Browsing by Author "Carneiro, P."
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- Ergonomic design intervention in a coating production areaPublication . Brito, Marlene; Gonçalves, Maria Antónia; Ramos, A. L.; Carneiro, P.The aim of this study is to redesign two workstations in a PVD coating production area, consid- ering productivity and ergonomic aspects. Through the elimination of wastes such as unnecessary movements and transportations and by reducing the awkward postures as arm flexion larger than 45o, the productivity in the loading and unloading workstations increased 9% and 5%, respectively, and the ergonomic risk was im- proved from medium to acceptable. RULA was the chosen method to evaluate the ergonomic situation and anthropometric studies were performed to find the ideal ergonomic solution. This study shows the importance to consider ergonomic conditions when designing or redesigning a workstation in order to get effective productivity improvements.
- Integration of lean manufacturing and ergonomics in a metallurgical industryPublication . Brito, Marlene; Gonçalves, Maria Antónia; Ramos, A. L.; Carneiro, P.Striving to improve productivity, industries have used different management approaches, being lean manufacturing the most used over recent years. Lean manufacturing is based on value creation for the customer and elimination of waste that occurs during the production process, while improving working conditions. The incorporation of ergonomic aspects in the workstation design also contributes for the referred objectives, since it will reduce awkward postures or excessive effort during work, leading to better working conditions and increased productivity. The present study highlights, through a case study in four production areas of a metallurgical industry, the benefits of using an integrated operations management approach to improve productivity and ergonomic aspects. Several ergonomic methods, such as Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), Strain Index (SI), and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA), were chosen to evaluate the ergonomic situation and lean manufacturing tools such as Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and 7 wastes were also used to analyze the systems and increase the productivity by eliminating several wastes. The results of this study show that it is possible, and desirable, to consider both aspects, ergonomic conditions and productivity, during continuous improvement’ implementations. In fact, the improvements reached through the advances in ergonomic conditions can contribute very positively for productivity increasing.
- The eighth waste: non-utilized talentPublication . Brito, Marlene; Ramos, A. L.; Carneiro, P.; Gonçalves, Maria AntóniaIn a changing economic climate, characterized by great pressure to improve productivity and reduce costs, industries use different management approaches, with lean manufacturing being the most popular in recent years. Lean manufacturing is based on value creation for the customer and the elimination of the waste which occurs during the production process, while improving working conditions. There are eight types of waste in lean manufacturing. The well-known seven wastes are production process-oriented, while the eighth waste is directly related to management’s ability to utilize personnel. This type of manufacturing waste occurs when management in a manufacturing environment fails to ensure that all the employees’ potential talent is being well utilized. This talent refers to management’s ability to use critical thinking and continuous improvement feedback from employees to improve a lean manufacturing process. When management does not engage with manufacturing employees on topics of continuous improvement and allow employees to produce change for the better, that is considered a manufacturing waste. Although performance management and the use of the employees’ talent are crucial to ensure a competitive advantage, there is a lack of research regarding this type of waste: non-utilized talent. On the other hand, there is a lot of literature addressing process-oriented wastes. The purpose of this work is to explore this “talent waste” and identify the contributing factors for this type of waste, such as: lack of reward, lack of recognition, lack of motivation, lack of training/knowledge, organizational injustice, undefined goals, etc. A tool is also introduced which takes the form of a questionnaire that will allow managers to evaluate their workers and help them to identify if there is “talent waste” in their companies, as well as the main causes related to this type of waste. To the authors’ knowledge this work is innovative and valuable because it will help companies increase employees’ performance, which is very important for organization sustainability.