg of the sows that causes their vibrations and snaking is the most common effect

The rough lumber surfaces and the dimensional instability caused by the faults in machine setting, improper tool maintenance and the lack of regular maintenance of the machinery is rectified by the passing of the lumber through a thicknesser or a planning machine in some of the mills. Another technique for accommodating the said inaccuracies is the use of Inuch more sawing tolerances than necessary. All these contribute towards the lowering of yield and increases waste.

In 1994, the TEDB estimated that about 8% and 2% of Sawdoctors and Sawmill Operators respectively in the wood industry had acquired some formal training. Most of the others had been trained on the job

5.24 I^' Further processing of lumber is based on its efficient drying. Downstream processing will improve revenue to the mills in addition to the conservation of the forests. It also involves a lotinore workforce than logging and saw milling and hence has potential for a positive impact on the livelihood of the people of Ghana. .

Some of the issues encountered by the TEDB Kiln Drying consultant (Stein Hellem) under the FRMP are summarised below.

Most of the several Inakes of kilns either in service or on order are seriously under- dimensioned with respect to either the heat exchanger capacity or the air circulation capacity or both. Hence some of the kilns are low cost and cheap. When the consultant asked one of the biggest suppliers of kilns in the country for quotation on a number of kilns based on proper capacity calculations, the response was that such kilns could not be supplied as they would be too expensive. There is therefore the necessity for the ~ WITC/TEDB to provide information and advice on the effect of wrongly dimensioned kiln heat/fan capacities, as this is the InOSt expensive investment that a sawmill can Inake ,

Some kiln suppliers or manufacturers had not guided the buyers properly and had supplied kilns, which are oversized in comparison with the buyers' production

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capacities. Such kilns tend to lie idle for long periods in between kiln charges. This sometimes compels some companies to mix lumber of differentthickness or species or both

Some of the computerised kilns use the wrong manually operated boilers. A lot of degrade in kiln dried lumber were attributed to the kiln operator, the kiln or the drying schedules. The managers concerned did not readily accept the blame for purchasing wrong "manual" boilers for their kilns

Other observations include . problems due to poor operating instructions forthe boiler; . improper specification for kilns and boilers before purchase; . even though the bulk of the drying will always take place at the sawmill, the furniture industry should be given a much more attention than before

Most of the requests froin the industry were in the following areas : . Gustoinised training on site (as is the case with saw milling and moulding plant operation); . case/feasibility studies for investment in new kilns; . feasibility studies for the upgrading of old kilns especially the improvement of the performance of Wells kilns of which there are more than 50 units in the country; . advice on the choicerselection, operation and maintenance of kilns and boilers; . advice on energy conservation in kiln drying and the utilisation of sawmill residues in boilers; . the utilisation of sawmill waste in power (electricity) generation.

The number of In ills with kilns increased sharply from about 27 in 1993 to about 63 at the end of 1998. The utilised kiln capacity also increased froin 279'0 in 1993 to 43% in 1998 (Sagoe, 1999). It appears that the kiln drying programme under the FanP has helped in increasing utilised installed kiln capacity over the years in question. The generally low utilised capacity at the end on 998 may be due to the existence of large chambers that are not filled for most part of any year. Another reason may be that some of the kilns may require the appropriate maintenance or upgrading to make them C operational

I Due to the promotion of downstream processing by the government, the number of dry kilns in the system is likely to increase. Ironically, the more kilns we have in the industry, the more kiln drying problems that are likely to crop up that would require the services of both the WITC and the available specialists in this field to rectify

The above facts pointto the factthat apart from the WITC Tutors being able to train in kiln operation and Inaintenance, they must also be well-versed in the equipment specification, selection, upgrading, construction principles (including the calculations of ~ heat and air capacities in a kiln), the economics of kiln operation in addition to the principles of boiler construction and operation. The tutQrs must have adequate practical experience so as to be able to win the confidence of the industry abouttheir capacity to deliver both training, extension and consultancy services.

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Markerin o Lumber The ISO Standards and the SATA grading rules allow a tolerance of about 10% for defects. But it appears the producers in Ghana do not usually take this into consideration to their own detriment.

Generally, demands of the Inarket dictate production planning in Ghana. The sawmill manager under such circumstances has no time to select logs according to market specifications or established standards - especially with regards to length. The result is considerable losses in the log yard as short logs. Any customer whose demands deviate from the standard measurements should be made to pay a special price to cater for the loss that Inay ensue froin the production of such non-standard sizes.

The training in the grading of lumber and other wood products by the WITC must therefore be given the proper attention

5.25 Mouldin PlantO eration The following is an account of the state of the moulding sector of the wood industry which is based Inainly on several visits and assistance to the industry under the FRMP by the then Moulding Mill Specialist, Mr. A. Solli.

A lot of second-hand Inoulding Inachines have been bought by the mills concerned as with regards to the other sectors of the wood industry. Some of the machines are so old that either the existing standard tools do not fit them or that the company of their manufacture have ceased operation. It appears that no appropriate advice is sought before the nTachinery is purchased. A Inajority of the moulding machines in the system were ordered equipped with universal spindle instead of a fixed horizontal one that produces better quality Inoulded profiles

The state of repair of most of the moulding machines aside, poorthrough feed of boards into the Inoulding machines were observed to be among the most common problems encountered in the Inoulding mills. This was found to originate in the in terms of poor sawing accuracies and poor kiln drying of lumber.

. In the sawmill, one can accept a tolerance of about 1-2 min as lumber is a raw Inaterial for further processing. On the other hand, moulded products are finished products and

I the tolerances in standardised moulded profiles are often not more than ^ 0.5 mm. Factory overhauled second hand machinery can achieve such results. But the state of most of the old/second-hand moulding machines in existence are such that skill development in their operation and the proper tooling alone would not suffice to attain the necessary tolerances and qualities required for moulded products. Coinprehensive overhaul of the old/second hand moulding machines would have to be undertaken where it is possible. In some cases, the Inachinery in the saw shop and saw milling machinery may have to be treated likewise for effective results ~

There is generally a lack of understanding of moulding Inachine operation among the supervisors and production Inariagement. A majority'of the factories that undertake moulding use loose profile knives and very few understand the importance of solid cutters. Most of the firms involved consequently have only profile copy grinders for serrated knives. Only a few of the companies have grinders for solid profile cutters. The

18 .

relationship between the chosen number of knives on the cutter and the set feed speed is not understood. Square cutter heads that have been banned in most countries are also common. The dust extraction systems are in some cases inadequate

There are insufficient moulding tools and tool maintenance machines. The moulding machines and tools are in general not set correctly. The grinding of blank or serrated knives as well as T&G cutters is wrongly done. The art of balancing knives on cutter heads is not well known. The inadequate tools and tooling facilities limit the product range to a few such as dowels, tongue and grove (T&G), and sauna boards. The latter products nevertheless also require the utilisation of solid profile cutters to ensure consistent and high quality production

5.2.6 Veneer and PI The Installed peeling and slicing equipment are mainly Italian and German origin, while a few are American and French. The year of Inariufacture ranging between the late 1930's and 1950. There are, however, some plyinills with relatively new machinery These include SBS(Kumasi), BRM(FantiNyankumasi), Oti Yeboah Complex(Sunyani), Pillar Wood(Kumasi) and Star Sawmills (Takoradi)

There is over dependence on foreign personnel in the veneer and plymills

Some of the observations with respectto the reasons why InOSt of the plywood produced in Ghana do not InGet export standards are summarised by the various stages on the production line as follows. They are based on the works by Dr. JUTaj Mahut from 1991 to 1997, under both the Swedish BITS graderstraining programme and the FRMP when allthe plymills in the country were visited at least thrice

Bark removal. Debarking is usually done after log steaming. Some dirt and bark remain on the surfaces of the bolts/flitches and cause blunting of knives and create nicks on the knife-edges. Some of the mills do not debark at all and the bolts are peeled dirty. These cause knife marks on veneer that in many cases represent up to 509'0 of the manufacturing defects. It is therefore very important that only perfectly debarked and

cleaned bolts and hitches are sent to the peelers and slicers respectively ,

Sowing of bons ondimches. This is mainly done with held by the free hand This cause uneven and awry cut which result in considerable volume loses during peeling. With such a cut surface, the bolt cannot be held securely in the spindles leading to the peeling of thick and thin veneer. The bolts Inay also rotate independently at the ends of the spindles as a result

In a majority of the plymills, there is no precise calculation of the necessary over- measurement to be added to the length of the boltto cater for shrinkage from drying and the subsequent trimming of the plywood. This results in large volumes of rejects as ~ under-sized veneer lengths after peeling.

