The impact of materials exposure on the conditions at the workstation

Paper i proceeding, 2008

The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of how the materials exposure impacts the workstation conditions, in terms of non-value adding work, the space needed and ergonomics. In a typical workstation in the Swedish Automotive industry materials for manual assembly are exposed along the line in pallets, being supplied by forklift trucks. In this study, three workstations were re-designed, using the principles of lean production, one was subsequently rebuilt and a pilot study was performed. Materials had previously been supplied and exposed in pallets and the re- design with smaller containers decreased the space needed along the line with 67%. The results included a decrease of the non-value adding work at the workstation of 23%. The walking path for the operator was decreased by 52%. Reducing picking of unbeneficial exposed materials, unnecessary movements and carrying work improved the ergonomics for the operator.