An innovative modeling method to evaluate Human factor effects on the performance of manufacturing systems

Poor working conditions in a workplace influence employee health status that negatively reduce his/her performance level at work by developing occupational illnesses. Operations research performance optimization models rarely include employee health-related performance variations. In contrast, Human factors (ergonomics) studies have mostly focused on occupational health and safety aspects without accounting for operational elements of the system. This paper proposes an integrated consideration of human factors that can affect individual, and hence system performance. It presents an innovative approach to optimize the overall performance of a manufacturing system by quantifying occupational health consequences and including other operational features of the system. Practitioners can used this modeling approach to figure out how the performance of their systems will be enhanced by investing in safer working conditions.