Workstation Design Research Articles

Ecological validity of virtual reality simulations in workstation health and safety assessment

The last decade saw a rapid rise of interest in Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, driven by more mature hardware and software tools. Within the ongoing digitalization of industry, VR technologies see uses in workstation design, operator training and tele-operation. This article focuses on how VR can contribute to workstation design including health and safety assessment. VR allows the inclusion of the operator in the workstation design process, permitting evaluation of the design in a safe, interactive and immersive virtual environment. This systematic literature review aims to qualify the ecological validity of VR tools and identify the current obstacles to safe and successful workstation design transfer. A standard systematic literature review procedure is used, on a wide selection of experimental research articles studying the validity of VR, within or outside of industrial contexts. We aggregate results from fundamental research on VR ecological validity regarding user perceptions, movement, cognition and stress. These results are discussed with respect to their influence on workstation OSH assessment in VR. Furthermore, we identify current technological factors and upcoming developments that mediate the validity of VR assessments.

Redesain stasiun kerja untuk pembuatan kain batik tulis

Batik belongs to an Indonesian cultural heritage that has spread throughout the archipelago and produces various motifs displaying the characteristics of each region. Compared to other types of batik, written batik requires more patience and perseverance during the manufacturing process. The results of surveys conducted on five hand-drawn batik craftsmen in Samarinda, namely D'Five, Batik Putri Syafril, LKP Atiiqna, Lilis Batik, and Borneo Craft Indonesia, indicated that even though the times have been modern, the process of batik making still uses things at home without paying attention to convenience while doing batik activities. The design of this workstation aims to facilitate batik activities, especially at the stage of tracing the motifs onto the fabric and embroidering. The redesign of this batik workstation employed a design analysis by considering the needs, activities, systems, ergonomics, anthropometry, placement, materials, and colors through a qualitative method. This sort of method was carried out by observing problems directly at the location, conducting interviews with craftsmen, and documenting the tools used. The result of this research is the compilation of a workstation design prototype having a modern design style that highlights the functionality of the product. It focused on the process of tracing batik motifs from paper onto cloth and proceeding to the imprinting process, which can be done at one workstation. It presents the features of a tracing area that can be tilted according to tracing needs, the integration of a lightbox, and a focus lamp that can be turned on at any time, as well as innovations in cloth rollers and webbing to ease the cloth pulling and rolling.

Assessing the Relationship between Cognitive Workload, Workstation Design, User Acceptance and Trust in Collaborative Robots

Collaborative robots are revolutionising the manufacturing industry and the way workers perform their tasks. When designing shared workspaces between robots and humans, human factors and ergonomics are often overlooked. This study assessed the relationship between cognitive workload, workstation design, user acceptance and trust in collaborative robots. We combined subjective and objective data to evaluate the cognitive workload during an assembly task in three different scenarios in which we manipulated various features of the workstation and interaction modalities. Our results showed that participants experienced a reduction in cognitive workload in each of the three trials, indicating an improvement in cognitive performance. Additionally, we found that user acceptance predicted perceived stress across the trials but did not significantly impact the cognitive workload. Trust was not found to moderate the relationship between cognitive workload and perceived stress. This study has the potential to make a significant contribution to the field of collaborative assembly systems by providing valuable insights and helping to bridge the gap between researchers and practitioners. This study can potentially impact companies looking to improve safety, productivity and efficiency.

Design and construction of a microfluidics workstation for high-throughput multi-wavelength fluorescence and transmittance activated droplet analysis and sorting.

