Palestine GDP

           Stone and Marble Industrial Sector in Palestine    Model for Sustainability Ahmed Abu Hanieh1, Sadiq AbdElall2, Afif Hasan1 1 2

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birzeit University, Palestine

Department of Machine Tools and Factory Management, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany

Abstract Stone and Marble industry is considered as one of the main sources of the Palestinian economy. This sector contributes to about 50% of the local production, 30% of the exports and 14% of the employment capacity. This paper discusses some statistical numbers and historical information about Stone and Marble sector in Palestine. It concentrates on environmental, economic, and social impact of this industry, presents the lifecycle of stone and marble, and proposes strategy for proper and efficient use of resources including natural stone, water and energy during production processes. 3Rs (Reclaim, Reuse and Recycle) principles have been used to minimize the waste at each stage of stone and marble lifecycle. Keywords: Stone and Marble; Sustainable Model; Value Contribution.

1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Palestinian economy and resources With a high (91%) adult literacy rate, Palestinians are the most educated population in the Middle East and North Africa region [1]. At the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa, with a clement climate, fertile soil, and highly-educated and entrepreneurial population, the occupied Palestinian territory has enormous economic potential. Yet neglect of infrastructure, severe restrictions on the movement of people and goods, frequent destructive military operations, and a situation of dependency have been actively encouraged by Israeli occupation. This phenomenon described as “de-development”, has left the structure of the Palestinian economy stagnant. According to World Bank reports the economic outlook of the OPT remains the same as it was prior to 1967 takeover of Israel. 57.3% of Palestinians live below the poverty line, and about 48% live in extreme poverty. The aid-dependent Palestinian economy is still reeling from a devastating hit it took when the donors decided to boycott a Hamas government formed after the election in January 2006 [2]. Palestine progresses towards statehood require fostering industrial sector economy and an attractive environment for national and foreign investors. There are many potential opportunities for further growth of the industrial sector in Palestine, such as the abundant human resources and the absorptive capacity of the market as well as potentials for export to regional and international markets. More specifically Palestine can improve growth by creating an environment, which develops competitiveness, as well as services related to the industry. As shown in Figure 1 the gap between import and export is huge, and lot of opportunities to close this gap by importing less and producing more. The graph shown in Figure 2 illustrates industry share of Palestinian GDP in 2007. 1.2 Statistics and historical review Palestine is renowned for its natural lime stone that is characterized by its bright attractive colors. These are highly demanded in international markets. The Palestinian stone and marble industry is

still considered a labor-intensive industry, automated in certain functional areas, [3].

although

highly

4000 US $ Million 3000 2000 1000 0 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Exports

Imports

Figure 1: Palestinian trade deficit 1996 – 2006 (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics).

Agriculture and fishing 7% Mining, manufacturi ng, electric and water 13% Construction 10%

Palestine GDP Others 12%

Public adminstratio n 15% Other services 21% Financial intermediat 5%

Wholesale trade 10%

Transport and telecom 7%

Figure 2: Industry share of Palestinian GDP in 2011 (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics). The Stone and Marble industry is considered one of the most significant and most active industrial sectors in Palestine, as this sector contributes to approximately 25% of Palestine’s overall industrial revenue and 4.5% of the total Palestinian GNB [3]. The Palestinian share in stone and marble is 4% of the whole world

The 10th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing

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outputs. The total number of facilities in the West Bank and Gaza are about 1124 facilities. These vary between quarries, factories and cutting workshops [4]. This national treasure, even called the white gold, has a prestigious reputation worldwide; this is due to its highly water resistant that keeps it color well, retaining its creamy white, yellowish white or reddish brown for many years. This national treasure has contributed in historical heritage. The Aqsa mosque was built using these stones as well as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the Nativity Church in Bethlehem and the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron [5]. The production of processed stone and marble has been reduced in recent years because of stringent Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and goods in and out of the Palestinian territories. This caused some West Bank quarries and stone-processing companies to shut down [6].