Sledming of bons and/niches. In most factories no Control of temperature and time (steaming regimes) is done causing over- or under-steaming of the bolts/flitches, which affectthe quality of the veneer surfaces. The steaming pits also tend not to be properly insulated by the covers. This results in differential temperatures between the top and the

19 bottom of the pit (uneven steaming). The surface quality of the veneer produced is affected. The other effect is veneer end splitting and variations in veneer thickness These defects lead to high consumption of glue during plywood production and low glue bond quality

Centring andchorging of blocks. The Inajority of plymills in Ghana lack any optical or mechanical device for centring the blocks in the peeler machines. Centring errors result in losses in the yield and quality of veneer

Veneer Peeling und slicing. Most of the peeling machines are old and ill maintained Hence there are undesired Inovements or vibrations of machine parts due to wear and tear. These manifest themselves in the forIn of uneven veneer thickness as well as checks and shelling in the veneer. The glue bond quality and glue consumption is also adversely affected

. A very common degrading factor is the wrong setting of the pressure bar and knife and the lack of the proper setting instruments. Most of the observed manufacturing defects are due to this. Such defects include variations in veneer thickness, which cause end and centre buckling of the veneer.

Large quantities quality peeler cores of the prime species with average diameters ranging between 40cin and SOCin are disposed of due to the use of big diameter spindles in the veneer lathe. This is a Inajor contributor to losses in yield in the plymills. Some of the plymills saw the quality peeler cores for pallet manufacturing and other purposes Upgrading of the peeling lathes to incorporate retractable spindles or the use of the appropriate spindles in the peeling lathe can decrease the core diameters and increase the yield of peeled veneer. Such a modification will also facilitate the utilisation of big diameter branches to improve recovery from the forest and increase plywood production

Clipping of veneer. A proper clipping regime is one that uses two cross and two lengthwise clippers, which prevent the turning of the veneer during clipping. The latter causes a lot of damage to the veneer as well as inaccuracies. It is also necessary to have

a well-trained operator with a quick mind and a good knowledge in the grading of . veneer or the defects to be clipped off

\ I Veneer drying. Usually no initial moisture content is taken to determine the appropriate drying regime. The drying process is determined by the expected final moisture content which usually result in the over drying of the veneer with great variability in the moisture content of the dried veneer sheets. The result is buckled and very fragile veneer as well as splitting and case hardening effects in the case of thicker veneers. The latter defects create difficulties in gluing of especially peeled veneer. Over drying or under drying of veneer always lead to problems in further processing.

~ Regular final moisture content is done but usually with imprecise moisture meters. In some factories, no cooling sections are used after drying and this result in poor glue bond quality. J

Veneer Joiniing and Repairing. In most of the mills, there is lack of the requisite machinery and a well-developed technique for veneer jointing and repairing. This

20 causes gaps and overlaps in some of the plywood produced. In some plymills, veneer pieces are just placed sided by side in the assembly. This also decreases the quality of the plywood tremendously

Due to the lack of sanding machinery in certain ply mills, jointed face and back veneers are placed with the paper tape oriented in the glue line. Such a technique leads to the splitting and opening of the jointed outer veneers and de-lamination of the outer sheets concerned during usage

Glue Apptrco!ion and Plywoodprodt, ction. The main influence on the final quality of the plywood is the glue bond and the pressing efficiency. Glue mixing is very often carried out using imprecise methods and recipes. In general the roller spreaders used in the spreading of glue are in bad shape and hence are unable to spread glue on the veneers efficiently.

The amount and quality of glue that is spread is very rarely controlled or not controlled at all. There is no testing of glue and glue mixture due to the lack of the requisite laboratory facilities. Occasionally, the viscosity of the glue is tested with the Ford Cup, which is a very imprecise method. Some of the producers have the tendency to mix the glue with high amounts of fillers and extenders to save costs. The result is very poor glue bond quality. The testing of glue bonds is rarely done. When it is done the Chisel Method that is imprecise and not recognised by the ISO is used.

The majority of plywood producers use urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin, which is generally used as interior plywood only under low humidity conditions and indoors Hence they are not appropriate forthe high humidity conditions in Ghana. But it can be used forthe production of interior plywood for export

Most of the plywood should be produced with phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resin, which result in better quality and Inuch longer-lasting exterior plywood. PF is however more expensive than UF

There is a general lack of knowledge of the pressing parameters for the production of plywood including the calculation of the temperature, Inariometer pressure and pressing e time required in accordance with the specifications of the pressing plant in use. It usually takes a long time for the presses to be filled and this causes the glue to cure before the application of pressure. Some of the producers tend to use the same temperature (i. e. abt. 120 'C) for both the UF and the PF resins. Such a temperature destroys the UF glue while it is not sufficient for the PF resins. Hence the quality of plywood is consequently adversely affected.

Trimming andSondihg. The wrong saws are used forthe trimming operations leading to fuzzy and hairy cuts at the edges of the panels. The plywood is usually not rectangular due to incorrecttrimming techniques. ~

Sanding of plywood is generally not done except forthose mills producing for export J

21 Grading of Plywood. The typical defects in the industry are undersized or oversized plywood as a result of the application of the wrong panel assembly techniques and the non-inclusion of the appropriate required over measurements

No tests of the glue bond quality are undertaken in accordance to either BS or ISO standards. There appears to be lack of knowledge in this area in general. There are usually no Inarkings on the plywood according to Grid-use, dimensions, quality according to appearance, trade Inark of the producer and mark and name of the grader When the plywood does getinarked, it is Inainly the trade mark of the producer which is shown

Grading rules for veneer and plywood have been compiled in 1992 under the direction of the FPIB and based on the ISO standards. These require being field tested and given the necessary legal backing for its implementation.

810roge of plywood. A lot of damage is done to the produced plywood at this stage. Plywood sheets are usually piled on unevenly placed battens that cause deformations of the sheets. Other rough handling and wrong storage conditions such as bad ventilation, rapid changes in the humidity of the air in the store as well as the laying of the sheet bundles on the bare floor in the store predispose the plywood panels to fungi and borer attack.

It is the policy of the Ghana government to promote downstream processing. There also has been a significant increase in the number of ply In ills and veneer mills in the country since 1994 and the problems elaborated above still persist in most of the factories. Between 1994 and 1999, the numbers of ply mills and veneer mills have increased from 9 to 16 and from 15 to 25 respectively (TEDB),

The factors that hinder the production of export quality plywood has already been comprehensiveIy analysed as above. They are a combination of the conditions of the machines and the skills required in their operation. Even though there is a great deal of reliance on the use of expatriates in the ply mills, export grade plywood is only produced in only a few cases. Veneer and plywood production is therefore one of the priority areas that must be taken seriously by the WITC. Unfortunately, this is also the C discipline that the WITC is least equipped, both in terms of facilities and personnel, to handle

5.27 FurnitureProduction The past observations on the furniture industry from the available literature are discussed below. They include conclusions from works by the FIRA, CDl, the FRMP and the USAID

Obsolescence of mochinery ond their improper IQyoz, I also prevails in the ~ furniture industry. An assessment of the Inachinery of 20 furniture firms that intend to Inove to the proposed Nkinkasie Wood Village indicated that only 4 of them had professional and durable machines that can be used for the most frequent standard operations (Nilsson, 1994)

22 ,

rimber Drying. In general, the timber used for furniture production is air-dried which result in a moisture content of about 15-20% if the drying is allowed to continue for about 2 to 6 months depending on the season. A considerable amount of lumber is sold on the local timber Inarkets to the small and mediuin scale firms where the timber is usually not allowed to dry sufficiently. Kiln drying of lumber is mainly undertaken by some of the large-scale furniture factories. In order to export furniture, it is required that the lumber used is dried to about 6-10%. The establishment of communal kilns for the small and mediuin scale furniture producers would be invaluable in the am61ioration of the setback with respect to the lack of proper drying of lumber for furniture manufacture

