A more realistic digital human modelling (DHM) approach to manufacturing industry

Today’s globally competitive and challenging market place places demands on workers to perform at their best. Workers may have to struggle and maximize their efforts to meet the demands of modern manufacturing systems. Often, excessive workloads due to high production targets cause serious problems for the workers in the form of pain, injuries, fatigue, slips and falls. All these problems result in job dissatisfaction and the organization suffers from a loss in productivity and quality. In this globalized word, the diversity of organizations’ workforces is increasing with every passing year. In this context, it is challenging to propose suitable design solutions that can accommodate the maximum percentage of workers. Previously, Digital Human Modeling (DHM) tools have been successfully used for the assessment of design suitability at an earlier design phase. Now, there is a need to use these tools to identify mismatches between job demands and an individual’s capabilities for a more diversified workforce. This is especially so, as manufacturing assembly activities become very important as these still require a significant physical involvement of workers. A more realistic ‘design for all’ approach based on the actual working capabilities of individuals is considered helpful, so that better, safer and healthier workplaces for all workers might be assured. This can possibly lead to safer and more productive working environments where organizations gain benefits in terms of workforce satisfaction, improvement in productivity and quality of products

Computer manikin family usage in human accommodation

Commonly percentiles are used to define users’ bodily dimensions. The percentile approach is however not suitable for multivariate problems such as the design of car cockpits, i.e. where a range of body segment dimensions affects the design. An alternative way is to use a set, a family, of manikins for evaluation that better represents human variety. The aim of this study was to compare seat and steering wheel adjustment ranges obtained when using manikin families or a percentile approach as the user representation in human simulation software. Results obtained indicate that a more elaborate and careful consideration of users can be achieved when using a manikin family approach for human accommodation compared to a percentile approach

Ergonomics integration and user diversity in product design

Consideration of products' ergonomic qualities is one important component for successful product development. Product designers engaged in the core activity of product development need methods that support the consideration of ergonomics along with other product requirements. This thesis aims to address these needs. The first part of the thesis investigates how people working within product development organisations communicate with and about users of their products. The general need for methods to support communication of user aspects in product development is identified through formal interviews with product developers and a review of the management, ergonomics and design literature. The second part of the thesis studies the factors which affect the integration of ergonomics in product design. Supportive methods, including User Characters, for evoking user consideration among designers together with Overlapping methods for scheduling ergonomics evaluation in product design processes are introduced and argued. The third part of the thesis reviews and discusses computer aided ergonomics as a means for integration of ergonomics in product design. A web-based support system for effective employment of human simulation tools is developed using a participative approach and evaluated based on the system's usability. The objective of the fourth part of the thesis is to study how human simulation tools can aid designers' consideration of human diversity to accommodate users of diverse anthropometric characteristics in multivariate design problems such as automobile cockpits. The work involves the evaluation of different approaches for the generation of specific manikin families which can be used as test groups for fitting trials in the virtual design process. The research demonstrates enhancements in design methodology knowledge to support integration of ergonomics in product design processes with a focus on anthropometric diversity in vehicle design.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Utilización de antropometría en el diseño para mejorar el desempeño de la tripulación

Today’s naval ship or craft designer routinely uses the principles of human factors (ergonomics) as a way to help enhance crew performance. But even though many aspects of human factors are well known, certain important categories often remain underutilized. One of these categories is anthropometrics, the study of human body dimensions and capabilities. Anthropometrics analyzes age, gender, and other data within populations of people, such as the general population of a nation or the special population of that nation’s active duty naval personnel. For the naval designer, anthropometrics helps to ensure adequate ergonomic design for the population from which the crew is drawn. The naval designer can address in a quantifiable manner issues such as lines of sight, console height and valve handle accessibility. When anthropometric principles are thus applied, the ship better fits the capabilities and limitations of the crew, resulting in enhanced crew performance.El diseñador actual de buques navales o embarcaciones rutinariamente utiliza los principios de los factores humanos (ergonomía) como una manera para mejorar el desempeño de la tripulación. Pero, aunque muchos aspectos de los factores humanos son bien conocidos, ciertas categorías importantes a menudo permanecen subutilizadas. Una de estas categorías es la antropometría, el estudio de las dimensiones y capacidades del cuerpo humano. La antropometría analiza la edad, sexo y otros datos dentro de poblaciones de personas, como la población general de una nación o la población especial del personal naval en servicio activo de esa nación. Para el diseñador naval, la antropometría ayuda a asegurar el diseño ergonómico adecuado para la población de donde se obtiene la tripulación. El diseñador naval puede abordar confiablemente asuntos como linea de visión, altura de consola y accesibilidad de agarraderas de válvulas. Cuando los principios de la antropometría se aplican de esta manera, el buque encaja mejor con las capacidades y limitaciones de la tripulación, con el resultado del desempeño mejorado de la tripulación

a mixed reality digital set up to support design for serviceability

Abstract Design for serviceability begins with understanding the customer needs related to availability, reliability, accessibility and visibility, and aims at designing optimized systems where maintenance operations are easy and intuitive in order to reduce the time to repair and service costs. However, service actions are difficult to predict in front of a traditional CAD model. In this context, digital manufacturing tools and virtual simulation technologies can be validly used to create mixed digital environments where service tasks can be simulated in advance to support product design and improve maintenance actions. Furthermore, the use of human monitoring sensors can be used to detect the stressful conditions and to optimize the human tasks. The paper proposes a mixed reality (MR) set-up where operators are digitalized and monitored to analyse both physical and cognitive ergonomics. It is useful to predict design criticalities and improve the global system design. An industrial case study has been developed in collaboration with CNH Industrial to demonstrate how the proposed set-up is used for design for serviceability, on the basis of experimental evidence

