In the second quarter of 2017, Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, commissioned the AKEES pencil and toothpick factory. It was going to be the first of its kind in Nigeria.
In response to the news, Nigerians noted via various mediums that contrary to claims, the factory was indeed not the first in Nigeria. Others said the factory itself was propaganda and did not exist. What was true and what was not?
During the Techpoint Innovation Tour, the Techpoint team visited the sleepy town of Ekom Iman in Etinan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State where the factory was reportedly situated.
Front view of the AKEES Pencil and Toothpick Factory in Uyo
We saw the factory in its entirety and even got some pleasant shockers.
Located in a 1,000 sqm warehouse styled house, the factory truly produces pencils and toothpicks.
Speaking on the initial skepticism, General Manager of the facility, Engineer Bassey Friday Moses says he was disappointed that even people from Akwa Ibom State and environs joined doubting Thomases.
Engr. Friday Bassey Moses, General Manger AKEES Pencil and Toothpick Factory
“At the time, they said the governor commissioned an empty hall and rented people for show. If anybody at any point felt this establishment was a scam, all they had to do was walk in and confirm for themselves instead of spreading rumours.”
On a tour of the expansive facility, Bassey pointed out that unlike similar projects in specific locales, the AKEES Pencil and Toothpick Factory was a true Nigerian project because of its tribal diversity in hiring workforce. Of its 62-man workforce, every region in Nigeria is duly represented to a great extent.
Pencil factory
Pencils are usually made from cylindrical wood pieces carved from felled trees, but there is another method that is both cheaper and, most importantly, environmentally friendly.
The AKEES Pencil Factory uses old newspapers instead of wood to make pencils. This reduces deforestation, recycles old newspapers and cuts production costs by nearly half.
Bundles of old newspapers used as raw material
As beautiful a prospect as paper over wood is, how strong is a ‘paper pencil’? Bassey says the durability question is a general concern.
“People think wood is harder and more durable than paper, but that is not the case. With the right production processes, they’re are both on the same level in durability.”
According to Bassey, national dailies are more suitable for production than local papers because of their quality and resultant strength.
Apart from newspapers, other materials needed in pencil production include; urea formaldehyde, processed graphite, pencil sleeve, eraser, and ferrule. The graphite comes in 2A, 2B and 2.5B(HB) grades. When these materials are set, it is production proper.
Even in its seeming simplicity, the pencil production process is one of the most interesting industrial processes you will ever see.
After the graphite is cut to size, it is manually placed in trimmed newspaper spreads pre-slathered with urea formaldehyde.
Graphite
Urea is the glue that holds the newspaper and graphite together in the rolling machine where it is folded into a compacted wet cylindrical mass.
Wrapping graphite in urea formaldehyde and newspaper
Still not looking anything like a pencil, these wet masses are sun dried for a minimum of 24 hours before a 40 – 45 minute bake in the dryer where an operator turns them over every few minutes for even dryness.
Drying in the sun before baking in the oven
To confirm if they are properly dried, the pencils are sharpened. Wet ones do not sharpen well and are thrown out.
Pencil sharpener
From the sharpener, it’s a one way ticket to an abrading machine where they are smoothened and slowly begin to resemble actual pencils.
Like a fashion fitting session, the sleeve section is the most important step in the actual ‘pencilfication’ of these writing materials. Here, Unclad discoloured pencils finally get identities as they are clothed with coloured cylindrical nylon wraps called sleeves.
Workers putting sleeves on the pencils
Loosely hanging on the pencil’s frame at first, the sleeves are shrunk to fit by heat from a laminating machine.
Pencils rolling out of the laminating machine
Finally, the pencil’s feet is shod with an eraser after the ferrule — a small ring under a pencil that holds the eraser in place — is attached.
Running 8 hours a day, 3 major production machines combine to give a daily output of 30,000 – 60,000 pencils. Bassey says the disparity between numbers is a direct result of the minimal capacity of the dryer.
The dryer we have now cannot take all the pencils that come off the rolling machine at once so sometimes we have to rollover drying to the next day. But we are planning on getting a bigger one very soon to increase daily production quota.
Dryer
Toothpicks
With scary machines all spotting shiny spinning blades, the toothpick factory is in the same building on the left side divided from the pencil factory by an the aisle leading up from the factory main entrance.
Cutting machine
General overseer of the toothpick section, Mr. Christopher Shawa, couldn’t wait to explain to us how his angle runs.
“Bamboo is the major and only raw material in the production of toothpick,” Christopher explained.
“3 year-old bamboo is best fit, but a maximum of 5 years old is acceptable. Bamboo should be left to stand for 3 days after harvest before entering the factory.” he continued.
Harvested bamboo
When it is eventually ready, the bamboo is sliced into lengths of 1.5 metres to make it fit the different cutting machines available.
A Splitting machine further splits the already cut bamboo into smaller cuts then another machine cuts them into regular toothpick sizes — 6.5cm length and 2.5cm breadth.
Mr. Christopher Shawa cutting bamboo in a Fixed Width Slicer
All these plenty cutting machines all do the same thing, but come in different sizes and blades.
The Sharpening Machine gives rounded pointed edges after the Polishing Machine has smoothened the toothpicks.
Polishing machine
Next, they are bleached and sun dried for an hour before being baked in an oven and then polished again before finally heading to the packing section.
Sun drying toothpicks after bleaching
From the toothpick section, one final look at the end of the pencil factory line showed Hannah Montana, Ben 10, Spiderman and other cartoon characters singing, peeping and swinging from the sleeves of AKEES pencils.
See more pictures…
-techpoint.ng