Digital ergonomics: an evaluation framework for the ergonomic risk assessment of heterogeneous workers

In the era of smart factories, digital twin may be a key for improving ergonomics analyses related to manual assembly activities. The use of digital technologies can help in bypassing some biases related to observational methods and speeding up the ergonomics analyses. This paper proposes a framework based on the development of a digital environment for carrying out ergonomics simulations of complex working systems in which a number of workers and other variables have to be considered for ergonomics evaluation. Based on such framework, a case study considering heterogeneous workers in a manual car assembly system has been analysed, and the impact of the implementation of different job rotation strategies has been studied. The tool is demonstrated to be effective in evaluating the physical ergonomic risk of a large number of configurations, and the results highlighted that proper job rotation strategies may affect the final scores of the considered indices.

Automated summary

In the era of smart factories, digital twin has the potential to enhance ergonomics analyses for manual assembly activities. This paper presents a framework based on a digital environment for conducting ergonomics simulations of complex working systems, considering multiple workers and variables. The case study on a manual car assembly system demonstrates the tool's effectiveness in evaluating physical ergonomic risk and shows that different job rotation strategies can impact the final scores of the evaluated indices.