AHP Modelling For Productivity Enhancement In Rubber Wood Processing Industries

Hareesh Kumar MS M.Tech. Scholar Industrial Engg.& Management VJCET, Vazhakulam, Kerala, India. hareeshms46@gmail.com
ABSTRACT Most of the industries in the field of rubber wood processing are facing a large number of problem s regarding the productivity. These problems are becoming a great threat to the survival of these companies. The paper aim s at improving the productivity of rubber wood processing industries. This is done by identifying the various factors that affect the productivity of these industries and from these f actors the most critical factors are identified by using the AHP analysis. After identifying the critical factors proposals are given to improve the performance of these factors and also a sim ulation m odelling is done in order to identify the im provem ent o f productivity after im plem entation of these proposals

Mr Aravind S, Asst.Professor Dept. of Mechanical Engineering VJCET, Vazhakulam, Kerala, India. aravinds@vjcet.org

identify the various factors affecting the productivity of rubber wood processing industries and to improve the productivity of rubber wood processing industries. Processing of rubber wood essentially include sawing, preservative treatment, seasoning and wood working operations. As received from field the logs are about 270 cm long with girth ranging from 80 to 100cm. Due to the absence of heart wood the durable and usable part of the wood rubber wood is susceptible to the attack of fungi and insects. Immediately after felling, to improve the durability of the wood, preservative treatment with suitable preservative chemical is carried out. It is important to say that preservative treatment is meant only for improving the durability. It doesnt change the anatomical structure, strength, shape or any other property of wood. The structure of the vessels in rubber wood permits easy and effective preservative treatment. 1.1. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a multicriteria decision-making approach and was introduced by Saaty. The AHP has attracted the interest of many researchers mainly due to the nice mathematical properties of the method and the fact that the required input data are rather easy to obtain. The AHP is a decision support tool which can be used to solve complex decision problems. It uses a multi-level hierarchical structure of objectives, criteria, sub criteria, and alternatives. The pertinent data are derived by using a set of pairwise comparisons. These comparisons are used to obtain the weights of importance of the decision criteria, and the relative performance measures of the alternatives in terms of each individual decision criterion.

KEYWORDS: AHP, PRODUCTIVITY, RUBBER WOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES 1. INTRODUCTION Rubber wood is one of the most important plantation crops in Kerala. Replanting of rubber is usual practice when planters find that yield from the tree is not economical. Hence large quantity of rubber wood is available in Kerala which when utilized innovatively can reduce deforestation in the state. It is a noble act considering the extent of environmental impact that deforestation had been causing to the state. Rubber wood processing industries helps in the value addition of rubber wood and also the rubber farmers. The rubber industry was established in South and Southeast Asia at the end of the 19th century after the rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis, was introduced from its native South America. The most of the rubber wood processing in kerala are facing large number of problems regarding the productivity. The main aim of the paper is to