Mass production rechni'ques, the use of jigs and specialisation are not well established But these techniques are very important in the delivery of large orders of consistent dimensions and quality on schedule and at competitive prices. These are important pre- requisites for entering the export market

Finishing. The wrong types of abrasives are generally used both for wood sanding as well as for sanding sealer. The lacquers used usually have low solid matter content, which requires several layers of coating to achieve an acceptable finish. Importers who are ignorant aboutthe actual needs of the furniture industry supply these consumables There is also lack of the proper equipment for the application of paints/lacquers as well as for the drying of the painted products. The spray guns used are in most cases more suitable for repair ortouch up work than for continuous application of lacquer and paint (KGN, 1994)

Furnitz, re Design. Few furniture factories are involved in design for the exportinarket The factories usually operate as sub-contractors, producing to order against a supplied model or set of drawings

Markering of Farmii"re. Most of the furniture manufacturers are not able to produce to meet the requirements of the export markets. The designs are inappropriate, the finish is often poor, the prices tend not to be competitive and the delivery times are usually not met. The knowledge of the best way to gain access to the export market is also lacking

. Under the ERP, some credit assistance was given to a few furniture factories to upgrade their equipment so as to improve their export potential. The effect of this was assessed to be insignificant and was attributed to the same reasons as discussed above.

~

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23 Number of Units Number of Units

,. t at ,. . , ^, ^ I.

is

^^ co co , ,\ .^ is

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^, I ^ ^ 111;^^^ ^ ^ ^ H , . Z! . < ^ , ^ @

i. ; ^ ,. 5.3. The WoodlndustriesTrainingCentre

53.1 Historical Back round The Ghana Government/World Bank Economic Rehabilitation Project (ERP, 1983- 1988) was formulated to revive the principal foreign eXchange earners of Ghana's economy including the forestry sector. The manority of the disbursement of the ERP credits to the sector wentto logging equipment(about 50%), while the sawmills and the furniture/tertiary In ills received about 35% and 9% respectively. Even though selected firms were assisted to acquire new and up-to-date machinery, the training of operators for such machines was not considered.

The World Bank assisted Forest Resources Management Project (FRMP, 1989-1997) followed the ERP. The establishment of the WITC, Akyawkrom via Kumasi, in addition to the rehabilitation of the Institute of Renewable Natural Resources(IRNR), Kumasi, and the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), Kumasi, were undertaken under the FRMP. These were in response to the gap in human resources development in the forestry sector - especially the factory floor personnel - that was ignored under the ERP.

Even though there' are various polytechnics and vocational institutions, which provide basic education in wood processing, such courses are found to be inadequate to meetthe needs of the wood industry. The WITC was consequently established in 1996 to train factory floor personnel for the wood industry including supervisors and machine operators.

The mission statement of the WITC as indicated in the 1996 training programme is :

"The Woodlndz!styles Training Centre (!717C) wos seiwp wiih Ihe o41'ective of providing a centre dyexce/funcejbr Ghono'SIbresiindt, siry sector by Ihe Timber Expori Developmeni Board (TEDB) and !he Foresi Products Irispec!10n Bureau (:F'FIB) with ihe assistancejbrm the WorldBonk

WITC's "213si'on is to provide Iechni'cal Qnd management froming,

consulioncy ond extension services 10 !he wood-based indusiry to enswre . <#icien! cupacity, developmenion a swsiai'noble basis

./ 11 is perceived that by Ihe year 2005, WITC will be Ihe lead^^g irisiit"lion within Ihe EGOJP, 48 sub-region dyering high quality 11ai'rimg, consulioncy, exiensi'on and OPPropri'ore technology ironyer services In OSpecis of downsireom processing. The cenire will oko develop anysi CIOss wood Indusiry lintber ireformaiion centre

The obove vision will be achieved with Ihe continuing slippori and/ifndihg from the TEDB, ihe FFIB, Ihe limber associations In Ghana, the World ~ Bank andotherIntomanorial Donorrlgencies/Organisations. "

25 .

53.2 CurrentTrainin Pro rainmesand Services

Cowrses Since 1996 when the WITC was established, short-term courses with Inaximum duration of five days have been organised in the various aspects of the following disciplines: . Forest planning and logging; . sawinilling; . saw doctoring and tooling; . drykilnoperations . Inoulding/planerplantoperations; . wood machining for small-scale carpenters including the use of portable power tools; . Business management for small-scale carpenters; . lumber grading; . budgeting and costing, and . computer training for personnel in the timber industry including the use of Auto Cad in furniture design

The sponsorship of such short courses is mainly by the industry

Publicity of the courses is through half-yearly programmes that are prepared by the centre and sent out to the industry. This is followed up with letters about a fortnight to the commencement of each course. In addition, advertisements are placed in the local dailies in some cases

In 1997, formal nine-month courses in dry kiln operations and saw doctoring were introduced with about 10 trainees in each batch. The formal courses include about six month's attachment to the industry. It was learnt from the tutors that, with a few exceptions, InOSt of the mills do cooperate with respectto the attachment of students in training to their establishments. Unless such industrial attachments are closely monitored by the WITC Tutors, the trainees Inay pick up some of the bad habits in the industry, C

These formal courses are attended by students about 90-100% of who finance themselves. Allthe graduates from these courses are said to find employment after graduation. But it is necessary that the intake is carefully gauged such that the markets for the skills in question are not saturated

The contents of the courses in the published training programmes are stated in broad terms with no time distribution for theory and practical.

Putro"is"tio" o Cowrses The participation in the short-courses according to the WITC 1998 annual report is ~ shown in Table 5.1 below. Such courses were focused on atternpts to solve the prevailing skill problems in the wood industry

26 According to the tutors interviewed at the WITC, patronisation of the centre is mostly by wholly owned Ghanaian firms. This may be attributed to the fact that most of the other category of wood industry firms depend a great deal on expatriate workers on the factory floor

Table 5.1: Sarinmory of Panicjpo!ion in Courses in 1998 Course No. No. of Average per Run participants course Saw milling 5 34 7 Saw doctoring 3 26 9 Moulding Plant Ops 4 27 7 Kiln Drying 5 39 8 Business Management 3 12 4 Computers 2 2 Furniture/Joinery 4 9 2 Total 25 149 6

According Table 5.1, the participation was better with respect to saw milling, saw doctoring, moulding plant operation and kiln drying. It is however surprising that furniture production with allits problems was not patronised as expected. The lack of adequate equipment at the school for the training in furniture may have contributed to this

The computer training courses appear to be competing with those offered by other similar training schools outside the WITC. Hence, the low patronisation as above. The subjects that are taught include word processing, spreadsheets and AutoCAD. Currently most of the mills also do not have computers

The WITC Computer Department is looking into the possible commercialisation of the spare capacity at the centre. Even though this is a laudable idea, its practicality would be hampered by the fact that InOSt of the prospective users of the facility are far away in Kumasi where such services abound

Q The WITC courses are currently being heavily subsidised by the TEDB. Yet some mills are of the opinion that since the TEDB deducts I% levy from their exports, courses should be sponsored by the TBDB to train say selected Senior Secondary School(SSS) graduates fully in the relevant disciplines to serve as a pool of skilled personnel for employment by the industry

CMstomised Tr"mm Customised training have been carried out in saw milling, saw doctoring and kiln drying for some small- and Inedium-scale wood industry firms. In 1998, about five of such firms were covered

~ The WITC currently does not have the capacity to undertake effective customised training on factory premises in the other relevant disciplines due to the shortage of adequately trained staffwith the requisite experience to cover the wide range makes of machinery in the wood industry in Ghana. As has been observed before by the TEDB

27 consultants during the FRMP, most of the machinery may require extensive repairs or even overhaul before any proper training can be undertaken on them

Cons"franc ""of Extensionservices As in the case of customised training, this has been confined mostly to saw milling machinery Inaintenance (including pulley grinding, alignment of head rigs, change of bearings etc. ) saw doctoring, tooling and kiln drying. The patronisation are mainly by the small- and Inedium-scale wood industry firms. Saw doctoring and tooling appear to be main thrust in this case with over fifty of such firms having their saws and tools maintained by the centre in 1998

Under the FRMP when some consultants were attached to the WITC, very few requests were received from the industry. These came in only when the obsolete machines had been brought in or broke down. The consultants concerned had to visit wood industry firms whether they had asked for it or not. Initially the industry was apprehensive of the TEDB team of consultants due to past experiences with institutions such as FORIG, which lacked the necessary industrial experience and attitude to be of any help to them The industry opened up and developed confidence in the TEDB team when positive practical results were achieved in certain mills.