Droplet microfluidics has revolutionized quantitative high-throughput bioassays and screening, especially in the field of single-cell analysis where applications include cell characterization, antibody discovery and directed evolution. However, droplet microfluidic platforms capable of phenotypic, fluorescence-based readouts and sorting are still mostly found in specialized labs, because their setup is complex. Complementary to conventional FACS, microfluidic droplet sorters allow the screening of cell libraries for secreted factors, or even for the effects of secreted or surface-displayed factors on a second cell type. Furthermore, they also enable PCR-activated droplet sorting for the isolation of genetic material harboring specific markers. In this protocol, we provide a detailed step-by-step guide for the construction of a high-throughput droplet analyzer and sorter, which can be accomplished in ~45 working hours by nonspecialists. The resulting instrument is equipped with three lasers to excite the fluorophores in droplets and photosensors that acquire fluorescence signals in the blue (425-465 nm), green (505-545 nm) and red (580-630 nm) spectrum. This instrument also allows transmittance-activated droplet sorting by analyzing the brightfield light intensity transmitting through the droplets. The setup is validated by sorting droplets containing fluorescent beads at 200 Hz with 99.4% accuracy. We show results from an experiment where droplets hosting single cells were sorted on the basis of increased matrix metalloprotease activity as an application of our workstation in single-cell molecular biology, e.g., to analyze molecular determinants of cancer metastasis.

Automated simulation-based design of ergonomic workstations using RPA and Human-in-the-Loop decision making

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders remain one of the most common causes of work incapacity and have a significant impact on personal performance and company productivity. To avoid and prevent physical overloads ergonomic workplaces are necessary. Their design and development are complicated because of a high number of regulations and recommendations for ergonomic design. It significantly depends on the experience of the designer. We present an approach for automated and context-dependent design of ergonomic workstations and to simplify the development process and to apply it to the individual's level of knowledge. Based on a use case from special machine manufacturing, we show how workstations can be generated automatically using CAD models of the assembly to be mounted. A human-in-the-loop approach combined with robotic process automation is pursued and integrated into the designing process to constantly check the ergonomics. This way, we shift the design of the workstation into the development process of the product to be assembled, enabling changes to the workstation or the assembly at an early stage.

Methodology for systematic design of cleanroom assembly workstations

Given the growth of cleanroom manufacturing for high-tech products and the high costs of operating within a cleanroom environment, an accompanying efficient manufacturing system is important. While abundant examples of efficient assembly manufacturing systems exist today, implementation of these into a sensitive cleanroom manufacturing environment has proven to be difficult. Against this background, this paper presents a transferable methodology to support the design of cleanroom assembly workstations which brings together aspects like cleanliness, ergonomics, modularity/flexibility and flow in an integrated manner. A set of guidelines was developed and embedded into a systematic procedure. The methodology was implemented and validated in a case at a high-tech precision manufacturing company, with high-mix-low-volume characteristics. The case study underlines the feasibility of the approach and the multicriterial improvement of workstation design towards the current state of the art. It also lead to a transferable cleanroom workstation design.

Occupational low back pain among nursing staff: An overview

Today, low back pain (LBP) in the workplace is a real and common problem among the nursing staff and can significantly impact their ability to work and perform their duties. Various factors can cause it, including incorrect lifting techniques, poor ergonomic design of workstations, and long periods of standing or sitting in one position. Some research has also suggested that psychological factors, such as job dissatisfaction and high-stress levels, may contribute to the development of low back pain in nursing staff. Consequently, more occupational or workplace diseases appear, including musculoskeletal diseases, stress, fatigue, chronic fatigue, and depression. Previous research has shown that lower back pain risks increase rapidly with higher physical and psychological stress but are inversely related to leisure activities. Various physical and psychological risk factors cause low back pain in nurses. Practices requiring heavy loads, such as patient transfer and transport as part of care, are the main factors driving LBP among nurses. Preventing low back pain in nurses is important for nurses to exercise their fundamental right to work under healthy and safe conditions and provide better patient support. Individual and institutional precautions are required to prevent LBP among nurses. This article highlights the need to develop institutional plans for low back pain reporting among the nursing staff. To prevent low back pain, it is important for nursing staff to be trained in proper lifting techniques and to use assistive devices when available. Workstations should be designed with ergonomics in mind, and breaks should be taken regularly to allow for stretching and movement. It may also be helpful for nursing staff to engage in regular exercise and stretching to improve their overall physical fitness and flexibility. If low back pain does occur, it is important for nursing staff to seek appropriate medical treatment and to follow a plan for managing their pain. This may include taking medications, undergoing physical therapy, or making lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of further injury. In some cases, it may be necessary for nursing staff to modify their duties or take time off work to allow for healing and recovery.

