Title: Industrial workstations design: a real case study

Authors: Antonio Cimino; Giovanni Mirabelli

Addresses: Modelling and Simulation Center, Laboratory of Enterprise Solutions (MSC-LES), Department of Mechanical, University of Calabria, Ponte P. Bucci, Cubo 44 C, III Floor, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy ' Modelling and Simulation Center, Laboratory of Enterprise Solutions (MSC-LES), Department of Mechanical, University of Calabria, Ponte P. Bucci, Cubo 44 C, III Floor, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy

Abstract: This research work advances the effective design of the most critical workstations belonging to a real industrial plant. To this end, the authors propose an approach based on the integration of Modelling & Simulation (M&S) tools, several ergonomic standards and the best known work measurement tools. The effective design of the workstations is achieved by using the simulation model for comparing workstations' alternative configurations. The comparison is based on ergonomic and time indexes related to the ergonomic standards and the work measurement tools. Such comparison allows to choose the workstations' final configurations.

Keywords: industrial plants; industrial workstations; workstation design; ergonomic standards; work measurement tools; ergonomics; industrial design; simulation; modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSPM.2011.048007

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling, 2011 Vol.6 No.4, pp.261 - 273

Received: 26 Apr 2010
Accepted: 21 Jan 2011
Published online: 17 Jul 2012 *

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