The experienced staffs of the WITC have to be provided with the relevantresources and motivated to adopt a similar strategy ifthe schoolis to make any impact on the wood industry at all.

Proof"ctio" Activities The purpose of such activities is the generation of funds to support the activities of the centre

The WITC produces T&G, corner battens and panel doors with lumber from mainly Ehwia Wood Products Ltd. (EWP) for sale. The centre also undertakes custom milling of T&G. It has been calculated that the average recovery from the centre's won production is about 68% while that for the custom In illing is about 45%. The latter has been attributed to the low accuracy in the sawing of lumber by the bush mills, which are

the Inain source of raw material with respect to Gustoin sawing .

Some Comments rom tile J"of"sir

\ It was learnt that the patronisation of the WITC courses have been on the decline over the years' Some of the mill owners interviewed are of the opinion that the calibre and experience of the tutors at the WITC should in general be higher than the trainees for the courses to be beneficial to the industry. Others are also of the opinion that there is virtually nothing new to learn from some of the courses.

The WITC has organised a few training in logging with the assistance of specialists froin the Forestry Department. Some of the informed opinion interviewed were of the ~ view that there was nothing new in the logging training programmes and may not attend such courses again in the future. It is therefore necessary that new and environmentally sound concepts such as the LIL be introduced to the industry.

Some of the large firms interviewed indicated that they would be prepared to send their tools to the WITC for sharpening and Inaintenance if they could be convinced that

28 quality work can be done at the centre. One area that would be of interest to them is the stelliting of saws. As at the time of this study, the saw shop at the centre had no stelliting machine as well as side-dressers

The attendance of seminars and workshops for managers and mill owners is said to be generally very poor even if they are run free of charge. This may be attributed to the same reasoning as above

The tutors have also observed that the state of repair of most of the machinery in the industry does not facilitate the practice of what has been taught at the centre by some of the students at their places of work. In this respect, the opinions of most of the mill owners differ. The latter are of the view that custom training on the mills own machinery would be preferred as the machinery used for training at the WITC in most cases differ from that with respect to the individual firms. Due to the lack of skilled personnel on the factory floor, most of the mills are also unwilling to release their workers for training outside their premises

There is the tendency for scarce skilled labour to change jobs frequently. It is therefore the contention of some of the Inill owners or managers that money spent on sponsoring training will go to waste, as the sponsored worker is not likely to stay on after acquiring new skills. Some of the mills that have sponsored workers before do not motivate them to stay after their skills have improved. Such workers therefore have the tendency to find Inore rewarding employment. Nevertheless, the view that performance and not formal training does matter is prevalent in the wood industry.

Some of the large mill owners interviewed would also prefer training on site so as to get their workers to appreciate the companies' work ethics. These are basically those that have the heads of most of their technical departments as expatriates. In such cases, the expatriates who are usually above the supervisor level act as trainers on site. One of such large companies is also linked to the African Management Services Company (AMSCO) based in the Netherlands. AMSCO pays for 50% of the training cost of the staff of companies linked to them. It Inay be necessary for the qualification of such expatriate staffto be controlled for their genuineness and quality.

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29 53.3 Current WITC TechnicalStaffand Trainin Facilities

TMtors The current staffing of the WITC is as follows:

Table 5.2: The Stqffi"g ofth, WITC Tutor/Tech. Staff Qualification and Work Experience I. F. Hans CStrein Technical Director 2. 1.0. K. Gyamfi Dep. Director, Ag. Head, Wood Processing Department. 3. E. K. Markin Head, Wood Processing Department 4. I. A. Sagoe Kiln Drying Consultant 5. A. K. Koomson Head, Training & Consultancy Dept. 6. Kwasi Lumor Head, Saw doctoring/Saw milling 7. S. A. Bayd-Awuah Principal Instructor, Saw doctoring 8. E. Adu-Fukuo Srir. Engineer, Kiln Drying 9. AN. Allah Officer, Wood Processing 10. Sammy Dolphine Assistant Training Officer, Computer Dept 11. Josepli Oduro Principal Technician, Furniture Production 12. Mensah K. Salnpson Principal Technician, Furniture Production

The details of the qualifications and experience of the staffcan be found in Appendix 4. It can be seen from Appendix 4 that the range of skills and experience that are currently available at the WITC do not suffice to coverthe requirements of the wood industry as determined in chapter 6.1. The relevant qualifications are concentrated in the areas of furniture and cabinet Inaking, wood technology, saw doctoring and mechanical/plant engineering. Most of these qualifications have been obtained at the diploma and certificate levels. Some of the trainers Inay therefore have to be re-trained in the fields not covered by the existing staff.

The resource persons or firms that have been used to date is summarised in Table 5.3 below.

Table 5.3: Resource Persons/Organi'sonons to Ihe WITC Resource Discipline Organisation/Firm Persons/Firms , I. Dan Amto Costing and Cost Control Ehwia Wood Products Ltd. , Kumasi FORIG I 2. Dr. Yartey Plywood Production 3. John Darko Marketing Consultant GDC 4. J. Nsiah Boiler Specialist KNUST 5. Jecty & Co. Ltd. Management & Business Consultants 6. Ben-Gift & Co. Ltd Human Resources Development, Logging and Harvesting

S"wini/Jin E "i merit ~ There were no saw In illing equipment at the WITC as at the time of this study. It is learnt that there is a proposal for theoretical training in saw milling to be undertaken at the WITC and complemented with practical training in%In industrial environment at the Ehwia Wood Products (EWP), Kumasi. In this respectthe divestiture of the EWP has been suspended.

30 There are two production lines at the EWP. It is planned that one of them be used for normal commercial production for export (TEDB). The results of a feasibility study in 1994 for the renovation of the other line (a Canali sawmill) for training are yet to be implemented. Untilthe renovation is done, the utility ofEWP for the intended purpose would be very limited.

SawDoctori" & Tooli" E at merit The deficiencies in the equipment at the sawshop at the WITC include . semi-automatic stellitetippingmachines; . side grinder machines; . universal grinder for sawblades, face grinding of solid cutters, router bits; . automatic levelling machine; . circularsawtensioning Inachine; . knife grinder for longer knives (max. 800 mm) for planers, thicknessers etc. . MIGarc-welding machine

KilnDr in E "i merit The shell of a small experimental kiln has been built at the WITC. The fittings are on order and are yet to arrive for its completion. This is a low cost demonstration kiln with a locally Inade boiler

Under the on-going European Union/Ghana Government LUS Project, a new kiln has been placed on order forthe WITC.

There is another experimental kiln (I in' capacity) at the FORIG, Kumasi, which has not functioned properly since it was donated to it in 1993 due to a replaceable electrical switch. This kiln has the potential of being used for the development of kiln drying schedules and also fortraining. Close cooperation between the WITC and the FORIG in these aspects is essential

The EWP also hasthe only modern kiln with a computerised controlsystem (Nardi kiln) that may be available to the WITC fortraining of operators.

Mowldin Pm"tM"chiner C The is a 4-side moulding Inachine. Adequate cutting tools for the Inachine is required

Veneer andPl woodM"chiner This is non-existent at the WITC. Due to its importance to the introduction ofLUS and furniture Inariufacture, this requires to be given a higher attention than hitherto.

There is however equipinent for plywood testing which has been acquired recently and yet to be installed and utilised.

F"r"it"reproof"ctio" Machiner ~ Some of the equipment required includes push-bench ripsaw, belt sander, tenoner, dowelinaker and finishing equipment. The existing thicknessers are also of the type not that are meant for heavy-duty work

A"ofio Pts""ISE at merit The overhead projectorrequires upgrading. A good projection panelis also needed.

