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- A Diagnostic Analysis of Absenteeism—A Case Study in a Portuguese Cork IndustryPublication . Silva, Alfredo; Ramos, Ana Luísa; Brito, Marlene; Ramos, AntónioAbsenteeism is defined as the absence of a worker from his or her workplace during a normal day’s work schedule and is seen as a problem which companies face every day. The absence of an employee can result in a significant drop in productivity and the company’s daily revenue can be negatively impacted by it, which when multiplied by the absence of multiple workers in different days can have a harmful impact on the company’s financial situation. However, most managers neither understand nor have looked into the causes of their absence issue. This study took place at a company which produces cork stoppers, which deals with a problem of high absenteeism that costs around 1,200,000€ per year to the company. The main goal of this study is to identify the sectors in this com- pany which have the highest percentage of absenteeism, quantify its impact on related outcomes and diagnose its causes. The results of this study show that most absenteeism occurs in production areas and the causes are related to musculo- skeletal problems. The consequences involve various costs to the company, some of them difficult to quantify.
- ErgoSMED: A Methodology to Reduce Setup Times and Improve Ergonomic ConditionsPublication . Brito, Marlene; Gonçalves, Maria AntóniaThe Lean manufacturing philosophy has been adopted by many different companies with the goal of responding to the economic recession which took place at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Two major motivators for this trend were reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction. Other than the known Lean methods, Human Factors and Ergonomics methods are also able to contribute to this emphasis. Thus, the creation of safe, effective workplaces emphasizing a human oriented approach, and the implementation of Ergonomics in business process management, represent two of the main conditions for the sustainable development of a company. Pinpointing the connections between Ergonomics and LPS enables us to address both at the same time. Besides, synergism between Lean and Ergonomics can be attained. The aim of this paper is to develop a tool in the form of a flowchart which will include the steps for integrating the single-minute exchange of die (SMED), a Lean tool, while considering Ergonomics. This flowchart (named “ErgoSMED”) has been validated by several case studies. We were able to demonstrate that synergism between Lean and Ergonomics can be reached. The ErgoSMED flowchart developed in this study is innovative because it combines Ergonomics with a SMED tool and is ready to be used in any production area by professionals or researchers
- The Anthropometry in Service of the School Furniture - Case Study Applied to the Portuguese Primary SchoolsPublication . Brito, Marlene; Gonçalves, Maria AntóniaThe focus of the current study was to set the benchmark for designing school furniture for Portuguese primary schools, taking into account the characterization and analysis of a previously selected sample of students. Considering the anthropometric data of the Portuguese children with ages between six and ten years old and its treatment, it was possible to set benchmarks for the design of school furniture for Portuguese primary schools, as well as to develop a methodological guide for adjusting the furniture according to the student’s stature. The obtained results seem to be very relevant as they provide a scientific basis for the design and compatible with the anthropometric dimensions of the considered population of users.
- Ergonomic Analysis in Lean Manufacturing and Industry 4.0—A Systematic ReviewPublication . Brito, Marlene; Gonçalves, Maria Antónia; Ramos, Ana Luísa; Carneiro, PaulaIn 2015, the UN defined well-being and decent work/economic growth as two of 17 sustainable development objectives. Nevertheless, the extreme pressure for businesses to be competitive in their markets of choice seems to be having a negative effect on workers’ well-being. In the manufacturing sector, the effective inclusion of Ergonomics in processes and installations has been proven to decrease costs related to disability, extra or overtime hours, medical care and premiums or fines for occurrences. The aim of this work was to review the existing scientific knowledge about the impact of adopting LPS (Lean Production Systems—a model used to increase competitiveness by the creation of more value for customers with fewer resources) in manufacturing companies from the point of view of Ergonomics. It reports, based on the literature reviewed, how the integration of both LPS and Ergonomics principles, from the workstation design phase onwards, can bring benefits to the workers’ welfare and simultaneously potentiate improvements in productivity. This paper also intends to present trends and opportunities for future research in this area, including in the Industry 4.0 field. In the authors’ opinion, this paper is a valuable contribution for practitioners, in manufacturing environments, and researchers.
- 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.
- Improving the Production Performance and Ergonomic Aspects Using Lean and Agile ConceptsPublication . Brito, Marlene; Gonçalves, Maria Antónia; Ramos, Ana Luísa Ferreira Andrade; Carneiro, Paula; Ferreira, José António de Vasconcelos; Frade, Ana Beatriz TavaresThe study described in this work took place in the sanding and polishing area of a meta-lurgical company, where workers’ complaints due to the strength needed to perform manual tasks, as well as their repetitive pattern, led to cases of shoulder pain and tendinitis.The study aimed to evidence the benefits of using an integrated operations management approach, following lean/agile/ergonomic concepts, to improve the performance and ergonomic aspects of a production system. The results demonstrate that it is possible to reach an efficient production system, which meets safety and ergonomics requirements, by using lean and agile principles and companies should consider both ergonomic aspects and production performance during continuous improvement implementations to increase productivity and worker well-being.
- The Impact of Implementing Hygiene and Safety Measures on Absenteeism—A Case Study in a Small Metallurgical CompanyPublication . Brito, Marlene; Gonçalves, Maria Antónia; Caravana, N.; Esperança, M.; Teixeira, H.The absenteeism related to health and safety at work is a serious issue in the manufacturing process, and some industries can be dangerous work fields with a high level of accidents. It is important to understand what causes the accident and, if possible, apply standard procedures to minimize the risk of accidents and subsequent absenteeism. This study aims to assess the impact of the implementation of occupa-tional health and safety procedures on company absenteeism. In the compa-ny where the study took place, most work accidents and absenteeism hap-pened in the production area, with workers who directly handle raw materi-als and machines. As a result, an HSE manager was hired in order to reduce accidents by putting in place several hygiene and security measures and procedures. The results of these measures as well as absenteeism data were studied and con-clusions regarding company performance were drawn
- Combining SMED methodology and ergonomics for reduction of setup in a turning production areaPublication . Brito, Marlene; Gonçalves, Maria Antónia; Ramos, Ana Luísa; Carneiro, PaulaThe aim of this study is to prove that it is possible to reduce the setup time and improve ergonomic conditions at the same time. This research took place in a turning production area of a metallurgical factory where workers’ complains due to shoulder pains and tendinitis were high, due to the awkward postures and forceful hand exertions to perform the manual tasks. Moreover, the high setup time of 105 minutes caused productivity problems and delays for customers. Through the SMED tool and increasing ergonomic conditions, the setup time was reduced 46% and the MSD risk also decreased.
- Improving ergonomic conditions and productivity – a case study in a PVD coating production areaPublication . Brito, Marlene; Ramos, Ana Luísa; Carneiro, PaulaDue to demographic variation, fewer young workers are available and the overall number of workers will decrease. The length of absenteeism, especially due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), increases with higher age (Müglich et al., 2015). According to Neumann and Dul (2010), if effectively applied in the design of operation systems, Human Factors can improve system performance while reducing health hazards for employees. The aim of this work is to evaluate “How productivity is affected after the implementation of ergonomics improvements?” The case study takes place in a PVD coating production area, where workers’ complaints due to shoulder pains were rising considerably. These complaints come mainly from the processes of loading and unloading pieces from the suspension, before and after the product entering the PVD machine, respectively. This is a repetitive job and involves two awkward postures: flexion of the arms above 60o (from now on “arms up”) about 30% of the time and the difficulty to move manually a full suspension of 6kg, on average, from the machine carpet to a table every 3 minutes and vice-versa depending if it is an unloading or a loading process.