Re: Ergonomics Metrics?
I find myself leaning towards what potdar is saying.
Randy - you know that ergonomics is notoriously hard to quantify to bean counters and plant managers, that's why nothing ever became of the OSHA ergonomics standard for general industry.
It's hard to prove you prevented something.
So as far as metrics - dont ignore the safety aspect but get the metrics from efficiency improvement.
Example from my past - was an IE in an operation that involved repetitive lifting of a shaft from a slitter to a stripper/core placer and back to the slitter. Then turning 180 degrees and putting the rolls on a packing table. This manual part of the operation was the bottleneck.
No one would listen to my protests of possible shoulder and back problems because there hadn't been any documented.
But when I reduced the weigh of the shaft and moved the packing table to 90 degrees instead of 180, production increased because the operator could do more "reps" without tiring. So we could speed up the slitter time to match the new operator pace.
That sells.
I find myself leaning towards what potdar is saying.
Randy - you know that ergonomics is notoriously hard to quantify to bean counters and plant managers, that's why nothing ever became of the OSHA ergonomics standard for general industry.
It's hard to prove you prevented something.
So as far as metrics - dont ignore the safety aspect but get the metrics from efficiency improvement.
Example from my past - was an IE in an operation that involved repetitive lifting of a shaft from a slitter to a stripper/core placer and back to the slitter. Then turning 180 degrees and putting the rolls on a packing table. This manual part of the operation was the bottleneck.
No one would listen to my protests of possible shoulder and back problems because there hadn't been any documented.
But when I reduced the weigh of the shaft and moved the packing table to 90 degrees instead of 180, production increased because the operator could do more "reps" without tiring. So we could speed up the slitter time to match the new operator pace.
That sells.
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