31 ^ The WITC has twenty single and ten executive rooms in the campus hostel for students from outside the Kumasi area

53.4 Review of Some Su ested Curricula forthe WITC Training NeedsS"rvey (1994) The Training Needs Survey (TEDB, 1994) indicated the urgent need for short and refresher/upgrading courses for experienced machine operators and factory floor supervisors - with or without formal education - in all sectors of the wood industry The recommended entrance requirements and structure for the upgrading courses however suggest training for managerial positions. For instance, it would take two and three years to train a certificate and diploma student respectively according to the survey. The organisation of much shorter re-fresher courses as is currently being done at the WITC, on the other hand, would be more appropriate in the short-term. The curriculuin proposed in the report also includes wood technology at only the diploma level. It would however be desirable to include basic wood science in all courses except for the illiterate students where even a more simplified version can be taught. The basic understanding of the raw Inaterial - wood - is a necessity for alltechnical staff of the wood industry.

USA/D Proposals A very comprehensive "Cornculuin for Human Resource Development for the WITC" has been coinpiled (Lubeck, 199. ..) with emphasis on furniture production. The report includes an extensive description of machinery and tools that are necessary for efficient furniture production. The durations of the proposed course Inodules range from one to five days except for furniture finishing and quality control, which extend for two weeks and one week respectively. Such timings can be considered to be adequate for introductory purposes.

It would, however, have been very useful if the modules had been prioritised , with a Inove froin existing wood industry problems towards progressive skills upgrading to manufacture identified products required by an identified market. I Frograinmes for Furniture Designers have been proposed. But this skillis virtually non-existent in the country

OwnerManagers have been included in the target groups. But these need more exposure to the economics of the upgrading of machinery and the adoption of new production technologies in order to facilitate critical decision-making on the 11nprovement of their production facilities ~

Kiln Drying orRMP) J A syllabus has been proposed by the Kiln Drying Specialist under the FRMP which contains a framework for courses in wood drying to be run at the WITC. It covers both the old traditional air drying, and modern kiln drying.

32 The structure of the syllabus is based on the need for training at alllevels. It is proposed that the courses be built on short blocks of duration of four to five days at the WITC, with intermissions of normal factory work. Eventually, there is supposed to be a short formal examination, in order to give the participants certificates after completion of the entire course content

5.3.5 Someofthe ConstraintsFacin the WITC The constraints that were identified by this study include: . the existing number of tutors and their industrial experience is not adequate to cover allthe technical skills required to meet the needs of the wood industry in terms of training, extension services and consultancy; . up-grading of Tutors' skills both locally and/or overseas to reflect modern trends in the wood industry is generally lacking. It has taken place mainly with respect to kiln drying. In some cases grants are received for overseas visits which are not related to the area of specialty of the one who receives the award; . some of the current tutors are near their retiring ages. Plans are needed for their eventual replacement; . lack of adequate logistics especially vehicles. There are therefore no regular follow-ups of trainees during and after graduation to monitor the students' performance. The extension and consultancy work is also adversely affected There was only one pickup to cover allthe cited necessary functions of the WITC at the time of the study; . incomplete array of training machinery for some of the courses; . low budgetary allocation fortraining materials and consumables; . the WITC is top-heavy with administrative staff. This may pose problems forthe centre should it be required that it is self-financing; . the calibre of the staffofthe WITC aside, the schoolis not marketing its services effective Iy to the industry enough. Frequent direct contacts with or visits to the Inariagement of the wood industry are notthe current norm. Butthis is essential in the continuous identification of the industry's needs. This has been also been attributed to the lack of adequate logistical support C

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33 6, GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

6.1 The WITC'sMissionStatement

The mission statement of the WITC sets up laudable goals for the centre. Their achievement are dependent on the medium- to long-term commitment and capacity of the assumed funding agencies in supporting the centre. Currently, there is no written commitment froin any one of them exceptthe TBDB. There has, however, been some assistance from the USAID and the CTZ in the provision of some literature and the current technical director respectively. This is an important area that requires an urgent attention if the WITC is to sustain the provision of the required services to the wood industry in Ghana in particular and the ECOWAS region in general. In the long-term, it is expected that the WITC should be as financially independent as possible and plans in this direction requires to be worked out

There has been little support from the industry to forest industry technical training. It is assumed that the levies that are deducted by the TEDB and FPIB from the exports by the industry should be adequate to compensate forthe desired support from the industry Whether this is justifiable needs to be investigated further

The WITC management would have to be proactive in finding solutions to meet the requirements of the wood industry in terms of skilled manpower to cope with both the existing machinery and the anticipated technology changes. This is the only way to sustain the interest of the industry in the school as well as quality delivery of trained manpower by the WITC

Any production technique/skills that is introduced by the WITC must be appropriate to the level of resource endowment and technological development of the wood industry at the time. Skill development must be complemented with realistic financial packages for the acquisition of the relevant equipment and tools and supported with marketing so as to sustain their adoption where necessary. Otherwise, there will be the temptation to slip back to the "old ways" as has happened with many of the past skill upgrading programmes. This is particularly relevantto the introduction of the various hand tools in

furniture production by the small-scale operators C

I 6.2 Skills Requirement by the Wood Industry

The current status of the machinery in the wood industry in Ghana, as culled from the literature and interviews with informed opinion, indicate the necessity in a majority of cases for extensive repairs and/or overhaul of machinery to make them efficient and also reduce waste in the processing of timber

Poor saw doctoring and band saw maintenance have been identified as some of the ~ major causes for low overall recovery in the sawmills. Upgrading or overhaul of second-hand/old saw doctoring, band saws and moulding Inachines would be required in In OSt cases to Inake the In In ore productive. ,

34 There appears to be no adequate training in such fields as the construction of machines, machine operation and maintenance, tool sharpening, production and operations management, factory layout, production quality control

A more practical approach in the training programmes is thus required. These facts call for a basic and more practical knowledge in the design, construction, fitting and setting of wood processing machinery (especially with respect to saw milling, downstream processing, veneer and plywood machinery) and the related tooling by the trainers of the WITC. This is the only way that the WITC can cope with the great variety of old and sometimes obsolete Inachinery in the industry so as to be able to make the desired impact on the wood industry

Apart from several factories with an excellent designing, layout and very up to date machinery, majority of industries show lack of experience and knowledge in designing and planning of wood processing factories.

Due to the great variety in the makes of the moulding machinery in the country, most of the mills prefer customised training of their operators on their own machines at their sites. This is a field where a very experienced Tutor is required for its success. The Teacher would be taken away from the WITC Inachineto one that may be more familiar to the trainee than the trainer.

Requests for customised training on site and equipment servicing were on the increase during the final stages of the FRMP and have continued thereafter for the small and medium scale firms.

There is also inefficient use of raw Inaterials, inefficient production methods as well lack of proper production planning and costing routines. Marketing is also undertaken inefficiently

The skillrequirements of the wood industry is summarised as follows:

WoodProcessi"gM"chinery

. Fitting and setting of machines/related tooling and preventive maintenance of C machinery including layout of production lines and the transportation of work in progress in the factory;

Saw milling ""of Kiln Drying . Saw doctoring and Tooling (cutters - solid and disposables, knives, circular saws, band saws); . Sawmilling; . Kiln Drying including boiler maintenance and operation.

Downstre"in Processing ~ . Veneer and Plywood Production;

. Moulding Plant Operation; , . Furniture design and Production (including ergonomics and mass production techniques -jigs, hand tools, furniture finishing methods. etc, );

35 Production Process Control . Production and OperationsManagement . Production Economics(Budgeting and costing) . Material(logs and finished products) handling and storage methods

It is envisaged that the above disciplines would be the priority areas that the WITC should tackle

6.3 Training Requirements of the WITC Tutors

The available Tutors would require further training in order to be effective. Currently their numbers and experience are inadequate. Hence, there appear to be hesitations on the part of the management of the schoolto send them on long training courses. Most of the existing Tutors have also not upgraded their skills since graduation. The only in- service training of the WITC Tutors on record (i. e. the 1998 annual report) has been in the area of computer appreciation including Auto CAD LT, spreadsheets and word processing

The exposure of the WITC tutors to kiln drying was given much more attention than boiler operations under the FRMP. Most of the mills use steam boilers, conventional water boilers and pressurised water boilers that are complex and require the appropriate training for the tutor to be able to grasp the issues involved. The tutor must also be able to assist the industry with respect to feasibility studies where necessary. This will Gritail specialisation in the relevant aspects of physics, wood technology, engineering thermodynamics and combustion in addition to aerodynamics

With respect to 1110ulding plant operation, the WITC trainers need more PIacii'cal training on how to operate the moulding machine in practice before they can undertake advanced courses beyond the basic/foundation courses. Their experience and insight are considered not to be complete (Solli, 1997).

