An Experimental Analysis of Ergonomics in an Assembly Line in a Portuguese Automotive Industry

Abstract

Ergonomic factors have assumed a key role in workers’ wellbeing. In industry, these factors become even more crucial considering the potential risk on workers’ health due to the monotonous and repetitive nature of tasks, requiring repetitive movements with the same body segment. This is the context of the automotive industry, in particular, the production of automotive components. Also, there is the problem associated with the pressure to workers respond to the cadence imposed by machines. This work emerges from the analysis of the ergonomic’ conditions in a production cell of an automotive component industry. The main objective was to identify problems of ergonomic nature in the workstations of the most problematic productive line. First a generalist ergonomic study was conducted in the assembly line, identifying the main ergonomic problems and then specific ergonomic evaluation was performed through the application of methods, such as RULA, Revised NIOSH Equation and Mital Guide. Based on the results, 72.7% of the tasks related with postures and 66.7% of the materials lifting tasks were identified as that could compromised workers’ health. Results contributed to plan the industrial improvement processes, specially focused on the ergonomic aspects. Also, they contribute and encourage greater awareness of the importance of the ergonomic aspects on the design and organization of workplaces contributing to the economic and social objectives of the organization.