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The sustainability of the SMEs depends on how the SMEs could compete with their competitor. Utilizing technology is a way that can be used to survive in those competitions. Unfortunately, some of the SMEs in Indonesia could not afford to utilize the technology due to financial problems. Therefore, the aim of this research is to create an ergonomic working environment by utilizing the technology through the design of the press and molding machine. In its application, the concepts of Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) were used to assess the working posture. The results of this assessment show that the working environment of this SME, especially in the pressing and molding process was not ergonomic and need to be improved. The given improvement is in the form of press and molding machine design and its prototype. The designing process was done using the concept of Quality Function Deployment (QFD). On the other side, to assess the level of success for the given design and machine, the REBA and RULA assessment was carried out. The results of the REBA and RULA assessment for the new machine showed that it could decrease the previous score of both REBA and RULA. The results of this research are expecting to increase the production capacity, minimizing the occurrence of MSDs, and improving the quality of the chips. In the long-term, it will be able to increase the competitiveness of this SME.

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This article investigates the effectiveness of the posture movement of a pressing machine to mold the cassava crackers. This study is undertaken at Karya Lestari Jaya, which is one of SMEs in Tulungagung, East Java Indonesia. This industry has a problem with the new manual pressing machine which is too stiff and heavy to be handled. The operators complain about feeling sore at upper and lower arms. It means that this activity has a poor posture when the operators are working. This research aims to identify the ergonomic risk factors for the pressing machine and to determine the best recommendation suggested by the operators and the owner of SMEs-Karya Lestari Jaya. We undertake a case study by collecting data from the observation. We analyze the observation data by RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment). Then, we interview eight interviewees to attain the attribute requires in improving the machine. Also, we analyze the best recommendation by using AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process).  This study yields the score of RULA is 6 which means the posture in pressing the dough or the working facilities needs to be improved immediately. The results from AHP shows the best recommendation is adding the pneumatic system to the pressing machine to lighten the lever. Ultimately, this finding can be beneficial for the company by figuring the posture and evaluating improvement for the machine.