Ergonomic design of dough sheet making machine in Krathok noodle community enterprise

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to assess the ergonomic risk using Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) and the body discomfort of the Mee Kratok noodle making workers and to designed and developed the dough sheet making machine that help reduce the ergonomic risk. The data was collected from 17 workers. Normally, the Krathok noodle was made by hand. The dough sheet making process was divided into 4 steps: scooping the mix, spreading the mix, closing the lid, and shoveling the dough sheet. The analysis of body discomfort showed that most of the workers encountered lower back (L(n=17), R(n=12)), upper back (L(n=11), R(n=10)), hands/wrist (L(n=12), R(n=11) and foot (L(n=13), R(n=9)). The results of Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) showed that the step with greatest ergonomic risk was spreading the mix. In this step, the workers had to twist their wrists and move their arms repeatedly. The dough sheet making machine was designed, developed and used to help decrease the ergonomic risk. When using the machine, the steps of spreading the mix and closing the lid were processed inside the machine so the workers had only 2 steps to do (scooping the mix and shoveling the dough sheet). The risk level was reduced from level 3 to level 2 in the step of scooping the mix and remained at level 2 in the step of shoveling the dough sheet. Satisfaction to the developed dough sheet making machine in terms of equipment/tool, working procedure, working environment, working efficiency and overall were compared with the conventional dough making steps. The satisfaction levels of the dough sheet making machine were higher than those of the conventional method in 4 out of 5 topics. However, the satisfaction on work efficiency of the machine was lower than the conventional method which implied that the developed dough sheet making machine has some limitations and needs further improvement.