2. METHODOLOGY The methodology for doing the work will be as follows. The various problems associated with the productivity are identified. Then the current state of production and performance of the industries are studied. Then the different variables which affect the productivity of the rubber wood processing industries are identified. Then the pairwise comparison of the different variables which affects the productivity of rubber wood processing industries is conducted. After that a questionnaire is distributed among the experts in order to improve the consistency of the results of the pairwise comparisons. The weights of the pairwise comparisons are multiplied with the values of the main variables in order to obtain the global priority values. The global priorities are multiplied with the scores of the questionnaires in order to obtain the weighted scores. The sum of weighted scores of all the variables will give the productivity enhancement index. After finding the productivity enhancement index the various methods for improving the productivity of rubber wood processing industries. Finally a simulation model of the proposed system is created using the simulation software arena. From the proposed model of the new system we can identify the improvement in the productivity of rubber wood processing industries. 2.1. DIFFERENT VARIABLES THAT AFFECTS PRODUCTIVITY OF RUBBER WOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES The variables which affect the productivity of rubber wood processing industries are classified into different levels. The objective of finding the variables is to improve the productivity. The variables are classified as level 0, level 1, level 2 and level 3.the level 1 variables are the main variables, and they are factors related to manufacturing and factors related to management. The sub variables of level 1 variables are classified as level 2 and level 3 variables. The level 1 contains two main variables. In the second level 6 sub variables each for two main variables in the first level. The pairwise comparisons of these variables are done in order to obtain the local and global priorities of the different levels of variables The table 2.1 shows the different levels of variables. These are the variables which are used for the AHP analysis. From these variables the important variables which affect the productivity of rubber wood processing industries are identified. The table 2.1 shows the different levels of variables which affect the productivity of rubber wood processing industries.
Table 2.1. Different levels of variables
Level 0 (objective) Sl No 1 Factors related to manufacturing Technology Highly technologized Moderate technologized Poor technologized Research and development Employees Skill Training Experience Resource Cost Quality Availability Location Local National Economic PRODUCTIVITY ENHANCEMENT conditions Market conditions Competitors Price variation Political environment Trade unions Government policies 2 Factors related to management Leadership Autocratic Laissez-Faire Transactional Leadership Democratic Communication Formal Informal Decision making Motivation Centralized Decentralized Rewards Punishments Culture Employee centred Goal centred Supervision High Moderate Low Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The table 3.1 shows the local and global priority values of the factors related to manufacturing.
Table 3.1. Local and global priority values of the factors related to manufacturing Sl no Factors related to manufacturing (0.5) 1 Technology Highly technologized Moderate technologized Poor technologized Research and development 2 Employees Skill Training Experience 3 Resources Cost Quality Availability 4 Location Local National 5 Economic conditions Market conditions Competitors Price variation 6 Political environment Trade unions Government policies 0.448 0.592 0.191 0.044 0.171 0.183 0.428 0.428 0.142 0.143 0.333 0.333 0.333 0.114 0.75 0.25 0.063 0.142 0.428 0.428 0.046 0.75 0.25 0.224 0.296 0.095 0.022 0.085 0.091 0.078 0.078 0.025 0.071 0.047 0.047 0.047 0.057 0.085 0.028 0.031 0.008 0.026 0.026 0.023 0.034 0.011 Variables Priorities Local Global

The local and global priority values of factors related to management is also obtained by the pair wise comparison of the variable under the factors related to management. The results of the pairwise comparison of the variables under factors related to management gives the local priority values of the variables. The local priority values are multiplied with the value of its main variable in order to obtain the global priority values. . The global priority values having values greater than or equal to 0.05 are considered to the most important or critical variables. So the values which are greater than or equal to 0.05 are considered as the variables which affects more on the productivity of rubber wood processing industries. The table 3.2 shows the local and global priority values of the factors related to management.
Table 3.2. Local and global priority values of the factors related to management Sl no Variables Priorities Local Factors related to management (0.5) 7 Leadership Autocratic Laissez-Faire Transactional Leadership Democratic 8 Communication Formal Informal 9 Decision making Centralized Decentralized 10 Motivation Rewards Punishments 11 Culture Employee centred Goal centred 12 Supervision High Moderate Low 0.098 0.011 0.011 0.121 0.052 0.119 0.119 0.119 0.075 0.075 0.075 0.076 0.076 0.076 0.0165 0.016 0.016 0.112 0.045 0.156 0.021 Global

0.197 0.059 0.059 0.616 0.264 0.239 0.5 0.5 0.151 0.5 0.5 0.153 0.5 0.5 0.033 0.5 0.5 0.224 0.202 0.700 0.097

The local and global priority values of variables are obtained as a result of the pairwise comparisons. The local priority indicates the weights or results obtained after the pair wise comparison of the variables. The local priority values of the sub variables are multiplied with the value of the main variable in order to obtain the global priority values. The local and global priority values of the factors related to manufacturing are found out. From the obtained values of local and global priorities of factors related to manufacturing; the most significant one has to be identified. For that the variable which contains the global priority values greater than or equal to 0.05 are considered as critical or more significant. The global priority values having values greater than or equal to 0.05 are considered to the most important or critical variables.

