Day 2:
We arrived in Ghana yesterday after
a delayed flight from the weather at JFK. Unfortunately upon arrival we found
that a good portion of our checked luggage was never loaded on the plane and
was still in New York. Our late arrival and lost luggage lead to a change of
plans, but we always make a goal of staying flexible on our trips, so when we arrived
at ITTU today, we got to work and started our planning for the rest of our stay. We plan to
shoot and co-design training materials, open bank accounts, fix machines in the filed, and start our
production up and running again (which means we’re on the hunt for a new
motor!).
In the
afternoon, we started the hunt for a new motor after asking for leads from ITTU’s
manager. This was our first exploration out into Kumasi. Everything is sold in
shops that specialize in unique products. We went to four different shops that
sell air conditioner motors to track down what we wanted. Unfortunately,
finding a motor the correct size was even more difficult than I originally
imagined. Most of the motors were much too small (Ghana has a lot of air
conditioning, but it is mostly single room units). Although we did not find
what we needed on the first try, I think we will eventually find what we want. Where
there’s a will, there’s a way.
Day 3:
Today was
filled with so many things. Both the technical and business teams were kept
busy with brainstorming ideas for logos, working on the training manual,
sourcing motors, making new bearings, and planning for our trip to the
villages.
On the
technical side of things, we made some new bearing assemblies with bearings we
brought with us. Unfortunately the bearing inserts compressed when they were
pressed in, so we had to rebroach them. Machines at ITTU are much older than
the ones we are used to at Olin. The arbor press was quite awesome (I had never
seen one like it before), but not quite suited for the application we wanted as
it is too short for our broach and parts to fit. Despite this, we were able to
make it work, though we found out first hand that we do not want to continue
with this manufacturing method.
We also
made a surprising insight about our wooden heads. We want to switch from
plastic to wood for our heads to save on costs, so we tested a few things last
semester about the wooden heads. When we arrived at ITTU, we found that one of the wooden heads made on the last trip had shrunk so much that the metal tooth sheet came off. We think that it is because the
heads were made in the wet season, and we are now in the dry season, so the
moisture content of the wood has dramatically decreased. This is something we
will be investigating in the future.
Washing cassava for the training video.
On the business side of things, we
are working on training materials, which are very important to making sure our
machines do not break in the field. A major cause of our graters and presses
going down is from improper maintenance and cleaning. To mitigate this, we are
working on training manuals and videos. Today, with a grater, some cassava, and
a makeshift tripod we filmed a practice video showing how to properly grate cassava
and clean the machine.
During the filming, we were met by
college students participating in the Innovate Ghana competition who came to
visit ITTU. It was exciting for them to see college students doing similar
projects and what is possible if you care about something so much. It was especially
awesome to see Debbie (our CEO) interact with students not much younger than
herself striving to be entrepreneurs and make change in Ghana like she is.
Debbie said that women are not known to run
machines or be entrepreneurs, let alone start a machine company. She is now a
role model for other young people, especially women who want to make a difference
in Ghana.. We look forward to seeing QueenTech grow and develop over the next couple of weeks and meeting the people we are directly impacting.
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