Technological innovation in ergonomics & safety in automotive industries in Egypt

The increase in the complexity and the inspiring environment between the automotive organizations in Egypt forced the quality experts and management team to propose various tools related to Quality Management Systems but there is a slight apprehension to the ergonomic concepts in these industries. This study investigates the complications related to the ergonomics in the assembly line of an automotive company in Egypt. The assembly line is divided into several stations including trim line, chassis line and a glass handling station. The focus of this study is the ergonomics of the glass handling station. The front and rear glass in the glass handling station are fixed manually by the operators to the semi-finished cars. The operators transfer the glass from a glass rack, to a sealant table to apply the sealant, and then fixate it in its position in the car. There are several problems recognized in this station concerning the productivity of the company, injuries related to workers in the glass handling station and defects related to the rear and front glass quality. In this paper we will introduce a technological solution to the safety and ergonomics of the process. One of the main evaluation methods of ergonomics assessment in automotive industries is the heuristic evaluation method using checklists. This method is based on the theoretical data collected about the human abilities and limitations. The ergonomics assessment method used in the automotive industry chosen assesses both aspects; forces and postures of the process. Force evaluation target is to conduct the total force of heavy load and handling per day during the process. Posture evaluation is based on categorizing set of postures in levels from 1- 5 levels. The analysis required interviews with the operators and mangers to collect the data required for performing the analysis. Several suggestions were made such as installing a glass handling manipulator and installing a sealant applying robot to shift the station from manual handling to semi-automated handling station and this will significantly impact both the ergonomics and quality within the station. The implementation of the glass handling manipulator will affect the ergonomics of the process vastly as the load of the glass will be eliminated and some postures with high risks will be reduced and/or eliminated. Moreover, the glass rejection rate was reduced by 60% due to the lack of human error. This improvement has a direct correlation with the increase of the productivity in the assembly line station. © IAMOT 2019.