The local and global priority value of the factors related to management is shown in the table 3.2. From the table we can find the most critical variables or the most significant variables. The values in the table which are greater than or equal to 0.05 are considered as the most critical variables or significant variables. 3.1. Questionnaire survey The mapping of variables is done in order to improve the consistency of the local and global priority values obtained after the pair wise comparison. The mapping is done with the values of the variables which got after the questionnaire survey in the industry. The questionnaire survey is done on a 5 point likert scale. The scale is divided in to five points they are shown in the table 3.3.
Table 3.3. Division of scales

The table 3.4 shows the weighted scores of the factors related to manufacturing.
Table 3.4. Weighted scores of the factors related to manufacturing

Sl no

Variables Weighted score Factors related to manufacturing (0.5)

Technology-0.224 Highly technologized Moderate technologized Poor technologized Research and development 0.296 0.071 0 0.063

Employees-0.091 Skill Training Experience 0.058 0.058 0.025

VH

Very high (1)

High (0.75)
3

Resources-0.071 Cost 0.035 0.035 0.047

Medium (0.5)
4

Quality Availability Location-0.057 Local National 5 Economic conditions-0.031 Market conditions Competitors Price variation 6 Political environment-0.023 Trade unions

Low (0.25)

0.085 0.007

VL

Very low (0)

0.002 0.013 0.006

0.017 0.002

The weighted score of the variables is obtained by multiplying the scores of the questionnaires with the global priority values of the variables. The variables which are having weighted scores more than 0.05 are considered as the critical variables. These are the most important variables which affect the productivity of the rubber wood processing industries. These variables are given great importance in the productivity enhancement of rubber wood processing industries.

Government policies

From the table 4.4 we can find the weighted scores of the factors related to manufacturing. The weighted scores are obtained by multiplying the global priorities with the scores of the questionnaires. The weighted sores which are greater than 0.05 are considered as the most important or significant factors. they are highly technologized (0.296), Moderate technologized

(0.071), Research and development (0.063), Skill (0.058), training (0.058), local (0.085). These factors are the most critical factors related to manufacturing which affects the productivity. The technology of the company, Research and development in the company, the skills of the employees and the local location of the industry are the critical factors. The weighted scores of the factors related to management are shown in the table 4.5.
Table 4.5. Weighted scores of the factors related to management

which are having scores greater than or equal to 0.05 are considered as the significant factors From the table 4.5 we can see the weighted scores of the factors related to management. The weighted scores which are greater than or equal to 0.05 are considered as the most significant or critical factors which affects the productivity of rubber wood processing industries. The shaded portion in the table shows the critical factors which are having weighted scores greater than or equal to 0.05.The most critical factors are Transactional Leadership (0.121), Formal (0.119),.The transactional leadership factors, formal and informal communication factors, rewards, moderate supervision etc are the most critical or important factors related to management which affects the productivity of rubber wood processing industries. 4.3. GOAL INDEX

Sl no

Variables

Weighted score

Factors related to management (0.5) 7 Leadership-0.098 Autocratic Laissez-Faire Transactional Leadership Democratic 8 Communication-0.119 Formal Informal 9 Decision making-0.075 Centralized Decentralized 10 Motivation-0.076 Rewards Punishments 11 Culture-0.0165 Employee centred Goal centred 12 Supervision-0.112 High Moderate Low 0.011 0.039 0 0.008 0.012 0.038 0.037 0.037 0.119 0 0 0.005 0.121 0.026

The goal index is the sum of all the weighted scores of the variables which affects the goal or objective. The objective is productivity enhancement of rubber wood processing industries. The main factors or level 1 factors which affect the productivity of rubber wood processing industries are factors related to manufacturing and factors related to management. The table 4.6 shows the goal index or the objective index.
Table 4.6. Goal index or the objective index

