Ergonomic assessment of automotive assembly tasks with digital human modelling and the 'ergonomics assessment worksheet' (EAWS)

Abstract

The increasing global competition and changing demographic profiles amplify the importance of efficient design of work stations and processes that considers the physical job demands and the operators’ abilities. Good ergonomic design is not restricted to the current production, but should be considered during all phases of the product life cycle. Digital human model (DHM) simulations provide good opportunities for an integrated ergonomic design, particularly during pre-production planning. This article gives an overview on DHM used in production ergonomics and highlights two new approaches to enhance current DHM applications. The editor for manual work activities (EMA) helps to speed up and optimise human movement simulation. MTMergonomics is an ergonomic risk assessment tool for industrial engineers (and ergonomists) during the planning phase of the product development process, based on MTM process languages like MTM-UAS. The ergonomic assessment worksheet (EAWS) is a tool for the holistic evaluation of physical workloads. It is implemented in digital human models like Jack and serves as an ergonomic evaluation tool within EMA and MTMergonomics. EAWS serves as a common feature to link DHM, EMA and MTMergonomics activities.