PERBANDINGAN KINERJA DAN KENYAMANAN PENGGUNAAN MESIN PETIK TEH E-TEM COLLECTION BOX DAN GUNTING PETIK TEH (CAMELIA SINENSIS (L) O. KUNTZE )

Abstract

Tea leaf picking productivity contributes to the efficiency of tea processing. In order to increase the productivity, at present some picking aids have been developed, namely picking scissors (GP) and picking e-tem collection box (ECB) tea machines. This study aims to compare the productivity of mechanical picking using a colletion box etem machine and semi-mechanical picking using picking scissor,  as well as analyzing the costs. Parameters compared were: picking capacity (kg/hour), workload (beat per minute, BPM), picking quality (%), moskulosketel complaints (%), and its economic analysis. The statistical method used to differentiate was Independent Sample T-test. The results showed that the productivity of ECB tea picking machines was higher than that of GP, which was 6.32 kg / hour compared to 4.49 kg / hour. The workload of the picker, which is characterized by heart beat (BPM), was lighter when she used ECB rather than when used GP, which is 87.5 BPM compared to 96.3 BPM. The quality of tea picking, which is characterized by shoots fulfilling the requirements (PMS), on the use of ECB is better, that is 60.37% compared to GP of 49.27%. Harvesters feel more comfortable using ECB mechanical devices, indicated by number of muscle pain complained when plucking using GP were 15 of 28 body parts while using ECB only 10 of 28 body parts. The investment and operational costs of the ECB mechanical picking machine are higher than the semi mechanical GP, but provide an additional benefit of IDR 632,987/year.

Keywords: tea, etem collection box, tea picker scissors, musculoskeletal complaints