breath the particulate polluted air. Using hand held tools (motorized or manual) leads to the problem of white finger disease and blood vessels blockage. These hand arm vibration syndrome diseases have very big influence on the worker health on the long term. Workers in this stone and marble sector are considered non-skilled labor and their salaries are relatively low. This fact increases poverty and creates a wide poor cluster in Palestine. Bridging the gap between this sector and local universities can be considered as a high requirement [11]. Academic institutions can contribute in developing stone and marble industry by optimizing the use of resources including stone, energy, water and human resources, as well as improving the processes and increasing its efficiency. It can contribute also in improving the safety measures during the production and transport of products.

2.

PROBLEMS AND REQUIREMENTS

3

2.1

Political and economic problems

3.1

It is evident that the stone and marble sector is the biggest in the Palestinian industry, but it faces many political and economic problems starting from the limited resources to difficulties of product transportation. Although Palestine landscape contains a plenty of rocky mountains, but most of these mountains are governed by Israeli military rules that restrict access to these areas, keeping in mind that such resources are not renewable and being depleted continuously. Moreover, there are many difficulties in transporting products between cities and areas because of the same Israeli restrictions. Most of the instruments and machines used in the stone industry are imported from outside which complicates the production processes when repair and maintenance problem rises. Although this sector forms about 30% of the Palestinian exports but it could be further increase if more flexibility has been given to it by providing more than one border point for export of products [7], [8], [9]. 2.2 Impact on environment Stone industry has a severe impact on the environment in both sites; quarries and cutting workshops. In quarries, the rock extraction process is accompanied with dust polluting air besides to the wide excavations that leave severe effect on landscape and soil. In cutting workshops, the problem of dust is dealt with partially by adding water to the cutting process which reduces air pollution but on the other hand, it causes water pollution and forms big basins of mud that need to be dealt with. Keeping in mind that water in Palestine is a scarce commodity and should be used efficiently. The powder extracted out of this mud can be used in construction materials especially concrete mixtures. Cutting process is noisy and therefore cutting workshops must be located away from the local community clusters, and noise safety measures should be taken by the workers [10]. On the other hand, large amount of energy is required for the quarrying machinery and later for the stone cutting processes. Electrically driven motors are used for the cutting tools and electricity prices are high in Palestine reaching 0.20 $/kWh in some locations. 2.3 Social requirements Stone and marble industry similar to other small business in Palestine is categorized as a family owned business which suffers from and restricts the possibilities of development and employment. Many accidents occurred either in quarries or in cutting workshops or in building sites due to the lack of awareness of safety rules and their enforcement. Most of these accidents occurred due to discarding the importance of using safety shoes, gloves, helmets, etc. Workers are subject to respiratory and lung disease as they

DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABLE MODEL Stone and marble life cycle

Palestinian Industrial sectors face wide diversity of difficulties. These difficulties form obstacles for industrial development in Palestine [12]. In order to find out the possibilities and opportunities for development of the Stone and Marble industry, it is very important to carry out life cycle analysis of stones as a construction material. Figure 3 shows a flow chart for the complete life cycle of the stones starting from the extraction process of the stones from rocks to using shaped stones in the building and possibility of recycling stones after buildings are demolished. This flow chart has been designed by the authors to provide a scientific easy way of understanding for this process. Stone life cycle begins in the Quarry, in which rocks are extracted from rocky mountains. The extracted rocks are divided into two categories. The first category is huge massive blocks transported to cutting factories and workshops to be sliced and turned into building stones. The second category is the small pieces of stones and rocks that cannot be formed easily, these pieces are transported to stone crushers where they are crushed to aggregate in different sizes to be used directly as a raw material in the ready-mixed concrete plants or in the building sites. Rock blocks transported to cutting workshops are unloaded and handled using special cranes and human labor. After being cut and shaped in different sizes and forms, stones are sorted and packaged according to their shape, size and use. Cranes and fork lifts are used to load these packages to be shipped to the building sites. Besides to useful stones, the outputs of the cutting process include little broken stone pieces and stone powder. The broken stones are recycled back to the crushers to be crushed into aggregate used for concrete mixture, while the stone powder is processed to be used in the construction materials and concrete mixture. Formed stones are shipped in packages to the building sites where they are built in suitable places and some of them are shaped to the proper size and shape using manual abrasive cutters. Small stone pieces broken from the shaping process can be recycled back to crushers to be turned into aggregate. The whole waste from building sites can be reduced and returned back to quarries to fill the excavation sites in order to reclaim the land and improve the landscape of the site. After demolishing the built houses for different reasons, stones can be reused by returning back to the cutting and forming process before being rebuilt again. The previously discussed life cycle for stone and marble has been completely designed and formed in the shape of a flow chart by the authors of this paper. This type of representation aims at facilitating ideas and leads to better understanding of this product as it is considered sustainable material and goes through several cycles back and forth.

