Improvement of Equipments and Work Station of GWYNs Peanut Butter

Mr. Salcedo and his family have their own peanut butter manufacturing. Their peanut butter is known not only here in Batangas but also in other provinces including Laguna, Quezon, and Manila. As we went to their workplace, we had found out that their workstation may be improved by making some changes. Upon applying such changes, we expect the following improvements: A. Elimination of smoke within the production area. To achieve this goal, we need to examine the present condition of the first two procedures performed together with the equipments which are being utilized in such manufacturing business. First is the stir frying of peanuts in the PUGON. Picture A represents the present PUGON the company has. It is a concrete structure as wood case to provide fire or heat to the oval like metal container on top of it where the peanuts are being placed for stir frying. The metal container is connected to a belt attached on a motor which keeps it turning to maintain equally cooked peanuts. But in this kind of PUGON, the smoke coming from the burnt wood easily scatters within the whole production area which causes delays, and other unnecessary conditions on the inside atmosphere. So to solve this, our group tried to develop picture B or the improved PUGON.

PUGON A

In our new PUGON, the old features will still be remained. We would just like to add extra dimensions to the equipment. All parts of the upper layer will be sheltered while the side parts of the middle layer will have windows which can be unlocked to make it available for the entrance of the metal container whenever peanuts will be stir fried or every time the cooked peanuts will be transferred to the cooling area. Through this closed body, the smoke will just have a single passage from the burnt woods up to the open shaft at the topmost branch of the equipment reducing the smoke within the work place.

B. Reducing labor, human effort and other work related risk factors. On this part, we have considered the next step which is transferring of cooked peanuts to the cooling/breaking area.

The illustration above shows the distance between the first step and the second step in the production of peanut butter. Every time the peanuts are subjected to be already cooked, 2 workers carry the metal container, full of peanuts (at least 60kg including the weight of the metal container) and transfer it to the cooling/ breaking area. This may cause some risk factors to the workers including contact stress, forceful exertion and awkward posture due to the massive weight and the temperature of the object being carried.

The figure above illustrates how our group made it possible to lessen the human effort and the possible risk factors that may come up due to the transferring of cooked peanuts from the PUGON to the cooling area. Container A shows its position while cooking the peanut whereas container B shows its position when the peanut is already cooked and being transferred to the cooling area which is also attached to the PUGON. There will be 2 locks, one

on the lower left part and one on the upper right part wherein the two end arms of the container will be fastened to avoid sliding that may lead to work related accidents and delays. The group is also considering a winch to be connected to the upper right side so that the worker would just operate the pulley in raising the metal container, avoiding direct contact between the workers hand and the hot end arm of the metal container. With this new design, workers will not have to carry the metal container. They will just raise the other side of the container diagonally (container B) , letting the cooked peanuts roll down to the cooling table. To any possible extent, possible risk factors mentioned earlier can be minimized. C. Improvement of equipments for crashing, blanching and finishing touches for peanuts At present after the peeling or crushing of peanuts manually it will undergo on the process of blanching using a traditional material called bilao. The worker must exert effort on the repetitive action that will lead to muscle pain. Aside from that, there is a problem on the waste material or the peanut coating blew in the air during the process. There will be a health risk on the workers due to the inhalation of the dust particle, having the fact that there is no particular place in this operation. Referring to figure 5 we incorporate frying, crushing and blanching process into a single design. After the crushing of peanuts it will be pushed in an easy to open or close hole to reduce the effort of transferring the crushed peanuts into a portable container. While the peanuts are falling down into it the peanut coating will be blew away by an air blower included in the design. The table is covered by a net that will control the spreading out of the unwanted materials. The new layout also provides an area for the finishing touches done with the peanuts which includes picking up unwanted materials like rotten and over cooked peanut. In general.. The existing layout of the workstation of the business provides a clear view of the production process accompanied by a lot of problems. The frying area all the way to the blanching process is the main source of risk factors that should be given a lot of improvement. The purpose of this study is to design and develop the existing process used in the business by having a propose layout that will lead to a better production. We design a frying area as a close cabin to reduce the smoke and heat felt by the workers. To avoid heavy lifting and forceful exertion, we place the table near the frying container to easily transfer the peanuts into it and can be cooled. To reduce the human effort of peeling the peanuts we prefer to use an ergonomically designed roller that will crush the peanuts into desired size. We also design a table with an easy to open or close hole that will let the peanuts fall into a portable container. As the peanuts are falling down, we provide an air blower that will blow the residues and unwanted material away from the peanuts, a process that is so called blanching.