Workplace Design for Manual Assembly Tasks: Effect of Spatial Arrangement on Work-Cycle Time.

Abstract

This article reports the results of an experimental study undertaken to investigate the effect of spatial arrangement of assembly board and parts bin in the normal work area on work-cycle time in manual assembly tasks. Operator performance was measured in terms of average work-cycle time taken to complete a laboratory-simulated manual assembly task. Results showed that both location and distance factors had significant effects on work-cycle time. Effect of the size of parts was also investigated in the study. Average observed work-cycle times were compared with the methods-time measurement (MTM) values. Repetitive manual assembly tasks are common in industry and are thought to lead to musculoskeletal disorders. The results of this research are important for ergonomic design of the workplace for assembly tasks, which would help to enhance operators' efficiency.