Design Analysis of Pokkali Paddy Harvester Using Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Technique and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Abstract

Pokkali ecosystem found prevalent in the regions of Central Kerala in India, had a unique cultivation methods and saline tolerant varieties of paddy. Mechanizing harvest operation is a great demand in this sector, especially reaping (grain earheads) and transportation (transfer from field to bunds). Hence to analyze the criteria for designing a harvesting machine, Quality Function Deployment (QFD) technique is followed along with Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in this study. Under 2 major criteria (Harvesting Performance and Machine Performance), 9 minor criteria (Cutting performance, Gathering performance, Collection performance, Cut stalk losses, Uncut stalk losses, Stability, Field capacity, Manuevarability and Transportability of the machine) were considered. Six different technical requirements (reel index, reel type, Position and degrees of freedom, mass density of the assembly, cutterbar type and material of construction) for satisfying the customer requirements were considered. The result shows that gathering operation under harvesting performance criterion, stability factor under machine performance criterion were observed to be important criteria. Out of 6 different technical requirements ‘Position and degrees of freedom’ ranked first. And these selection parameters were suggested for initiation of optimized design of pokkali paddy harvester.