Any training of tutors that is undertaking either locally or overseas must be appropriate to the prevailing level of technological development in the wood industry at the time C The introduction of advanced skills and technology must be done gradually so as to enable the industry to grasp and adoptthe concepts adequately. I

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A summary of the priority areas and the training needs required is given in Table 6.1 below.

Table 6.1: Required Training Needs/by the WITC Tutors in Ihe Priority oreos Manning List Training Needs -the basic properties of the machined Inaterial - wood; - principles of selection and construction of machinery; machinery for inter-operation transport, their layout in production lines including their setting and Inaintenance, calculation of their Fitters and Setters production capacity; -the principles of wood cutting, machining, and finishing including the aspects of construction of woodcutting tools, their setting in the machines and their maintenance;

Fundainentals of saw doctoring and wood machining; Wood-cutting tools, metals and materials including HSS, carbide and stellite Saw doctoring & Tooling technology; sawing machinery dynamics and alignment; knife/saw Specialist maintenance technology; wide bandsaw, and frame saw maintenance technology; saw shop brazing and welding; maintenance of solid cutters, saw shop management, Wood structure, properties and utilisation; fundamentals of wood machining; wide bandsaw mill operation; fundamentals of saw milling machinery maintenance; sawmill production and operations Saw milling Specialist management; quality controlin saw milling; mobile saw milling technology; small dialneter saw milling; computer applications in saw milling; timber drying and storage;industrial safety Loading and setting of veneer peelers and slicers, conveyor systems from peelers and slicers, principles of green and dry veneer clipping, veneer grading and stacking, veneer jointing and repairing, principles Veneer & Plywood Production of glue preparation and application, calculation of pressing Specialist parameters for plywood production, principles of panel sizing and sanding, production of shaped/moulded plywood and laminated veneer lumber, storage of plywood, testing of plywood quality. Basic physics, wood drying techniques (including wood technology, Wood Drying & Preservation aerodynamics and engineering thermodynamics and combustion), . Specialist boiler operation and maintenance. Wood structure and properties, principles of the construction of moulding Inachines, moulding Inachine setting, Inariufacture of Moulding Mill Specialist templates for different profiles, tool selection, tool and machine maintenance, principles of the design of cutters, design of dust extraction systems. Wood structure and properties, primary wood processing including wood drying and preservation, Nori-wood Inaterials for furniture Furniture Prod. Specialist production, Furniture design, construction and production economy; furniture standards and quality control, furniture production machinery, industrial safety ~ Wood Products Grading Lumber, Inouldings, veneer, plywood Specialists , (one for each field, support froniihe FPIB required)

37 7. RECOMMENDATIONS

7.1 Suggested WITC Goals

It is recommended that the WITC should spearhead the appropriate improved technology in the industry and not support Inalpractice. In this respect, the WITC and the FPIB should implement a system of technical yield (volume input/output) regulation of the industry to isolate the inefficient mills for the provision of the necessary assistance to improve their performance

The WITC should also concentrate on the training of key personnelinvolved with wood processing at the factory floor. The supervisors in the wood industry need to understand the basic principles involved in the various production activities under their care. Operators Inust understand all the practical details about how to operate the machines; the tool rooin attendant Inust understand how to maintain and set the tools (including solid cutters) properly as well as how to make his own designs of knives especially in connection with the production of mouldings. Management should on the other hand be very familiar with the economics involved in the acquisition and operation of the Inachines. They must also know how to calculate volumes and the correct prices forthe standard and non-standard products

As the over-mature timber is being harvested from the indigenous forest the sizes of the logs are also reducing. Indications are that the indigenous forest cannot supply the future raw material requirement of the wood industry. Hence, it is expected that wood will play a Inajor role in the supply of raw material to the wood In n Ia a e processing o small diameter logs is given its due attention in the WITC programmes.

71.1 Consultanc and Extension Services

In order for the WITC to be able to offer the needed industrial consultancy and extension services to the wood industry, the competence and experience of the staffto

be used Inust be recognised by the industry. The staffin question must also have a good . track record of practical accomplishments in the wood industry.

The only way for the WITC to generate interest in the industry is for experienced tutors !Jto regularly visit or consult the managers in the wood industry on their own initiative to inform them that the WITC has valuable information and services that can benefittheir businesses. The WITC "consultant" must convince the industry that the assistance being offered should be bought. The relevant tutors must also be given all the necessary support and logistics to be able to carry outtheir work

The WITC should also provide Industrial Consultancy Services in the form of assistance with the specification, selection, upgrading and maintenance of wood processing ~ equipment and the execution offGasibility studies where necessary.

, The state of repair and Inaintenance of most of the saw milling machinery will require their examination before any commercial saw doctoring is undertaken by the WITC. The relevant mills should be given the necessary feedback on the causes of the problems

38 found on the saws as well as assistance with the rectification. These would be required to sustain the interest of the customers.

Extension services to the industry including the selection of the relevant information on improved production techniques as well as on the appropriate improved technology and their dissemination to the industry should be part of the goals of the WITC.

71.2 Standards forthe Wood Industr The progress of the wood industry will be aided very much by the use of standards in the choice of production equipment and their use in production planning. The Ghana Grading Rules Consultative Council (CRCC) has prepared draft standards for logs, lumber, veneer, plywood and mouldings under the auspices of the FPIB. These are yet to be given the necessary legal backing for its adoption by the industry and the market It is necessary that this issue be followed up in earnest so that the industry can be trained by the WITC to apply them

The lack of standards encourages waste and does not facilitate production efficiency through mass production techniques, which in turn affect production costs adversely

Testi" o PIwood The WITC has acquired plywood-testing equipment. In conjunction with the FORTG, the equipment should be used to establish a central testing laboratory for the certification of the quality of plywood from all producers in Ghana for the information of both the local and the export markets. If the quality of plywood is found to be consistently below standards, the appropriate sanctions may be applied against the manufacturer concerned ifadvices for improvements are notimplemented

Tr"min o Graders The training programme for graders in the Ghana standards to be established for the wood products should include understanding of the manufacturing processes involved and their effect on the respective products' qualities, This will enable the graders to give feedback and valuable advice to production management on how to improve on the observed Inariufacturing defects ,

The possibility of the cooperation of the Training Department of the FPIB with the WITC in this aspect should be explored

Controlo O er"tors Ultimately when the WITC has become fully fletched, no one should be allowed to operate any logging or processing machinery in the timber industry unless the person is in possession of some evidence of approved formal training or a certificate/diploma from a recognised training institution - including the WITC - for the purpose. The WITC should in due course also confirm the validity of the certificate of any expatriate ~ that is employed or will employed by the wood industry in the future.

It is interesting that despite the high dependence of , fof instance, the plywood mills on expatriate technical staff, In OSt of such mills cannot produce plywood to export quality standards

39 7.2 Concepts for WITC Curricula Development

The requireinents for skills upgrading in the industry vary tremendously. Even if the industry would like to patronise the WITC training courses, they may not be willing to release their workers for long periods of time for reasons as discussed earlier on. Others in the industry have also indicated the necessity for the training of"ready-made" skilled stafffor employment by the industry.

7.2. I Su estedCourseStructure The curricula for the courses to be run at the WITC should be as flexible as possible to cater for the range of requirements by the industry as indicated above. In this respect, any curricula to be proposed should be composed of a basic structure/contents with the following options

d) A complete course covering the whole of the course contents, with each section lectured and practiced adequately which will eventually Grid up with final thesis and project and its defence to obtain a certificate or diploma; e) Individual courses based on complete major sections of the curricula, and f) Short courses focused on parts chosen from the major sections

There should be the possibility for course types by and c) to be organised as building- block systems which can eventually lead to the award of a certificate/diploma when the whole contents of a particular curriculum have been covered and a formal examination taken

Collaboration with the National Accreditation Board with respect to the recognition of the certificates that are issued by the WITC would be necessary.