Sl No 1

Variable Factors related to manufacturing

Index 0.82

2 0.019 3

Factors related to manufacturing Goal index or productivity enhancement index

.472

1.29

4.4. PROPOSALS FOR IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY 1) Replacing conventional kilns by new technology microelectronic vacuum kilns 2) Replacing the ordinary sawing and cutting machines with the automated machines 3) Automation of stacking operations 4) Replacing trolleys for moving goods inside industry by overhead cranes 5) Replacing the six head planing machine with the new technology machine

The mapping of the factors related to management are done in order to identify the most critical factors related to management which affects the productivity of the rubber wood processing industries. The global values of the factors related to management are multiplied with the scores of the questionnaire survey in order to obtain the critical factors related to management. After finding the weighted scores of each and every factor related to management the critical or most significant one from the factors has to be identified. The factors

6) Replacing the chemical treatment plant with a newer one 7) Improving the layout of the industry 8) Improve the supervision by adding more supervisors 9) Conduct monthly staff meetings in order to improve communication within the industry 10) Avoid delays in decision making 4.5. SIMULATION RESULTS OF CURRENT SYSTEM A simulation modelling of the current system is done in order to identify the current state of production and performance measures of the industry. The various process times and other parameters of the industries are recorded and a simulation model is created on the simulation software arena. Arena is industrial engineering simulation software. It is used to simulate manufacturing systems, production systems etc. the results of the simulation are recorded and tabulated. The table 4.7 shows the simulation modelling of the current system.
Table 4.7 Simulation results of the current system

improving the productivity. The simulation is done on the industrial engineering simulation software arena. The table 4.9 shows the results of the simulation modelling of the proposed system.
Table 4.9. Results of the simulation modelling of the proposed system

Machine

Utilizati on (%)

Queue. Waiting Time

Number Busy

Number in queue

Band saw Resaw Cross cut Stack1 Stack 2 Conventi onal kiln drying Chemical plant

0.57 0. 86 0.69 4.8 4.8 99.85

0 0.256 0 3.59 0 84.81

0.005 0.008 .006 0.048 0.048 0.998

0 .21 0 2.97 0 110.70

10.34

4.88

0.103

4.04

The table 4.10 shows the number of outputs and processing time of the current system
Table 4.10. Number of outputs and processing time of the proposed system

Number in 148

Number out 59

Total time 90.26

Machine

Utiliza tion (%)

Queue. Waiting Time .30 .25 0 4.83 0 83.85

Num ber Busy .009 .01 .01 .06 .06 .99

Number in queue

Band saw Resaw Cross cut Stack1 Stack 2 Conventio nal kiln drying Chemical plant

0.9 1.20 1.03 6.6 6.6 99.7

0.25 0.212 0 3.99 0 117.43

5. CONCLUSIONS The application of AHP is used for the enhancement of rubber wood processing industries. The various factors that affect the productivity of rubber wood processing industries are identified and pairwise comparison analysis is conducted in order to identify the critical factor that affects the productivity of rubber wood processing industries. The local and global values of the pairwise comparison analysis are tabulated and the global values are mapped with the questionnaire survey conducted among the experts in the field of rubber wood processing industries. From the mapped variables the critical values are identified. The variables which are having scores greater than or equal is considered as the critical variables. After that certain suggestions or proposals are developed in order to improve the productivity of rubber wood processing industries. A simulation modelling of the present and proposed systems are done in order to identify the improvement in productivity before and after the implementation of the proposals. From the simulation results of the proposed system we can identify the improvement in productivity after the implementing the changes.

.24

15.67

.24

12.97

The table 4.8 shows the number of outputs and processing time of the current system.
Table 4.8. . Number of outputs and processing time of the current system

Number in 148

Number out 25

Total time 91.490

A simulation modelling of the proposed system is done in order to identify the improvement of the productivity after implementing the proposals for

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