Obstacles and need of proactive ergonomic measures at early stage of fixture design: An interview study

Ergonomics is a science that studies the human body and uses the learning to determine to best design of objects and systems for human interaction. In context of workstations used in automobile manufacturing, a tool refers to as system of fixtures, lifting tackles, material handling equipment, etc. It is important that the tool designer considers ergonomic factors during the design phase and make good use of information that is provided from the tool operations and principles of basic motion and time study. However, various studies have proven that fixture design engineers are mostly unaware of ergonomics and how to apply ergonomics principle in fixture design. In case of tool design, ergonomic considerations include aspects of anatomy, physiology and psychology. New design of automobile lines is often outsourced to engineering service providers who provide a comprehensive solution for tool fixture design. This is often done with help of available design software's like Pro-E, Classic Jack, Inventor, Catia, etc. Although all such design software's have inbuilt ergonomic features, these are rarely used in real life instances.

The paper presents a case of one such engineering service provider wherein a full proof system was developed to optimally utilize all available ergonomic assessment concepts right during the design stage to avoid all problems identified post design and implementation of tools at clients sites. The primary objective was to minimize the tool design development time (concept to launch), anticipate, address and avoid possible complaints that may arise in absence of ergonomic considerations. In the existing system, all potential users were assessed about awareness of ergonomic assessment concepts and their use in tool fixture design through a questionnaire based survey. This included design engineers, shop floor operator's, product designers, quality personnel. Other parameters such as conditions related to quality, productivity, ease of fixture operations and work related disorders. The findings of questionnaire were summarized to identify the problems and scope for improvements in the present system. This inputs enabled to accommodate ergonomic principles during the entire design and implementation cycle.