The Assembly Specific Force Atlas

Abstract

Even in hi-tech industries, physical workload is partly considerable and cannot be avoided because of product and process requirements. Especially in automotive, aviation, and marine industries, the assembly of the product geometry requires force exertions in ergonomically unfavorable conditions. Unfortunately, internationally accepted methods for the evaluation of those types of force exertions are rare. Besides some traditional German methods and EN 1005-3 hardly any evaluation methods exist. Even those methods refer to force exertions in primarily upright symmetric working postures. To overcome these problems the Assembly Specific Fore Atlas was created during the recent years. From a sample of automotive workers (n = 273), a set of 54 whole-body forces (6 main force directions while standing, sitting, kneeling; in an upward, bent, and overhead posture) and a set of 38 types of finger-hand forces (all at maximum voluntary contractions [MVC] levels) were measured in the field. The inputs for the types of force exertions required in practice were sampled from a consortium of major European car and truck companies. In addition, evaluation methods were developed that allow "calculating" maximum recommended force limits from the measured maximum static forces (i.e., MVC) and task and user group relevant parameters. This contribution gives a short overview on the data collected and focuses on the evaluation methods that had been realized. First, qualitative results are presented from the first field tests. C 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Pilot Study of Five Types of Maximum Hand Strength among Manufacturing Industry Workers in Taiwan

“…Grip and two pinch strength testing followed the instruction proposed by Mathiowetz et al (1984) [50]. The thumb press and ball of thumb tests followed the recommendation of Shaub et al (2015) [20].…”

“…Therefore, many checklists for assessing the risks of WRULDs have included section to evaluate these factors. For example, the ergonomic assessment worksheet (EAWS) has tables for assessing hand or finger force [19,20]. The key indicator method–manual handling operation (KIM–MHO) [21] and the occupational repetitive actions (OCRA) index [22] also include assessment tables for the force required to perform jobs.…”

Normative Hand Strength of Healthcare Industry Workers in Central Taiwan

“…There have been few studies focusing on individuals in specific industries. Schaub et al [ 25 ] measured strength in the manufacturing industry employees in several EU countries. Lo et al [ 26 ] measured grip and pinch strength among Taiwanese workers in the manufacturing industry.…”

Can We Use Grip Strength to Predict Other Types of Hand Exertions? An Example of Manufacturing Industry Workers

“…[37]. Shaub et al (2015) conducted a project and showed the eight types of most frequently used hand exertions in car and truck assembly plants in EU countries [36,39]. Furthermore, measurement of pinch strength has been done previously [15,16,[18][19][20]24,[26][27][28]40].…”

“…Furthermore, measurement of pinch strength has been done previously [15,16,[18][19][20]24,[26][27][28]40]. However, there were few studies measuring the thumb press, palm press, ball of thumb, or index finger press [29,39].…”