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ROCKS

Quarrying

Recycle

Recycle

Reduce

Shaping

Reuse

Shipping & Distribution

Stones

Cutting Sorting & Packaging

Stone pieces

Aggregate Crushing

Unloading & Crane loading

Powder Processing

Construction Waste

Stone pieces

Loading & Transportation

Building

health of workers and possibilities of being exposed to work accidents. It leads also to risk of environmental pollution and landscape changes. In other words, quarry processes include three production items: x Quarrying x Crushing x Loading and sorting And five consumption items: x Health risk x Accidents (Safety) x Environmental impact x Energy consumption x Smart and Hard work (experience) A sustainable model for quarry means the necessity to increase the production items and decrease the consumption ones. In stone cutting workshops, the diversity of production processes makes the doughnut model, shown in Figure 4, different from that of the quarry. In this model, the production processes and items can be summarized in the following: x Unloading x Crane loading x Cutting and shaping x Scaling and packaging x Sorting and storage x Shipping Where the consumption items can be summarized as follows: x Accidents (Safety) x Health risk x Water and energy consumption x Environment ( air/water pollution)

Figure 3: Life cycle of stone and Marble. 3.2

Sustainable Model

The life cycle of stones and marble can be modeled for sustainability using doughnut modeling technique. These doughnut models imply the fact that as far as the size of any process or item is in the measured range, then work is sustainable. Going out of the specified range towards the center of the doughnut means reducing production and moving away from the center of the model means increasing risks and environmental drawback. This leads to the fact that the doughnut model is a compromise between production and consumption which can be considered an indication for sustainability. The value contribution of these systems can be considered as the ratio between the production and the consumption. The number of employees is considered as the best indication for production, which turns the value contribution to be defined as the ratio between the number of employees and the consumption. ࢂࢇ࢒࢛ࢋ࡯࢕࢔࢚࢘࢏࢈࢛࢚࢏࢕࢔ ൌ

ࡼ࢘࢕ࢊ࢛ࢉ࢚࢏࢕࢔ሺࡺ࢛࢓࢈ࢋ࢘࢕ࢌࡱ࢓࢖࢒࢕࢟ࢋࢋ࢙ሻ ࡯࢕࢔࢙࢛࢓࢖࢚࢏࢕࢔

Figure 4 depicts a complete doughnut model for the different tasks and requirements that take place in quarry, cutting workshop and building site work and processes. In the sub-model related to quarry, quarrying, crushing and loading processes need to be enlarged and accelerated to improve the productivity of the quarry but this enlargement and acceleration requires smart and hard work or experience and needs more stone, energy and other resources consumption. This is also accompanied with other risks related to

Environmental impact can be added to the consumptions here although its influence is less than the quarry. Here again, sustainability can be improved by increasing the items related to productivity and decreasing those related to consumption. Figure 4 shows also a similar doughnut model for building process. In this model it is clear that the production related items can be listed as follows: x Unloading x Sorting and distribution x Handling x Building x Abrasive cutting x Lining x Sanding While the consumption items are listed as: x Health risk x Accidents (safety) x Construction waste Here again, energy and environmental impact can be added to consumptions but it has less influence too. Increasing productivity and decreasing consumption can improve sustainability of these processes. Doughnut models can be connected to each other in order to represent the complete life cycle of stones from quarry to building. The complete model is shown in Figure 4. The quarry doughnut is related to the cutting workshop doughnut through the transportation of the extracted rock blocks from quarry to workshop. On the other hand, quarry is related to building sites through the transportation of crushed aggregate to be used in the concrete mixture. Cutting

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workshops are related to building sites by the transportation of formed stones and marble to be used in the different building processes. Other connectors between the three doughnut models are the 3Rs (Recycle, Reuse and Reclaim). Recycling processes is applied when broken stone pieces are returned back from cutting workshop to stone crushers to be crushed into aggregate. Reusing process is applied when stones extracted out from demolished houses are returned back to the cutting workshops to be reformed and reused again in a new building. Reclaim process is applied when the construction waste from the building sites is transported to fill out the excavated places of old quarries to improve the landscape and to reclaim the land for other uses. In this completely integrated model, the production items are: x Transportation of rock blocks x Transportation of aggregate x Transportation of stone and marble All these items will be carried out by industry employee

3.3 Implementation and measures To implement the sustainable process discussed before, a number of stone cutting companies have been selected randomly. Although it was a random selection but it has been divided into three categories; small size, medium size and large size companies. The gathered information was focused on the number of employees as a measure of the production, meanwhile health impact, material used, and consumption of water and energy in each company were considered as the consumption items, while the environment effects such as air pollution were not measurable in our study. In order to compare money with money in the calculation of value contribution, the number of employees has been multiplied by a fixed monthly salary (USD 1000) which is considered an over average salary in Palestine and the health has been indicated by the fees of health insurance per month. Table 1 shows the collected numerical data. The relative value contribution has been calculated as a percentage as follows: ܸ݈ܽ‫ ݊݋݅ݐݑܾ݅ݎݐ݊݋ܥ݁ݑ‬ൌ 

While the consumption items are: x Recycling of stone pieces x Reusing of old stones x Reclaiming the quarries using stone waste x Environment ( air and water pollution) x Energy and water consumption x Health and workers safety

‫ݏ݁݅ݎ݈ܽܽܵݏ݁݁ݕ݋݈݌݉ܧ‬ ൈ ͳͲͲΨ ‫ ݄ݐ݈ܽ݁ܪ‬൅ ‫ ݈ܽ݅ݎ݁ݐܽܯ‬൅ ܹܽ‫ ݎ݁ݐ‬൅ ‫ݕ݃ݎ݁݊ܧ‬

It is seen from previous estimation that the value contribution decreases as the size of company increases. This is an indication for the influence of using automated systems in large factories that requires more consumption and less number of employees.

In this model, sustainability can be improved by increasing the productive items and decreasing the consumption items. The best compromise between production and consumption can be achieved by taking into consideration the supplies, demands and requirements of the region or country.

The values indicated in Table 1 are represented graphically in Figure 5 using Radar spider chart in logarithmic scale. Again, salaries have been used instead of number of employees to compare money to money and log scale was used because of the wide difference in digits between small, medium and large size companies. Small size is represented by the dashed blue line, medium size is represented by the solid red line while the large size companies cluster is represented here by using the dash-dot black line.

Loading & Sorting Health

Safety

Re cyc le Reuse

Health & Safety

Sorting & Shipping Storage Scaling & Packaging

Stone & Marble

Handling

Unloading Health & Safety

Health

1

Sorting & Distribution

m

CUTTING

i la ec

Cutting & Shaping

100

Energy

R

Ro

ck

Smart/ Hard Work

Unloading & Crane loading Pollution Water & of Energy Environment

10000

Crushing

e at eg gr Ag

Bl oc ks

Quarrying

Salaries 1000000

Environment Impact

QUARRY

Energy

BUILDING

Abrasive cutting

Water Lining

Material

Small

Sanding

Medium

Building

Large Figure 5: Radar spider model for stone cutting companies.

Figure 4: Sustainable model for stone and marble life cycle.

Employees’ Salaries, $

Health, $

Material, $

Water, $

Energy, $

Value Contribution

4*1000 = 4000

300

6000

40

100

62%

Medium

10*1000 = 10000

600

30000

600

3000

29%

Large

25*1000 = 25000

6000

100000

1100

11000

21%

Category Small

Table 1: Implementation of value contribution on stone cutting factories.

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4

CONCLUSIONS

This paper focused on a discussion about stone and marble sector in Palestine. This sector represents the major economical income in Palestine but it suffers from many problems and drawbacks that need to be dealt with in order to increase productivity and sustainability. The natural stone resource which is limited and a non-renewable one should be used very efficiently. More over, the other resources such as water which is also very scarce and hardly accessible by the Palestinians should be used also efficiently including possibilities of reuse, recycle and treating of the used water. In addition, the energy to be employed in this industry for transportation, and running the cutting and shaping machinery and tools is very expensive and if not used efficiently will lead to much higher cost that makes this industry not competitive specially for exporting of goods. The complete process of stone production has been divided into three clusters; Quarry, Cutting and Building. The various processes and linkages between the three main clusters have been shown in life cycle flow chart and doughnut models. Different suggestions for the improvement of productivity and sustainability have been depicted by using Recycle, recalim and Reuse between the three doughnuts. Applying these sustainable principles in the sector can guarantee better future for the production and human life in Palestine. Another indicator has been discussed using Radar spider model and the calculated value contribution in this sector. It is shown that the value contribution decreases as the size of company increases. This can be justified by the capability of large size companies to use automated systems which decreases the number of employees and thus decreasing the sustainability indicator. On the other hand when it comes to water and energy there is a lack of knowledge in applying water recycling processes and energy efficiency measures and the use of renewable energy resources in stone industry. 5

[6]

[7]

[8] [9] [10]

[11]

[12]

ARIJ, "Israel intensifies mobility restrictions of Stone and Marble from the West Bank " The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem, 10 July 2006. USMI, "Stone and Marble in Palestine, Developing a strategy for the future.," Union of Stone and Marble Industry2011. ecb, "Construction Material and Local Market Survey in Palestinian Territories," GFF, MLG, UNDP2002. PFI, "The Current Status of Industrial Sector in Palestine," Palestinian Federation of Industries2009. F. J. Aukour and M. I. Al-Qinna, "Marble Production and Environmental Constrains: Case Study from Zarqa Governorate," Jordan Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences, vol. 1, pp. 11-21, 2008. M. Jaabari, "Relation between Palestinian industrial sector and the academic curricula in Palestinian Universities," Arab Journal for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, vol. 7, 2011. Assasat, "Palestinian Market Study," Solutions for Development Consulting Co.June 2009.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research has been conducted in the frame of the European Tempus project “Middle Eastern Partnership in Sustainable Engineering”. 6 [1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

REFERENCES WBG, "West Bank and Gaza Education Sector Analysis: Impressive Achievements under Harsh Conditions and the Way Forward to Consolidate a Quality Education System," World Bank Group, Middle East and North Africa, Human Development Group2006. UNDP. (2009, 16.June). Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People - Poverty Reduction. Available: http://www.undp.ps/en/focusareas/poverty/povred.html PALTRADE. (2007, 15.June). Stone and Marble Sector. Available: http://www.paltrade.org/en/aboutpalestine/sectors/stone_marble.php USM. (2012). Union of Stone and Marble Industry in Palestine. Available: http://www.usmpal.ps/etemplate.php?id=9 N. Jaradat, "WEST BANK: Stone and marble industry is leading in Palestine's economy," in ITN Source, ed: REUTERS, 2007.

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