Ergonomic analysis in manufacturing process. A real time approach

The actual main target for manufacturing systems is the constant research of new technologies and solutions to implement lean processes gaining flexibility along assembly lines. An important approach to correctly investigate in this direction is the analysis of the human interaction with the workplace and the assigned activities or, in other words, the ergonomic aspects. In the past a lot of efforts have been already spent to increase comfort and safety of human operations. Nowadays also the ageing factor of blue collars, especially in Western Europe, is not at all a negligible problem. Requirements as "more flexibility" and "reduced time to market" imply a faster and easy capacity to analyze impacts of new products and processes on workers healthy condition already before the first production trial. Electrolux is participating in the EU funded project INTERACT to develop and adopt a user friendly tool simulating the manufacturing process and getting a precise ergonomic analysis before having at disposal any physical prototypes to perform the assessment. For the ergonomic analysis the specific case is the material handling operations, starting from the supplier delivery till the refurbishment of assembly stations. The target is to identified and prevent, using standard methods (NIOSH) and index (OCRA), eventual ergonomic hazards in pre-assigned movements (picking, handling, loading, etc..) also comparing alternative solutions. Operating in advance in a "fully virtual world" using only 3D drawings, it will be possible to simulate in few minutes any working operation and to get the relevant ergonomic evaluation. It also will be possible to get real time analyses of already existing activities, simply using standard cameras and without any impact on the workers privacy. Such an innovative way of analysis will allow an immediate understanding of any work-related physical disease and selecting a better solution for both random and mass working operations. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.