Advertisement

The Managing Director of Kasapreko

Kasapreko to generate 1.5mw of solar power for production plant

Plans have been initiated to install solar panels that would generate about 1.5mw of power to run the production plant of local beverage company, Kasapreko Company Limited.

This was disclosed to journalists last Monday, after a tour of the beverage company’s automated multimillion production line by students from the Harvard Business School, USA, in response to a question from the Daily Graphic on how the company was able to meet its power and water needs.

 

Stability of power

“Talking about the stability of the power, we have plans to bring in a solar component so that if the power fails us or we need to step up, we will have power right here,” the Founder and Group Chairman of the Kasapreko Company Limited, Dr Kwabena Adjei, hinted.

The Director, Plant and Bottling of the company, Mr Kwame Dickson, also disclosed that the company spent about GH₵350,000 monthly on electricity bills, while it depended on water from the Ghana Water Company, which it retreated using reverse osmosis, for its manufacturing process. Production is also supported with water from boreholes sunk by the company.

“We have 16,000m3 roof surface area and our intention is to generate about 1.5 megawatts of power to cut down on carbon emissions,” Dr Adjei also stated. 

The Managing Director of Kasapreko, Mr Richard Adjei, said the automated machines of the company were producing about 40,000 bottles of water and soft drinks an hour, while the spirits (hard liquor) section was doing about 70,000 bottles an hour.

He said although few of the machines currently in use by the 25-year-old company were from the United States, most of them were German (Krone) brands.

Reason for visit

Leader of the visiting 2017 class of the Harvard Business School, Professor Dina Pomeranz, said the students were in Ghana for two weeks to learn about the business environment in a growing market.

She said as poverty was reducing and the population was increasing, business was also growing in importance, so they were in the country to see at firsthand, how businesses worked here and to find out the peculiar needs of customers.

As part of their visit, the about 30 students would be interacting with members of the general public and business owners.

A charge to the students

In his address to the students, Dr Adjei, who is a product of the Harvard School of Business, asked them to see themselves as light of the business world. “You have no excuse to fail because I know the brand,” he said.

Explaining his success and challenges, Dr Adjei said “If you say you are a champion then you should be prepared to take punches. There should be no excuses. Yours is to move ahead.”

He said just as rules governed games, the success of business also depended on some principles.

He listed some of those principles as the ability to exercise self-discipline and separate one’s lifestyle from his or her business and be able to rise when one fell.

Dr Adjei said the success of one’s business also depended on the ability, zeal and flair to succeed.

He said it was their desire not to compromise on quality that made the company invest as much as $3.5 million just in the blending compartment of the company, which houses a series of tanks for the various components of the beverages produced.

The students expressed their fascination at the automated production line from filling of the bottles to labeling and packaging.

They therefore, asked that more of such trips were organised for them to bring the abstracts in their course of study to life.

Prof Pomeranz said the tour was very beneficial, as the students were studying the use of technology in business.

Writer’s email: [email protected]      

 

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |