Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Vincent R. Amanor-Boadu / There is an opportunity to develop an instant noodle manufacturing plant in Argentina to manufacture and market branded and private-label instant noodles. This opportunity has arisen from a number of factors. First, the increasing time compression that confronts consumers has created an emergence of consumers who are looking for quick meals that are also healthy. Second, the growing incomes that are being experienced across all income classes have created a demand for processed food products across all consumer markets. Third, potential competitors are not seeing the market trends and, thus, create an opportunity to gain a first mover advantage in this burgeoning market. Finally, the policies that are being developed by the government have created an import-replacement mentality that presents significant opportunities to build specific strategic alliances to seize an opportunity such as this one. This thesis presents the feasibility of seizing this opportunity to build a manufacturing facility to produce and market instant noodles in Argentina. It assesses the technical and economic dimensions of the feasibility process and presents financial analyses of the potential outcome for investors. The researcher is leading the project and participating in the investment process. Therefore, the outcome of this thesis has direct implications for the wellbeing of the researcher beyond partial fulfillment of degree requirements. The results show that the opportunity is credible and profitable over a 20-year period. The Net Present Value of the investment is positive and its Internal Rate of Return of 26 percent is higher than the company’s hurdle rate of 15 percent. To this end, it suggested that the investment must go ahead. However, the sensitivity analysis shows that at the initial production level of 60,000 packets per shift, the project is very sensitive to the number of shifts that are run per day. Indeed, if the company runs one shift for the first three years instead of the first two years and two shifts for the next three years instead of Years 3 and 4, the project is not economically feasible. On the other hand, building a larger plant, one that produces 120,000 packets per shift, protects the plant from this vulnerability. The internal rate of return is 40 percent and the NPV is in excess of $5 million over 20 years. Therefore, the recommendation is to build the larget plant and enhance the robustness of the plant.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-12T20:12:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 PGEF15MA048.pdf: 2278704 bytes, checksum: 43e91b8b4735fdda209db49d5aab5db3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-07-30 / The aim of this study was to evaluate the bonding quality of two adhesives (PVA and EPI) in top and side joints of Cupressus lusitanica in production of EGP panels. Anatomical, chemical and physical characterization was performed to determine the influence on the formation and performance of bonded joints. For evaluation of end-grain joints in static bending tests and tension parallel were assessed two adhesives (PVA and EPI), grammage (180 and 200 g/cm²) and two types of end-grain joints (butt-joint and finger-joint). In addition to the strength and stiffness analysis was applied the technique of scanning electron microscopy technique (SEM) to verify the influence of moisture contend in glued bonds of parallel tensile specimens. The side bonding was performed with two adhesive (PVA and EPI) and two grammage (180 and 200 g/m²) by shear test in the central glue line. As result, the specie has low porosity and fine texture; chemical properties was similar to conifers usually used to wood panels production; wood showed low density (0.41g/cm³) with high dimensional stability; for glued end-grain joints, the treatment composed of finger-joint, adhesive EPI with grammage 180 g/m² (T7), showed greater resistance to parallel traction and bending test; SEM analysis allowed the visualization and verification of PVA adhesive degradation by moisture, and demonstrated that EPI adhesive has no structural change in same condition; for side bonding of Cupressus lusitanica timber is indicated using EPI adhesive with grammage 180 g/m² (T3) due to high strength and wood failure percentage / O objetivo do presente estudo foi avaliar a qualidade de colagem de dois adesivos (PVA e EPI) em junções de topo e laterais da madeira de Cupressus lusitanica na produção de painéis EGP. Foi realizada a caracterização anatômica, química e física da madeira da espécie a fim de determinar a influência na formação e desempenho das juntas coladas. Para a avaliação das junções de topo coladas foram avaliados por meio dos ensaio de flexão estática e tração paralela, dois adesivos (PVA e EPI), duas gramaturas (180 e 200 g/m²) e dois tipos de junções de topo (plana e finger-joint). Além da análise de resistência e rigidez, foi aplicada a técnica de microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV) para verificar a influência do teor de umidade na qualidade de colagem dos corpos de prova de tração paralela. A colagem lateral foi realizada com dois adesivos (PVA e EPI) e duas gramaturas (180 e 200 g/m²) pelo ensaio de cisalhamento na linha de cola central. Como resultado, a espécie apresenta porosidade reduzida e textura fina; as propriedades químicas foram semelhantes às de coníferas normalmente utilizadas para produção de painéis de madeira; a madeira apresentou baixa massa específica (0,41 g/cm³) com alta estabilidade dimensional; para as juntas de topo coladas, o tratamento composto por junções do tipo finger-joint, adesivo EPI com gramatura de 180 g/m² (T7), apresentou maior resistência para o ensaio de tração paralela e flexão estática; a análise por MEV permitiu a visualização e comprovação da degradação do adesivo PVA por ação da umidade, e demonstrou que o adesivo EPI não apresenta alteração estrutural na mesma condição; e para a colagem lateral da madeira de Cupressus lusitanica é indicado a utilização de adesivo EPI com gramatura de 180 g/m² (T3), devido à elevada resistência e percentual de falha na madeira