Changes in neuromuscular conduction of workers depending on age

The research was conducted to determine the effect of age on potential functional changes occurring through the transmission of nerve impulses in the motor nerves supplying selected muscles of the lower limb. The nerve conduction parameters in the lower limb were measured, as well as the ability to control muscle tension with pressure on the foot pedal. The study included a group of 54 men, differentiated by age. During the research, the speed of nerve conduction, amplitude and latency of the motor response in the tibial and peroneal nerves were measured. During the RAMP-contraction test, the EMG signal was recorded from the tibialis anterior muscles and the gastrocnemius muscles of the medial head. The results of the research showed that with age the ability to control muscle tone decreases, the speed of transmission of electrical impulses decreases, the motor response is delayed and its amplitude is significantly lower than in the case of younger people. The deterioration of neuromuscular conduction observed with age and a reduction in the ability to control the generated value of muscle strength may result in a deterioration of the ability to operate equipment or drive vehicles. From the point of view of prolonging the activity in working life, identifying all factors limiting the functioning of an older employee in the work environment may be the basis for creating guidelines and recommendations helpful in the design of devices and workstations for older employees. Med Pr. 2022;73(5):417-25.

Hybrid Vibration and UV Fluorescence Technology for Rapid Imaging and Guidance for Manual Removal of Fish Bones from Fish Floss.

The objective of the proposed human-machine cooperation (HMC) workstation is to both rapidly detect calcium-based fish bones in masses of minced fish floss and visually guide operators in approaching and removing the detected fish bones by hand based on the detection of fingernails or plastic-based gloves. Because vibration is a separation mechanism that can prevent absorption or scattering in thick fish floss for UV fluorescence detection, the design of the HMC workstation included a vibration unit together with an optical box and display screens. The system was tested with commonly used fish (swordfish, salmon, tuna, and cod) representing various cooking conditions (raw meat, steam-cooked meat, and fish floss), their bones, and contaminating materials such as derived from gloves made of various types of plastic (polyvinylchloride, emulsion, and rubber) commonly used in the removal of fish bones. These aspects were each investigated using the spectrum analyzer and the optical box to obtain and analyze the fluorescence spectra and images. The filter was mounted on a charge-coupled device, and its transmission-wavelength window was based on the characteristic band for fish bones observed in the spectra. Gray-level AI algorithm was utilized to generate white marker rectangles. The vibration unit supports two mechanisms of air and downstream separation to improve the imaging screening of fish bones inside the considerable flow of fish floss. Notably, under 310 nm ultraviolet B (UVB) excitation, the fluorescence peaks of the raw fillets, steam-cooked meat, and fish floss were observed at for bands at longer wavelengths (500-600 nm), whereas those of the calcium and plastic materials occurred in shorter wavelength bands (400-500 nm). Perfect accuracy of 100% was achieved with the detection of 20 fish bones in 2 kg of fish floss, and the long test time of around 10-12 min results from the manual removal of these fish bones.

Measuring Potential Visual Exposure of Physicians During Shift-End Handoffs and Its Impact on Interruptions, Privacy, and Collaboration.

Frequent interruptions, inadequate privacy, and lack of collaboration are barriers to safe and efficient end-of-shift handoffs between emergency physicians. Varying levels of visibility to and from physicians can impact these outcomes. This study quantifies potential visual exposure of physicians in workstations with varying enclosure levels using isovist connectivity (IC) as a measure. Further, this study examines the association of IC with number of interruptions/hour, perceived collaboration, and privacy during handoffs. In-person observations were conducted during 60 handoffs to capture interruptions. Surveys were administered to the incoming and outgoing physicians to garner their perceptions of the extent of interruptions, collaboration, and privacy. Spatial analysis was conducted using DepthmapX. Findings demonstrate significant differences in IC scores based on (a) physicians location within the workstation during; (b) handoff approach (individual or collaborative); (c) position during handoff (sitting or standing). Documented interruptions were highest in the high IC locations and lowest in the medium and low IC locations. Physicians in low IC locations perceived to have sufficient privacy to conduct handoffs. It should be noted that the three pods, each housing a physician workstation with different enclosure levels, varied in number of patient rooms, patient acuity, overall size, and the location of workstations. While contextual variables were considered to the extent possible, several other factors could have resulted in differences in number of interruptions and collaboration levels. This study provides design recommendations for handoff locations and a method to test emergency physician workstation designs prior to construction.

