Towards an Ergonomic Assessment Framework for Industrial Assembly Workstations—A Case Study

Abstract

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) are one of the main occupational health problems. The best strategy to prevent them lies on ergonomic interventions. The variety of industrial processes and environments, however, makes it difficult to define an all-purpose framework to guide these ergonomic interventions. This undefinition is exacerbated by recurrent introduction of new technologies, e.g., collaborative robots. In this paper, we propose a framework to guide ergonomics and human factors practitioners through all stages of assessment and redesign of workstations. This framework was applied in a case study at an assembly workstation of a large furniture enterprise. Direct observation of work activity and questionnaires were applied to characterize the workstations, the process, and the workers’ profiles and perceptions. An ergonomic multi-method approach, based on well-known and validated methods (such as the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment), was applied to identify the most critical risk factors. We concluded that this approach supports the process redesign and tasks’ allocation of the future workstation. From these conclusions, we distill a list of requirements for the creation of a collaborative robot cell, specifying which tasks are performed by whom, as well as the scheduling of the human-robot collaboration (HRC).

Lean Manufacturing and Ergonomics Integration: Defining Productivity and Wellbeing Indicators in a Human–Robot Workstation

“…An initial risk assessment screening identified the hot-glue application task as the most critical concerning ergonomics and physical demand due to the repetitive actions. Moreover, the burns caused by the hot-glue constituted the most frequent accident in this workstation [23].…”

“…Further research, particularly in real-industry environments, is necessary to test and validate the HRC implementation [20,21]. Therefore, it is essential to develop specific and detailed assessment methods to optimize the design of these workstations with collaborative robotics [21][22][23], taking into account the industrial conditions, the characteristics of human workers and cobots, as well as the type and level of collaborative interaction [24].…”

“…The design of the collaborative workstation was partially presented in Colim et al [23,29]. Figures 2 and 3 present the physical configuration of the manual and collaborative preassembly.…”

“…An initial risk assessment screening identified the hot-glue application task as the most critical concerning ergonomics and physical demand due to the repetitive actions. Moreover, the burns caused by the hot-glue constituted the most frequent accident in this workstation [23]. The new workstation is composed of automation and a cobot (Universal Robot UR10e) with a vacuum end-effector, to assist two workers that operate side-by-side (red The design of the collaborative workstation was partially presented in Colim et al [23,29].…”

A Smart Algorithm for Personalizing the Workstation in the Assembly Process

“…Assembly workers are exposed to a significant physical workload. The repetitiveness of manual tasks is an important risk factor for upper limbs Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSD) and back health problems [17]. Improved workplace design enables the assembly operators to work safely, thus reducing hazardous and strenuous reaches and preventing potentially serious injuries.…”