Relationships between Cycle Time and Mechanical Exposure within and between Individuals in Repetitive Assembly Work

Abstract

Cycle time is an important parameter for both the production engineer and the ergonomist. This study focused the relationships between cycle time and another ergonomic parameter, exposure level. Mechanical exposure was assessed with EMG and inclinometry on five operators at three workstations in an assembly plant. Average cycle time and exposure level did not differ between workstations. Significant relationships between cycle time and exposure level were found in some cases at an individual level. Large between operator variability was found for both exposure levels and cycle time while the within operator variability was smaller, even across stations. This indicates that the operators used individual working methods.