Ergonomics in early product development - an interview study in five companies

Paper in proceeding, 2011

The objective was to explore how assembly ergonomics issues were regarded in early product development. Therefore, 64 stakeholders in five manufacturing companies were interviewed. Their answers show a fairly good awareness of the implications of poor assembly ergonomics but appropriate working procedures are missing. 58 respondents think that poor ergonomics can result in worse product quality. 47 state that profitability calculations are often necessary and 37 mean that ergonomics risks are taken due to missing calculation methods. Altogether, the results add further knowledge of what is required to achieve more complete and sustainable ergonomic solutions.