A Participatory and Integrative Approach to Increase Productivity and Comfort in Assembly

Abstract

Manufacturers of manually assembled products are more and more forced to improve the flow of assembly orders together with a more efficient employment, in order to meet increasing demands on short delivery times, high product variety, good quality and low manufacturing costs. At the same time, the human factor is increasingly important, for a well-motivated work force is needed more than ever. To improve assembly processes, an approach was developed and applied in various assembly companies. Goals of this approach are both a lead time reduction and an improvement of the assembly tasks in an ergonomic sense. Main elements of the approach are the active participation of the companies, the integration of two basic disciplines: assembly engineering and ergonomics, and its stepwise nature. The initial steps of the approach include the analysis of the assembly process by setting up an ‘assembly process scheme’, and the analysis of bottlenecks with regard to the flow of orders and ergonomics. Latter steps include the selection of improving measures, the implementation of these measures and the evaluation of the effects. This paper describes this approach and its application in two assembly companies: one producing relatively small products (magnetic stop valves) and the other making relatively large products (office furniture). In both companies the approach lead to a new design of the assembly process, a new factory lay-out including new work places, and another involvement of people in the assembling process.