Design and Development of a Fixture for an Automated Mobile Rice Thresher to Improve Painting Process Efficiency
10.14416/j.ind.tech.2026.08.005
Keywords:
Fixture, Automation System, Rice Threshing, Painting Process, Motion and Time StudyAbstract
The Thai agricultural machinery manufacturing industry faces critical challenges pertaining to labor shortages and the imperative to enhance production efficiency, particularly within the painting process, which represents a significant bottleneck in the production workflow. This research aimed to design and develop an automated mobile fixture device for rice thresher in the painting process. Motion and time study techniques were applied to analyze the operational workflow and identify process, utilized fishbone diagrams to systematically identify root causes of inefficiencies, developed an automated system incorporating an electric motor, gear reduction mechanism, and Programmable Logic Controller (PLC)-based control system. Finally, performance testing and economic cost-benefit analysis. The findings revealed that the developed automated fixture device reduced painting process cycle time from 120 minutes to 95.77 minutes, representing a 20.19% reduction, Furthermore, the number of operational steps was decreased from 19 steps to 13 steps, corresponding to a reduction of 31.58%. Economic analysis revealed an operational value of 3,587,520 Thai Baht per annum, with a payback period of 0.16 years, equivalent to approximately two months. In addition, the production capacity was increased from 4 units to 5 units per day, thereby enhancing manufacturing efficiency and augmenting production revenue.
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