Ergonomic evaluation on the manufacturing shop floor: A review of hardware and software technologies

The high rate of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among workers on the shop floor has led to the development of various ergonomic evaluation and risk assessment tools by researchers. This paper presents a summary of existing literature reviews of hardware and software technologies developed for effective ergonomic evaluation and correct risk assessment on manufacturing shop floors. Criteria was set for the review and after comprehensive search on 14 databases, 24 studies met the criteria. Old and modern ergonomic evaluation hardware and software technologies for effective evaluation on shop floors are identified. Most literatures cited the digital human models (DHMs), which can be created on many ergonomic evaluation software tools, to be an effective ergonomic evaluation tool. Gaps are identified with the use of DHMs for ergonomic evaluations. Ultimately, this study is a contribution towards identifying adequate ergonomic evaluation and correct risk assessment tools which when implemented on the Shop floor, can lead to improved productivity, enhanced efficiency and reduced cost

Digital Human Models Of People With Disabilities

The current state-of-the-art in Digital Human Modeling (DHM) allows for full simulation and analysis of any task a person is required to perform at home, at work, in the military, in space, in sports, etc. The problem is that the software is missing a very important population: people with physical disabilities. What modifications and enhancements must be made to existing, commercially available DHM software to include this population

Workforce challenges: 'inclusive design' for organizational sustainability

Today's challenge for workforce management lies in providing a healthy, safe and productive working culture where people are valued, empowered and respected. Workforce diversity is becoming an essential aspect of the global workforce, and ageing is the most prominent and significant factor in this regard. Diversity brings many opportunities and challenges, as workers with different backgrounds, cultures, working attitudes, behaviours and age work together, and in future, the key to organizational effectiveness and sustainability will heavily depend on developing and sustaining inclusive work environments where people with their differences can co-exist safely and productively. Manufacturing organizations expect the highest levels of productivity and quality, but unfortunately the manufacturing system design process does not take into account human variability issues caused by age, skill, experience, attitude towards work etc. This thesis focuses on proposing an inclusive design methodology to address the design needs of a broader range of the population. However, the promotion and implementation of an inclusive design method is challenging due to the lack of relevant data and lack of relevant tools and methods to help designers. This research aims to support the inclusive design process by providing relevant data and developing new design methodologies. The inclusive design methodology suggested in this thesis is a three step approach for achieving a safe and sustainable work environment for workers, with special concern for older workers. The methodology is based on the provision of relevant human capabilities data, the capture and analysis of difference in human behaviour and the use of this knowledge in a digital human modelling tool. The research is focused on manual assembly through a case study in the furniture manufacturing industry and joint mobility data from a wide-ranging population has been analysed and the task performing strategies and behaviours of workers with different levels of skills have been recorded and analysed. It has been shown that joint mobility significantly decreases with age and disability and that skilful workers are likely to adopt safer and more productive working strategies. A digital human modelling based inclusive design strategy was found to be useful in addressing the design needs of older workers performing manufacturing assembly activities. This strategy validates the concept of using human capabilities data for assessing the level of acceptability of any adopted strategy for older workers, and suggests that the strategies adopted by skilful workers are more likely to be equally acceptable for older and younger workers keeping in view differences in their joint mobility. The overall purpose of this thesis is to present a road map towards the promotion and implementation of the inclusive design method for addressing workforce challenges and in future the same strategies might be implemented within a variety of other industrial applications. The proposed three step inclusive design methodology and getting a reasonable understanding of human variability issues along with the use of human capabilities data (joint mobility in this case) in a human modelling system for design assessment at a pre-design stage can be considered as the major contributions of this research

Design and assessment of ergonomic seat in planes

Commercial aviation has become increasingly more accessible during last decades, due to a higher flight frequency, launch of new routes and affordable prices. Low cost airlines are playing an important role in this process, since these companies have achieved spectacular reduction in operational costs. In this context, users, companies and employees are conferring an increasing importance to certain terms, such as comfort, ergonomics or, in last term, work related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs). These concepts are widely employed in the corporate sector, and most of companies incorporate occupational health and safety departments. This project aims to import this methodology to commercial aviation, in order to define and assess a group of activities and seated positions commonly adopted by airplane passengers on their aircraft seats. The research employs direct methods of biomechanical analysis and specific software to evaluate whether biomechanical risk factors are present. Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) will be employed as an auxiliary method to prioritize what postures require the implementation of modifications. An important objective of this paper is to approximate and differentiate where is the limit between commodity and ergonomics, and in which cases a position ceases to be ergonomic, becoming uncomfortable. Seated positions have been identified and grouped in five different categories: neutral postures, laptop/iPad postures, reading positions, sleeping postures and, finally, in order to group baby posture and eating posture there is a group under the denomination of other postures. The research evidences different medium risk level postures that air passengers are exposed to develop, which are in the limit between commodity and ergonomics, as well as it is proceeded to detect factors and cabin layouts that directly affect in the flight ergonomics conditions.Ingeniería en Tecnologías Industriale