The degree of intensity of treatment of the topics in the curricula will also have to vary based on the background of the trainees and their needs. There are categories of potential trainees in the industry who would require unique approaches. These include . Those with long practical experience and no formal training; , . Those with basic education and little or inadequate practical experience with respect to the appropriate skills, and . Fresh graduates (e. g. from the SSS) wishing to enter the wood industry labour market

7.22 Maria GinentTrainin Due to the current status of the WITC, it would be prudentthatthe other relevant areas of wood industry skill requirements be phased out untilthe priority areas have been firmly established. The following subjects should therefore in the short to medium term be undertaken in cooperation with the relevant institutions such as the Kumasi ~ Polytechnic. . Management J . Sales andMarketing . Administrative and Business Planning . Finance

40 72.3 Trainin inLo in It is importantthat new concepts such as the LIL with its proven benefits be introduced to the industry using external resource persons as the concept is relatively new to Ghana. In the same vein as in chapter 7.22 above, training in such a discipline should be assigned to the SFS, for instance, so that the WITC can concentrate on the more pressing aspects with respect to wood processing.

7.3 Training Requirements of the WITC Tutors The above proposed curricula design requires the training of at least one Tutor as well as one Technician who would be more practically oriented with respect to each discipline of interest. The Technician would be used for such tasks as practical demonstrations.

Based on the requirements of the wood industry as has been identified by this study, it is recommended that the training of the WITC trainers should give priority attention to the disciplines as elaborated on in chapter 6.3

The WITC Tutors Inust be trained in pedagogy as well as the relevanttechniques of extension practices. This will enable theIn to be able to impart their knowledge and also render extension services effectiveIy to the trainees and the wood industry respectively

It is recommended that forthe short- and Inedium-term specialists should be attached to the WITC as instructors to guide the local counterpart Tutors. This must be complemented with short study tours by the counterparts to selected institutions overseas

Experienced resource persons must be sponsored to fillthe modules where local skills are generally lacking such as fitting/setting/maintenance of wood processing machinery and related tooling, moulding plant operation and maintenance, veneer and plywood production, kiln drying and furniture production

Local resource persons, if they have to be used, should be carefully screened so as to ensure that bad and old-fashioned habits are nottransferred to the school C

Some of current trainers are also nearing their retiring ages. For the long-term, young trainee tutors with the appropriate background and aptitude to adopt modern technology and teaching methods should be chosen fortraining as future Tutors forthe WITC in the relevant disciplines.

7.4 Upgrade of Training facilities

7.4. I ' ~ The renovation of the Canalisawmill at the EWP should be followed up as a matter of urgency to improve the training in saw milling at the WITC. An alternative would be for the installation of a sawmillinachine at the WITC. Butthe students would benefit more from operating a Inachine in its normal environment in the production line in an industry

41 7.4. , ,^" While some sawmills may accept students for industrial attachment during and after training, most mills are unwilling to the training and the testing of kiln drying schedules on their premises (Hellem, 1996). It is therefore essential that the kilns at the WITC be completed soon so as to facilitate adequate hands-on training at the school.

A small dehumidification kiln (c. 10 or 15 in') would also be required fortraining.

7.43 Veneer and PI wood It is recommended that the WITC acquires the following smallscale peeling and slicing lines possibly with a line for plywood pressing for practical training in veneer and plywood production: . Ininiature peeler with telescopic peeling lathe (max. 1000 mm log diameter, with log charger for 750 Inax. diameter) with a reeling device; . optical centring device; . a line for plywood production including clipper, zigzag splicer, core composer, glue mixer, roller glue spreader, pre-press and hot press (up to 10 daylights), trimming saw and sander; . a smallslicer(2800 Inin size) . veneer guillotine . a small mesh drier forthe capacity of the peeler and the slicer; . plywood laboratory equipment

The existing plywood testing equipment must also be reviewed and updated where necessary.

7.4.4 Sawdoctorin andToolin The following equipment are required at the sawshop . semi-automatic stellitetipping machines; . side grinders; . universal grinder for sawblades, face grinding of solid cutters, router bits; . automaticbandsaw levelling machine; , . circularsaw tensioning machine; . knife grinder for longer knives (max. 800 min) for planers, thicknessers etc. I . MIGarc-welding machine

7.4,5 Coin uterTrainin The computer courses at the WITC would have to be focused on software with unique applications to be of interest to the wood industry. For instance, the Forest Management Support Centre (FMSC), Kumasi, has developed software packages forthe tracking the movement of logs from the bush to the milllog yards ~ It is known that InOSt mills lose a lot of raw material on their way to the mills. Hence any means of effectiveIy controlling this aspect would be of immense help to the industry. This is one of the areasthat FMSC and the WITC Computer Department could cooperate to deliver beneficial services to the wood industry.

42 Another area that may be considered by the Computer Department is the use of Geographic Inforination Systems (GIS) in the management of forest concessions including the preparation of tree location Inaps froin stock surveys for the allocation of yields for felling by concessionaires

There is other software on the market that deal with the improvements in the yield of log conversion and the accuracy of cutting. These can also be evaluated and screened for introduction to the wood industry

It recommended that the relevant software on the market be evaluated and screened for their potential contribution to the development of the wood industry. The selected ones should be introduced to the wood industry through practical demonstrations by the computer department

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43 Bibliography

Grus Josef, 1994 ^na/ Repor! -FFIB Trothing Workshop on Sawmilling and Sowdoc!onrig Technology. A report on the workshop held at the City Hotel, Kumasi, 1-10 November, 1993, under the FanP through Arbor Nova Ltd. , Takoradi, Ghana.

Hellem Stein, 1997 FinQ/ Repor! - Kiln Drying Programme. A report from the Skills Upgrading Frograinme under the FRMP through ArborNova Ltd. , Takoradi, Ghana

Lubeck Doriald CMrricu/urn for Harmon Resources Developmenijbr !he Wood Indus!ries nothing Centre (WITC). A Study sponsored by the USAID (Amex International)

Mahut, JUTqj, 1997 Quofity Control in Plywood Prodi, c!ion. A report prepared under the FRMP through ArborNova Ltd. , Takoradi, Ghana.

Nilsson K. G. , 1994 $j?eeriea!ions for Furniiure Prod"c!ion MQchinery and Layo"i. A report prepared for the TEDB under the FRMP through Arbor Nova Ltd. , Takoradi, Ghana, .

Odoom F. K. , 1997 A S!"dy of Ihe Human Resources Developmen! Troining Within Ihe Fores!ry Sec!or. A report prepared forthe Association of Ghana Industries (ACl).

Odoom F. K. ,1998 Analysis of Ihe Manogemen! of Ihe Samor!ex Fores! Concession. A paper prepared forthe Groupe Caisse Francaise de Development, Ghana.

Solli Asb. jotn, 1996 Fino/ Repor! - Mould^^g Plani Operaii'on Programme. A report from the Skills Upgrading Programme under the FRMP through Arbor Nova Ltd. , Takoradi, Ghana

TEDB, 1994 Train!kg Needs Survey and Curriculum Developingnilor Ihe Wood Indus!ry Training Gen!re (WITQ.

WITC, 1998 An rillo/ Repor!.

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Appendix I

Terms of Reference

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CONSULTANCYFORDEVELOPINGTRAININGNEEDSATWOODINDUSTRIES TRAININGCENTREANDTHEWOODINDUDTRYWITHINTHEITTOPROJECTFOR MANPOWERDEVELOPMENTFORTHECENTRE

The International Organization (ITTO) has given a grantto the Timber Export Development Board for manpower development for the Wood Industries Training Center (WITC). The project seeks to contribute to the improvement and development of skills and technical base within the WITC for the required production, efficiency in the milling and furniture-Inariufacturing sector

It seeks to upgrade the technical manpower capacity of WITC in swaddling veneering and other mechanical processing techniques including kilndrying sawdoctoring, moulding, furniture and management of forest industries to meet the needs of tertiary wood processing in Ghana and within the West African sub-region.

The WITC at the moment runs short and long term training pr90grammes. However, there is the need to build on the skills and technical competence of the resource persons to enable the Centre carry out its mandate of developing the capacity of the wood industry in tertiary wood production.

