Interactive design of storage unit utilizing virtual reality and ergonomic framework for production optimization in manufacturing industry

AbstractThe primary goal of this research is to apply principles of ergonomics using virtual reality to develop an integrated approach to provide interactive designing and evaluating of production in a manufacturing cell. One of the most common parts of every cell is storage unit, while, studies have been done on it is not sufficiently considered the importance of the design based on human labor ergonomic. Thus, the objective of this study is to improve the design of a common storage unit used in the assembly process for pen production utilizing the RULA method for improving the ergonomic posture. The significance of this research is to investigate the interaction between a labor and a product often involves ergonomic elements. The developed method decreases the production time, reduces the fatigue on worker, mitigates the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, and consequently improves the productivity. The pen production assembly line is chosen as a case study for the design of the storage units is in direct interaction with human ergonomic and performance consequently. DELMIA human activity analysis is used to study the fatigue in a virtual environment. The comparison of the real time and simulation, experimental results show that the modification of storage unit could decrease the fatigue by 42.5%. It is demonstrated that the interactive design of a storage unit based on proposed technique improves the productivity and efficiency of the workstation.

[1]  M. A. Ayoub,et al.  Ergonomic deficiencies: I. Pain at work. , 1990, Journal of occupational medicine. : official publication of the Industrial Medical Association.

[2]  Uma Jayaram,et al.  Introducing quantitative analysis methods into virtual environments for real-time and continuous ergonomic evaluations , 2006, Comput. Ind..

[3]  Ralph Mosser Barnes,et al.  Motion and Time Study: Design and Measurement of Work , 1968 .

[4]  Amit Bhattacharya,et al.  Occupational ergonomics : theory and applications , 1996 .

[5]  Fumihiko Kimura,et al.  Product and Process Modelling as a Kernel for Virtual Manufacturing Environment , 1993 .

[6]  Ben Shepherd,et al.  Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Global Markets: A Differential Approach for Services? , 2014 .

[7]  Martin G. Helander.  Seven common reasons to not implement ergonomics , 2000 .

[8]  M. Ayoub.  Ergonomic deficiencies: II. Probable causes. , 1990, Journal of occupational medicine. : official publication of the Industrial Medical Association.

[9]  Don B. Chaffin,et al.  Digital Human Modeling for Vehicle and Workplace Design , 2001 .

[10]  Neville A Stanton,et al.  The Design with Intent Method: a design tool for influencing user behaviour. , 2010, Applied ergonomics.

[11]  L McAtamney,et al.  RULA: a survey method for the investigation of work-related upper limb disorders. , 1993, Applied ergonomics.

[12]  V Z Priel,et al.  A Numerical Definition of Posture , 1974, Human factors.

[13]  Aydin Azizi,et al.  Introducing a Novel Hybrid Artificial Intelligence Algorithm to Optimize Network of Industrial Applications in Modern Manufacturing , 2017, Complex..

[14]  E. N. Corlett,et al.  Posture Targeting: A Technique for Recording Working Postures , 1979 .

[15]  Stephan A. Konz,et al.  Work Design: Industrial Ergonomics , 1983 .

[16]  Bibhuti Das.  An ergonomic approach to designing a manufacturing work system , 1987 .

[17]  Howard Rheingold,et al.  Virtual Reality , 1991 .

[18]  Casey Casey Larijani.  The Virtual Reality Primer , 1993 .

[19]  Development of a digital human model generation method for ergonomic design in virtual environment , 2009 .

[20]  Amit Bhattacharya,et al.  Occupational Ergonomics : Theory and Applications, Second Edition , 2012 .