Process Overviews

The process involves extraction of pulp from coconuts which is further sent to the
ice cream factory. The raw materials required are coconut, sugar and water. The
quantity of these raw materials is estimated on the basis of daily demand. The
demand is forecasted by the moving average of last 3 days. The process involves
the following steps
1. Bin storage: Coconuts are stored in the bins. Quantity of 15000 units could be
stored at any point of time. There are in all 3 bins each having a capacity of 5000
units.
2. Washing on conveyor: Coconuts are moved to the conveyor. On the conveyor
washing happens in a continuous manner. The conveyor is used to move the
coconuts from bin to small storage bin having a capacity of 25 units.
3. Small storage: The small storage acts a buffer with a capacity of holding 25
units.
4. Outer covering removal: The coconuts are next sent for removal of outer
covering. This is done while the coconut is on the conveyor itself.
5. Accumulator: The cleaned coconuts are stored in the accumulator till they are
sent for the next process which is cutting. The capacity of accumulator is 50 units.
6. Cutting: There are 2 cutters having a capacity of 2 units each. The cutters are
operated manually by 2 employees. At a time 4 coconuts can be cut.
7. Separation: The coconuts are next sent for the separation of flesh from core.
This is also a manual process which involves 4 employees. The quality of the
coconuts is also tested here and if the standard set is not met then the coconut is
rejected. The quality testing is also manual. The shell is the passed to a conveyor
which dumps it in an external storage.
8. Cleaning: The accepted coconuts flesh is further sent for cleaning. This involves
removal of any leftovers. This is a manual process and involves 12 employees.
9. Storage: The cleaned flesh is stored in a vessel till it is further sent for grating.
10. Grating: The flesh is cut into smaller pieces and grated. This is an automatic
and continuous process. The output of the process is collected in batches of 24 kgs.

11. Mixing: This involves mixing the grated coconut with other materials like
water and sugar. The quantity which is used is 24 kgs of grated coconut, 21 kgs of
sugar and 4 litres of water.
12. Packing: The mixture is then packed in packs of 4.3 kg. This process is
manual.
13. Cooling: The packs are the moved to a cooling machine having 6 slots and
each slot having a capacity of 3 packs. The machine can hold 18 packs at a time.
14. Cold storage: This is the buffer which is used to store the packs if there is an
excess production over demand. Since the product is of perishable nature, the
maximum that it can be stored for is 15 days.
Process Flow Diagram
Bin
Storage

Washer

Buffer

(25 units)

(25 units

(3 * 5000
units)

Outer
covering
removal

Accumulator (50
units)
Storage

Cleaning

Separatio
n of
coconut
white

Cutting
(2*2
units)

& quality
testing

Grating
(24 kg)

Mixing
(21 kg)

Packing
(4.3 kg)

Cooling
(6*
3units)

Storage