Industrial Ergonomics Risk Analysis Based on 3D-Human Pose Estimation

Ergonomics is important for smooth and sustainable industrial operation. In the manufacturing industry, due to poor workstation design, workers frequently and repeatedly experience uncomfortable postures and actions (reaching above their shoulders, bending at awkward angles, bending backwards, flexing their elbows/wrists, etc.). Incorrect working postures often lead to specialized injuries, which reduce productivity and increase development costs. Therefore, examining workers’ ergonomic postures becomes the basis for recognizing, correcting, and preventing bad postures in the workplace. This paper proposes a new framework to carry out risk analysis of workers’ ergonomic postures through 3D human pose estimation from video/image sequences of their actions. The top-down network calculates human body joints when bending, and those angles are compared with the ground truth body bending data collected manually by expert observation. Here, we introduce the body angle reliability decision (BARD) method to calculate the most reliable body-bending angles to ensure safe working angles for workers that conform to ergonomic requirements in the manufacturing industry. We found a significant result with high accuracy in the score for ergonomics we used for this experiment. For good postures with high reliability, we have OWAS score 94%, REBA score 93%, and RULA score 93% accuracy. Similarly, for occluded postures we have OWAS score 83%, REBA score 82%, and RULA score 82%, compared with expert’s occluded scores. For future study, our research can be a reference for ergonomics score analysis with 3D pose estimation of workers’ postures.

Design, Development, and Evaluation of the Blood Collection Management Workstation.

To design and develop a blood collection management workstation with high usability to reduce the risk of preanalytical errors and improve patient safety. A five-phase mobile application development lifecycle model (MADLC) and experience-based co-design (EBCD) were used for design and development. Subsequently, the blood collection management workstation was evaluated using the Chinese System Usability Scale (SUS) in a general ward setting from January to June 2021. It was used on 2593 in-patients who underwent phlebotomy with 12,378 tubes being labeled. The rate of errors and meantime for blood sampling were decreased compared with the same period in the previous year. A total of 14 nurses agreed to participate in the evaluation, and the overall raw SUS score was 69.26 ± 10.39, which indicated above average results. The blood collection management workstation has shown the potential to decrease errors and improve working efficiency in a clinical setting. The study also identified some weaknesses, which will be amended in the future.

User Preference Analysis of a Sustainable Workstation Design for Online Classes: A Conjoint Analysis Approach

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the sudden shift of the interactions between students and teachers from the four corners of the classroom to fully online learning through the workstations. By using a conjoint analysis approach, this study aimed to evaluate the preference of undergraduate students from the Philippines on the workstation design attributes during the pandemic. Seven attributes were examined through orthogonal design: the type of gadget, keyboard, mouse, earpiece, desk, kind of chair, and light device. Through a purposive sampling approach, a total of 315 undergraduate students from the Philippines were gathered. Through an online survey with two holdouts, the respondents voluntarily responded to 51 stimuli produced by IBM SPSS using a 7-point Likert scale. Type of gadget (37.925%) was found to be the most significant attribute preferred by the students, followed by the type of mouse (28.345%), kind of chair (14.840%), type of keyboard (7.548%), earpiece (7.177%), light device (2.109%), and desk (2.056%). It is worth noting that the preferred workstation design combination is the personal computer, mechanical keyboard, wired mouse, headset, height-adjustable table, high-back office chair with neck support, and floor lamp. This study is the first to use a conjoint technique to examine undergraduate students’ preferences for workstation design attributes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, by applying the attributes and design developed in this study, the conjoint method can be used and expanded to evaluate the workstation design attributes of other courses and even employees worldwide.

