Ergonomic workplace construction, evaluation and improvement by CADWORK

The interactive capability of CADWORK has been demonstrated for construction, evaluation and improvement of a workplace for the assembly of a domestic fan. Data prepared in accordance with the requirements of the CADWORK system were fed into the computerized workplace heuristic and a workplace constructed from scratch was evaluated to give an assembly time of 1889.72 TMU at 100 BS performance level. The workplace was, then interactively adjusted by movement of some bins in the workplace to seek improvement. The cycle time simulated by CADWORK for the best improved workplace was 1654.89 TMU at 100 BS performance level. Computerized workplace design is quite relevant in industry as it enables various workplace layouts to be easily generated, evaluated and improved in situ, such that selection of the best layout is possible from the standpoints of ergonomics considerations and the anthropometric data of the operator who would use it. The criterion employed by CADWORK for workplace appraisal and selection, is the minimization of the cycle time of the product assembled using the workplace constructed or modified via the CADWORK heuristic.