Work organization in sand core manufacturing for health and productivity

Sand core making is a manual process, in which two types of cores are prepared—carbon dioxide sand core and chemical sand core. Core making workers often work in awkward postures and suffer from musculo-skeletal disorders, primarily affecting the low-back region. In this study an attempt was made to organize the sand core making operation for enhancing productivity. The existing process of both types of sand core making involved some unnecessary steps, which hamper the rate of work and consequently productivity is hindered. The modified process eliminates these steps and the overall productivity in carbon dioxide sand core making and chemical sand core making increased by 8.5% and 30%, respectively.Relevance to industryIn the informal sectors, the work improvement can be effectively carried out by means of low-cost modification in the existing work process and workstation design. In this study, elimination of certain steps and modification in existing process led to a remarkable improvement in productivity.