Design of ergonomic work facilities on assembly station of mozaic stone for increasing work productivity

Abstract

This research aims to improve work facilities’ designs ergonomically on the assembly station with the goal of increasing work productivity using an anthropometry database approach. One of the production processes in small and medium enterprises was the stone assembly. The stone assembly was conducted by an operator who sits on a small bench and uses a box-shaped can as a table. The operator worked in a bent position, head bowed and both legs folded. According to Standardised Nordic Questionnaires, the worker suffered from pain in the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, back, buttocks, and knees, negatively affecting their work productivity. This research applied the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) method to assess the postures of the worker’s upper limb during working h. The concept of ergonomics was used for the designing of work facilities. The anthropometric data was taken as reference for the dimension of assembly work facilities design which matched the body dimension of the worker. In terms of RULA score, both proposed layouts (score 4) indicated an improvement compared to the initial layout (score 7). Regarding the standard time, both of those layouts showed a decrease in the standard time of 40% and 44%, respectively when compared to the initial condition. Related to the standard output, it indicated that there was an increase of 200% in terms of productivity when compared to the initial condition. Furthermore, there was a decrease at the level of uncomfortable from 80% to 30%. The second proposed layout alternative recommended a better improvement than the first one.