How ergonomics is contributing to overall equipment effectiveness: a case study

Abstract

A study was conducted in an automotive industry in order to analyse the impact of the ergonomic measures in the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) of the Company. The KPI selected was the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) used to estimate productivity and measured by availability, performance and quality. Due to dimension of this company an Ergonomic Workplace analysis was conducted comprising a generalist ergonomic study allowing the identification of the workstation that presented the worst ergonomic situation. After, specific ergonomic evaluation methods were applied identifying the tasks that compromised workers’ health. A list of measures to improve working conditions was proposed and implemented. In about a week, there was a 5% increase in performance and 91.7% of the ergonomic aspects previously evaluated by the workers improved, highlighting the overall satisfaction. General results showed that the implementation of the ergonomic measures contributed to improve company’s OEE. This research will contribute to raise awareness to the importance of the ergonomic aspects when designing and organizing workplaces in order to contribute to the economic and social objectives of the organization.