Doddabetta Tea Factory

Dodabetta Road, Mel Kodappamund,

Ooty - Nilgiris
Tamil Nadu 643001

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

1. Anjana.V
2. Komal Goal
3. Mohanalakshmi
4. Pooja

TEA MANUFACTURING

RAW MATERIAL (GREEN TEA LEAF)

WITHERING

ROLLING

FERMENTATION

DRYING

SIFTING

STORING

WAREHOUSES

AUCTION

MARKETING

CONSUMERS

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An Overview of Nilgiri Tea Industry
Tea is a small tree but it is cut to size as small bushes to facilitate
plucking of the leaf. Based on the manufacturing techniques adopted in
the factory while converting the green leaf into made tea or
manufactured tea the final product is called black tea or green tea
India has the credit of being the biggest producer and largest consumer
of tea in the world. There are two manufacturing process of black tea,
namely, Orthodox Tea (manufactured in the traditional method) or CTC
tea (where the machine Crushes, Tears & Curls the green leaf). Green
tea (different from green leaf) and Orthodox tea will look like, small twigs
and CTC tea will look like small granules. India is the only country in
the world which produces both CTC and Orthodox in sizeable quantities,
while all others practically manufacture exclusively one type.

TEA MANUFACTURING
The following steps are involved in tea manufacturing:
o Raw Material
o Withering
o Rolling

o Fermentation
o Drying
o Sifting
o Storing
o Warehouses
o Auction
o Marketing
o Consumers
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RAW MATERIAL (GREEN TEA LEAF)
The green tea leaves plucked from the Tea Plants Raw Materials. They
are transported from the field to factory for processing.

WITHERING

Withering is a simple but most important operation in black tea

manufacture.

There are two types of withering namely, physical and

chemical withering.

Objectives of
Physical Withering:
Removal of certain amount of water from the plucked leaf
Conditioning of the green tea leaves for the subsequent stages of
manufacture
Condition the leaf from turgid (hard going) stage to flaccid (lifeless)
stage which facilitates better rolling

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Chemical Withering
The levels of soluble proteins, free amino acids and simple sugars
increase

Level of amino acids increase as a result of break down of proteins

by the enzyme pepsidase which is responsible for the formation of
aroma of made tea.

 Caffeine content which is responsible for cup charter of black tea

increases

Increase in the level of organic acids which are responsible for

flavour and improved polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity.

( 5 )
Duration of withering
Generally for CTC tea manufacture withering for 2 18 hours is essential
for removing 10 15 per cent moisture. The rate of moisture removal
and duration of withering depend upon the following factors:

1. Type of leaf

2. Thickness of spread
3. Drying capacity of the air
4. Condition of leaf (Wet or Dry)

ROLLING
Rolling is a process when the green leaf has been correctly withered it
becomes flaccid and then becomes suitable for the next important
operation of rolling. The objects of rolling are to crush the leaf into small
bits and to press out the juices and coat the same over the leaf particles.
The importance of rolling is that it mixes the polyphenols and enzyme in
the presence of oxygen.

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FERMENTATION
Fermentation is an oxidation process by which the polyphenols in the
leaf gets oxidized with the help of endogenous enzyme namely polyphenol

oxide.

Before rolling, polyphenol and polyphenol oxidase are located in

different compartments in the cell and when the leaf gets crushed during
rolling the polyphenol and the enzymes are mixed in the presence of
oxygen and bio-chemical changes take place.

The end product of

fermentation is theaflavin and thearubigin which are responsible for

briskness, brightness and colour of liquor.

DRYING
The keeping quality of tea mainly depends on the drying technique and
the final moisture content in the made tea. During the process of drying,
water is removed from the fermented leaf and its colour turns from
coppery red to black and fermentation is arrested.

For drying, air is

used as a carrier for heat to remove the moisture from the fermented leaf.
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SIFTING (SORTING & GRADING)

The dried teas are passed in sorting machines fitted with suitable wire
meshes and separated into various grades mainly on the basis of size
particles.

( 8 )
STORING
The manufactured teas are stored in the factory according to the grades.

WAREHOUSES

As per the Tea (Marketing) Control Order, hundred per cent of the teas
produced should be sold only through Tea Auctions. The manufacturer
can select the Tea Brokers to sell their produce. All the Tea Brokers are
registered with Tea Board of India.

After sending the tea samples to their concerned Tea Brokers, the Teas
are sent to the select Warehouse for storing until the auctions.

Pattern: Make to order(MTO)

AUCTION
There are three Tea Auction Centres in South India based at Coonoor,
Coimbatore and Kochi as under:

The Coonoor Tea Trade Association (CTTA)

The Tea Trade Association of Coimbatore (TTAC)
Tea Trade Association of Cochin (TTAC)
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The Tea Brokers will auction the teas in the above auction centres on a
particular day and teas will fetch prices according to their quality and
demand.

After purchasing the teas in Auctions, the Buyers will take delivery of the
teas from the Ware Houses.

MARKETING
The Buyers will market the teas through their outlets.

CONSUMERS
The teas will thus reach the consumers through the market outlets.

Frequently asked questions

How many plants per Hectare?
13800 plants
What is the manuring cost per hectare?
Manuring cost per acre - 3000 - 4000
How many kgs per HECT
3500 Kgs Made Tea
What is the Plucking cycle for one Hectare?
ONCE IN 15 DAYS 18 DAYS
What is the Avg. price per kg of green leaf
Depends on Quality of Leaves between Rs 13 and Rs 18
How many labours required for plucking per hectare?
1.02 LABOUR PER HECT
What is the Labour Wages per day?
Rs 234 per day (Basic + Dearness Allowance (DA) excluding Fringe
Benefits (Rs 200) which include (Free Housing, Provident Fund, Gratuity,
Medical, Leave Benefits etc. )
How many kgs of green leaves plucked by a labour per day?
By hand minimum 30 TO 35 kgs and By SHEAR minimum 45-50

kgs and with machine MACHINE 80 100 kgs.

How many types of clones are there in South India?
In South India there are around 35 types clones are there.
What is the cost per clone?
Cost per clone Rs 6 7
How long is the life of a clone?
Life of Clone - more than 100 years (60 75 years economic)
What is pruning
To prune around 8 10 inches from the ground level after 25 to 30 years
What is rejuvenation
Giving life to tea plant to make the plant healthier. Dead parts will be
removed.
What is Replanting ?
To uproot the old plants and to replant new clones is called Replanting.