The first part of the Project which should be execute within one (1) month is to conduct a detailed analysis of the training needs of the technical staffofthe Consultant would be manpower requirement of the wood industry. Following froin this, the Consultant would be required to do the following;

To determine whether the current curriculum of WITC is adequate to meet the needs of the industry and also adequate to achieve its own corporate mission and suggest 11nproveinents to the existing curriculuin 2 To determine whether the WITC is adequately staffed to carry out its work with regards to the number of personnel on the ground and the qualification and experience. In this connection, the Consultant would be required to determine the background and experience of the Technical Staff of WITC with the view too correcting any deficiencies. 3 To determine the technical manpower requirements of the industries including those at the Wood Village . 4 To make recommendations to address the training needs and manpower deficiencies. The recommendations will form the basis for implementing the overall project which involves the following;

(a) Identifying the appropriate institutions within and outside the country to train WITC Staff (b) To organize industrial attachment training courses outside the country for five (5) WITC Staffto acquire specialization in kiln drying, plymilling; veneering, moulding and furniture. (c) Recruit on short-term basis technical expertise in kiln drying, plymilling, ~ veneering, moulding and furniture and attach them to WITC to impart the

needed skills to the staff. , (d) To train at least three (3) technical staff of WITC in advanced furniture production and design

47 . Appendix 2

Guiding Questionnaire Used

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Guidin uestiomnaires Used

WITC Trainers

I. What are the objectives of the training programmes. 2 What are the end-users of the students, 3 How are the institutes programmes communicated to the Grid-users and its receptiveness by the wood industry 4. What are the levels andtypes of training offered in the WOOD industry fields 5. Whatisthe expected annual intake of students andthe actual enrolments 6. What kinds of sponsorships are offered to the students andthe ratio of private to corporate sponsorship ratio 7 What are some of the feedback received from the Grid-users of the WITC graduates. 8. Are there any constraints to the training of the students to the desired standards. If yes, assign reasons for such constraints for each of the items below with respect to the established and the current situation. > Staffing (the various categories, qualifications etc. ) > Equipment/infrastructure > Literature/Library > Budgetallocations > Others 9. What are the sources of support (financial and in-kind)to the school(both local and external) and how long will the respective sources last. 10 Do you carry out any on-the-job training of the students' Ifso, > At whatlevels > How are they financed > The costs pertrainee for each level > Any contributions from the student's employers ? 11. What are the resources (staff, equipment etc. ) available to the institution that can be utilised for consultancy services to generate income for the institute. 12. Has the institute evertried to undertake any commercialservice activities ? > Whattypes of services were offered;

> How were they organised; , > Were they undertaken by the institute itselforthe members of staff; > How were the benefits distributed between the institute and the members of staffinvolved;

Forestry andForesi Inof"stry Fir"us 13 . What are your fields of operation 14. What are the required numbers of technical employees and the skill requirements for the various stages of your production or services. How many are currently at post 15 . What are the sources of your technical employees' ~ 16. What are the levels of education or skills of your technical employees at post. 17. Are you aware of the various forestry/forest industry training institutions in the country and the types of training that they offer. ,Ifyes, how did you get to know aboutthem

49 18. What is you opinion aboutthe relevance of the training programmes offered by the respective training institutions to the forestry and forest industry sector 19. Have you ever sponsored or plan to sponsor any of your employees to any training institute or courses from your own resources. Ifyes, > The reason(s) for doing so; > For what types of courses; > The training institutions involved; > Would you do it again and for what skills 20 What are your comments on the professional competency of the employees/graduates from the WITC and the Polytechnics 2 I. What kind of motivation do you give to your employees to upgrade themselves through training courses 22 Do you have any long-term business plan. If yes, what would be the expected increase in skilled technical staffand how do you hope to fillthese.

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50 Appendix 3

List of People Met

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51 Name 91^ Mr. S. K. Appiah MD, TEDB, Takoradi. Mr. Worley Ghana Primewood Products, Takoradi. Mr. Eric Dodoo Intox Ltd. , Takoradi Mr. Chris Bekker Samartex, Samreboi Mr. A. R. Adam GTMO, Kumasi. Mr. K. Darko GTA, Kumasi. Mr. 0. K. Boateng Poku CTA, Kumasi. Dr. K. Ntim Logger, Kumasi Mr. Thomas Adjei ABTS, Berekum Mr. MaxwellOtiYeboah OYCL, Sunyani Mr. Nana Dwomoh Sunstex Company Ltd. , Kumasi Mr. Simon Saoud AE Saoud Ltd. , Kumasi. Mr. Williain Bitar LLL, Kumasi. Capt. K. Duah BLLC, Kumasi Dr. Oteng Amoako FORIG, Kumasi Mr. Saad Turkumani Star Sawmill Products Ltd. , Kumasi. F. Hans Gstrein Technical Director, WITC, Akyawkrom J. OK. Gyamfi WITC, Akyawkrom Sammy Dolphine WITC, Akyawkrom George Grahain-Smith WITC, Akyawkrom J. A. Sagoe WITC, Akyawkrom E. Adu-Fukuo WITC, Akyawkrom Kwasi Lumor WITC, Akyawkrom S. A. Boyd-Awuah WITC, Akyawkrom Joseph Oduro WITC, Akyawkrom Mensah K. Salnpson WITC, Akyawkrom

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52 The Qualifications of the WITC Trainers

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CURRENTWITCTECHNICAL STAFF QUALIFICATIONSANDPOSITIONS

Name and Nationality Qualification & Work Experience Duties at WITC F. Hans Gstrien Has worked for several years in the wood industry of Technical Director. GTZ supported (German) Ghana and other tropical countries On 2 years contract 2. 1.0K. Gyamfi . FullTechnology Certificate-City&Guildsof Deputy Director (Ghanaian) London Institute (Furniture Cabinet Making Finals) . Sawdoctoring &WoodMachinery Certificate (UK), . Advanced Teacher training Certificate(Kumasi, Ghana) Five years industrial experience & senior instructor EITwiaWood Products ofTEDB 3 Evans Markin ' Diploma(AdvanceTimberTechnology) Head, Wood Processing (Ghanaian) . AdvanceCert. (Carpentry&joinery)UK Department 25 years in wood processing and fumiiLire production 4 John Sagoe ' BSC. (Biochemistry) Working as Kilin Drying consultant at WITC and for Ghana timber (Gharialan) . Msc(WoodTeclT&Management) Worked several years as Timber Industry Analyst for industry TBDB. Production assistant for DCC limber Division Takoradi 5 A. K Koomson . BSC (Maths)Dip(Education) Head of Training Marketing and (Ghanaian) . Cert. (marketing Quality Assurance)TRADA. UK Consultancy Dept Worked several years as Senior marketing Officer of . TEDB 6 KwesiLumor . Diploma(PlantEngineeringPg. Dip(Forest Head of Sawmilling and (Ghanaian) Products Technology) UK Sawdoctoring Department Worked several years with TEDB in sawmill machine maintenance and sawdoctoring 7 SamuelB. Awuah . Final Certificate(Mechanical Engineering) Instructor with the sawinilling & . Advanced Technical TeachersCertificate (Ghanaian) Sawdoctoring Dept . Trained msawdocioring-CIDA Worked as maintenance Teclinician with LLL, Kumasi 8 Emmanuel Adu-Fokuo . FullTechno!ogicalCertificateCity&Guild Senior Instructor in sawmilling (Ghanaian) . Forest Industries technology-TRADA, UK sawmill engineering and kiln Worked as maintenance engineer Mim. Production Drying Manager at Poku Tmnsport and Ehwia Wood Product Ltd 9. AbukariAttah . BSC(Hons)Natural Resources Instructor in wood processing (Ghanaian) . Pg. Dip(WoodTechnology&Production Management) Worked as Export Promotion Omcer ofTEDB 10. Sammy Dolphine . Diplomastatistics Assistant Training Omcer, , Has worked with the TEDB since 1981 Computer Department 11. Joseph Oduro . Diploma, FurnitureProduction Principal Technician, Furniture Has worked as Teaching Assistant and Senior Production Instructor, Kumasi Polytechnic; Production Manager of Of ori Furniture Works, Kumasi, Q 12. Mensah K. Sampson . Diploma, FurnitureProduction Principal Technician, Furniture Has worked at the Sunyaiii Polytechnic, BIRD, Production KNUST, Kumasi, Archie Furniture Works, Kumasi

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