AUTOMATED RECORD DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (ARDMS)

FOR TEA PROCESSING

A CASE OF ITUMBE TEA FACTORY,
PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT
AIM/VISION
To enhance the process of manufacturing high quality teas.
Background information
Itumbe Tea Factory specializes in processing of green tea to made tea. Green tea
is fetched from farms by green tea carriers and brought to the factory for
processing.
There are three major areas that these green tea undergoes/passes through for
processing. These are;
a) Greenleaf section
b) CTC/CFU section
c) Drier section
These areas are most critical in the process of tea processing, thus they need to
be guarded with extreme care by production and assistant managers, supervisors
and other casual employees who have the task of managing the tea.
As mentioned earlier, the 3 sections follow one another in a logical sequence. One
section depends on one another to move forward with tea processing. An
overview of these three major areas is follows;
a) Greenleaf section
This section is characterized by its function of ensuring that green tea wither so as
to ensure good processing. The staff of this section has been given the mandate
to take records as the green tea is received from the farm level. These records can
be categories in the following;
Category A
i. Trough number
 ii. Buying centers
iii. Vehicle number with the driver
iv. Time loaded
v. Number of bags loaded
vi. Loaded kilograms
Category B
i. Steam application time
ii. Processing start time
iii. Spreaders with the shift they are in, that’s, night or day shift
Category C (calculations)
i. Actual trough distribution
ii. Surface troughs
iii. Estimation of the crop of the day

b) CTC/CFU (Continuous Fermentation Unit)

It has the function of cutting green tea into small pieces breaking the leaf turgidity
and also ensuring that it passes through a fermenting unit to ferment tea. The
records and data taken by staff allocated this section are;
i. The temperatures of;
 After rotor vane,
 After first cut,
 After second cut,
 After third cut,
ii. Withered leaf moisture content
iii. Relative humidity
iv. The difference between EX and CTC*****
All these records and data are taken at the interval of after every one hour.
The staff at this section also monitors the rollers that cut, tear and curl the green
tea by recording the total number of kilograms of tea the rollers have processed
and compares them with the maximum kilograms that each roller has to process
before its lifespan ends. A roller has to process a maximum of 350 000 kilograms
before it is replaced. There are three rollers aligned in a logical sequence, that is,
rollers one, two and three.
c) Drier section
This is the final section in the logical sequence as earlier stated. It has the function
of removing germs from tea, steady reduction of moisture content and increases
the ability to achieve the tea colors (black) as required by the management.
The records and data taken on an interval of after every one hour at this section
are;
i. Pressure
ii. Wet end temperature
iii. Wet exhaust temperature
iv. Middle end temperature
v. Middle exhaust temperature
vi. Dry end temperature
vii. Dry exhaust temperature
These three sections are considered to be most crucial and should be handled
with much care in the process of tea manufacturing. The records and data taken
in these areas constitute an effective tea manufacturing process. All necessary
measures are taken to guard the production of high quality grades of made tea.
Poor management of these sections will result in low grades of tea which have
lower prices in the market place. Hence, they will result in the factory succumbing
to losses. Thus, a real time record and data management system needs to be put
in place to effectively and efficiently help in managing the whole process of tea
manufacturing. The records and data taken in a period of 24 hours daily in every
section will go a long way to assist in timely and up to date information to the
production department managers.
d) Staff management section
There are also a section of staff that manages all the three sections, they are;
i. Staff categories
 Supervisors
  Section heads
 Casuals
ii. Staff sections
 Greenleaf staff
 CTC/CFU staff
 Driers staff
Objectives of study
1. Staff to capture all the records and data at the green leaf, CTC/CFU and
drier sections and send them successively via internet by use of android
phones to the offices of production and assistant managers.
2. Staff and management monitoring the CFU/CTC section be able to
automatically check and see the total time and maximum of kilograms
remaining before acquiring new rollers.
3. The management be able to view all the records and data send from all the
three sections by selecting the exact date and time of send, filtering them
(the records and data) out and use them to make decisions.
4. The management be able to edit and delete the records and data sent.
5. The management be able to view all staff with their respective category
and sections.
6. The management be able to register new staff by assigning them system
privileges, updating their profiles and deleting their accounts.
Benefits of the research
1. Facilitate the speedy and accurate way of sending and receiving of data
from Greenleaf, CTC/CFU and drier sections.
2. Assist senior management in making of decisions basing the records and
data received on timely basis.
3. Enhance easy access and documentation of records for future reference,
for instance, auditing done by ISO and organizations governing food
processing safety for quality production of food for consumption.
4. Give the management an easy and ample way to manage their staff.
5. Assist the procurement department to procure new rollers on timely basis
thus lowering the chances of stoppage time in the process of tea
manufacturing.
6. In case of stoppage of the processing of tea, the senior management should
have a valid reason why it was stopped .
7. Tracking of green tea from In case of poor green tea fetched from farm
level that may result in