Simulation Tools, Ergonomics Principles and Work Measurement Techniques for Workstations Design

Methods engineering is nowadays a systematic approach to work planning and continuous improvement. Nonetheless, all measuring techniques of human work activities - although with different application modes according to the situation - are excellent tools to quantify the time necessary to perform each activity and, in a wider perspective, an essential precondition for an efficient management of production. Given such a context the use of cutting-edge software and hardware technology can realistically support and prompt the digital formalization of real production contexts, allowing considerable evolution of traditional work planning techniques, thereby enhancing precompetitive research and development of small and medium-sized enterprises. The present work, concerning the innovation of the production plant of a small enterprise specializing in leather goods production, describes computer aided planning steps to evaluate the best configuration of assembly work stations. The results obtained are very interesting and effective, above all if they are considered in the perspective of an increase of the planning capacity within SMEs. In fact, they enable to obtain objective evaluation of work stations, as far as time and ergonomics are concerned