Ergonomic design and evaluation of gemstone polishing workstation

Objectives. Gemstone polishers suffer from musculoskeletal problems due to constrained working postures, substantially influenced by the poor design of conventional gemstone polishing workstations. The present study investigated the effects of three workstation adjustment parameters (illumination at workstation, polishing height, tool post position) on postural angle, muscle activity and perceived postural discomfort in order to develop recommendations for new gemstone polishing workstations. Methods. Twelve professional gemstone polishers performed the polishing task on a prototype test-rig in 27 different test conditions. Taguchi’s L27 orthogonal array was employed to estimate the optimum setting for gemstone polishing workstation design. Results. Study variables had a significant influence on postural angles. Polishing height substantially influenced muscle activity and perceived discomfort in the shoulder and lower back region. Tool post position was found to be the determinant factor for forearm muscle activity and perceived discomfort in the wrist/forearm region. Based on the findings, illumination of 1500 lux, polishing at 15 cm above the elbow height and a 20° tool position was recommended. Conclusions. Our findings present an alternative approach to using Taguchi’s design of experiment for workstation improvement, which has received very little attention in ergonomics studies. A confirmation test was conducted to validate the study recommendations.

Lean Six Sigma with Value Stream Mapping in Industry 4.0 for Human-Centered Workstation Design

Many industries have successfully implemented the define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC) method of Lean Six Sigma to improve their production activities. Value stream mapping (VSM) for Industry 4.0 allows us to understand the current state of operations in order to plan future improvements. In this study, we propose an improvement model based on DMAIC with VSM 4.0 for a truck cooler manufacturer to improve the picking workstation design with a human-centered approach. We use the DMAIC method to analyze the project step by step. After identifying the root cause, we identified countermeasures to improve the productivity. To reduce human error, the project team adopted a human-centered approach and applied lean tools, such as visual management, error prevention, and waste analysis. As a result of this case study, the yield rate was improved from 98% to 100%, and the direct savings of the project amounted to EUR 3180, mainly due to the freeing up of space. A human-centered LSS framework is also presented as a novel contribution of this study.

A human-centred workstation in industry 4.0 for balancing the industrial productivity and human well-being

Cyber-physical productions systems (CPPS) play a fundamental role in the fourth industrial revolution along with human centred design. The consideration of these two factors leads to the concept of human centred cyber-physical production systems (H-CPPSs), which are defined as systems that support humans, machines, and software to integrate virtual and physical worlds. H-CPPS are not intended to substitute for human operators but rather to support and augment their capabilities and ensure their well-being. Limited information currently exists about workstation design from an ergonomic perspective and a proper method for including a workstation in a H-CPPS. This paper proposes a methodology that allows identification of industrial requirements and ergonomic considerations for establishing guidelines to integrate Industry 4.0 principles in the manufacturing shopfloor of large and small-medium enterprises by designing a workstation framework that balances operator well-being and manufacturing productivity. First, this approach evaluates a set of general production tasks from the manufacturing industry, assesses the ergonomic risks during execution and identifies the technological enablers to balance human productivity and well-being. Second, this approach provides a set of guidelines for deploying a generic human centred workstation with ergonomic considerations. Finally, this paper describes a case study in which a human-centred workstation was constructed as a proof of concept of the proposed methodology. Experimental tests were applied to find significant statistical improvements between controlled and experimental scenario. The experimental results determined from the methodological constructed workstation with human-centred considerations contributes to reduce the ergonomic risk on industrial operators without affecting its productivity.

An Integrated Method for Solving the Two-Sided Assembly Line Balancing Problems

The problems of parallel two-sided assembly lines balancing (TALB) are nonpolynomial (NP-hard) problems that belong to the field of combinatorial optimization. In most cases, these problems can be resolved with algorithms. To this end, this research adopts colored Petri nets (CPN) and a minimal spanning tree (MST) to address the type I problems for two-sided assembly line balancing problem (TALBP). This research proposes a three-step method. In the first step, a reachability tree chart is built to show potential tasks order assignment. In the second step, the color firing mechanism is employed to determine if the colored conditions are satisfied. The final step uses a MST and a least-time prioritized rule to select the proper tasks for assignment efficiently. These steps will be performed repetitively until all the tasks are properly assigned. Since the whole assignment process is based on graphical and paradigm methods, it can be adopted to lessen the burdens of complex calculations. The end of the research will present the comparison results between the examples from the literature and the method proposed in this research. As indicated by the research findings, employing CPN and an MST for TALBPs (type-I) can obtain even favorable and consistent results over legacy methods, and further optimize workstation design and enhance balance efficiency.

