Performance Analysis of OTR Machine In The Black Tea Leaf Rolling Process At PTPN IV Bah Butong Unit

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the performance of the Open Top Roller (OTR) machine in the black tea leaf rolling process at PTPN IV Bah Butong Unit. The OTR machine is essential in black tea processing, functioning to grind and roll tea leaves after the withering process to shape and release cell sap. The recorded variables were material input, scheduled batch duration, downtime, operating time, and good output. The batches processed 3,020 kg of withered leaves; recorded duration ranged from 40 to 50 min per batch, with a mean of 44.4 min, while total downtime was 5 min and good output was 3,010 kg. Availability, Performance, and Quality were 98.87%, 91.12%, and 99.67%, respectively, producing an OEE of 89.79%. Performance was the lowest component because most batches exceeded the selected ideal cycle time of 40 min, although all remained within the plant’s operational range of 40–50 min. Average loading was 302 kg per batch, equivalent to 80.53% of the 375 kg nominal maximum. These results identify cycle-time consistency, rather than downtime or recorded mass yield, as the immediate improvement priority. The result must nevertheless be interpreted as a short observational snapshot: the Quality factor represents mass yield rather than sensory or biochemical tea quality, and the widely cited 85% OEE benchmark is a comparative convention rather than a universal acceptance limit. The findings describe only this ten-batch observation window.