Examining the relationship between human factors related quality risk factors and work related musculoskeletal disorder risk factors in manufacturing

This study addresses the relationship between human factors (HF) related quality deficits in manufacturing and work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSD) risk factors in production staff. A recent systematic review identified 60 HF-related quality risk factors (QRFs) in manufacturing related to product, process and workstation design stages. We investigate the extent to which these identified QRFs are also WMSD risk factors. Each QRF was examined for its relationship with WMSD using a 0 (no relationship) to 10 (strong relationship) scale rubric. The authors rated each QRF separately and then discussed and adjusted their ratings in a review session. Results showed that average median ratings were the highest for QRFs related to product design (8/10), intermediate for QRFs related to workstation design (7/10) and the lowest for QRFs related to process design (5/10). This emphasises the significant role of HF in system design in reducing both quality deficits and risk of developing WMSDs for manufacturing personnel. Practitioner summary: This study investigates whether human-related risk factors for product quality are also risk factors for work-related musculoskeletal disorders in manufacturing. Results showed a substantial relationship between quality risk factors and WMSD risk factors. This indicates the significant role of human factors in operations design in improving both system performance and human wellbeing.

VR–MOCAP-Enabled Ergonomic Risk Assessment of Workstation Prototypes in Offsite Construction

Workers in offsite construction facilities are often exposed to repetitive motion and awkward body postures that are associated with the risk of developing work-related musculoskeletal disorders despite the use of automated equipment on production lines. To reduce the exposure to these risks, an investigation of the physical demands that workstations impose on workers’ bodies is needed. Since traditional methods used to collect human body motions have limitations, such as workplace interruptions and biased results due to subjective observation, this paper proposes a virtual reality (VR)–motion capture (MOCAP)-based ergonomic assessment method to evaluate ergonomic risks in a laboratory setting during the design phase of workstation development. It is expected that the number of iterations of physical workstation prototypes would be reduced if ergonomic risk ratings are identified proactively in the initial phases of workstation design, which would thereby reduce the cost and time required to develop and implement an improved workstation design. The present study includes a feasibility analysis of the proposed method in which participants representative of specific percentiles of the population based on their physical stature were invited to voluntarily participate in a research experiment. The results obtained demonstrate that the proposed method can successfully simulate the elemental motions, referred to as therbligs, of reaching and positioning (Pearson’s correlation coefficient is found to equal 0.80 and 0.94, respectively), while the simulation of the assembling therblig requires further investigation. The contribution of this study is a virtual reality–motion captured-enabled ergonomic risk assessment method applied to workstation design for offsite construction production lines. In addition, the deployment of the proposed method allows a holistic ergonomic assessment that considers objective and subjective parameters.

Ergonomic Finishing Workstation Design to Resolve Musculoskeletal Disorders Complaints of Workers in MSEs of Silver Jewelry Handicraft

The silver industry in Indonesia has the advantage of a long history, most of the craftsmen run it from generation to generation, among others, by traditional methods, especially for carving (handmade). SE SILVER 999 is a gold and silver craft business in Malang. These MSE produces quality jewelry products with unique designs that are made manually or handmade. In the production process, before the jewelry at these MSE is ready to be displayed, the product needs to go through a finishing work station, it’s because in the process of flattening at the bending work station, and in the assembly process, the jewelry is still rough in texture and pale. So that every product produced needs to pass through the finishing work station. However, the finishing work station at these MSE has not met the ergonomics aspects, in terms of the height of the polishing table, the absence of a front cover, the lack of lighting and the location of the polishing wheel point. Based on these problems, the author aims to make a design of finishing workstation with an ergonomic and safe polishing machine box for MSE SILVER 999 using the REBA method