Modelling and optimisation of walking worker assembly line for productivity and ergonomics improvement /
Files
(Published version)
Date
2013
Authors
Al-Zuheri, Atiya
Editors
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Type:
thesis
Citation
Statement of Responsibility
Conference Name
Abstract
In today’s highly competitive market, demands are characterised by high production rate variability. In traditional production systems, such as fixed worker assembly lines, each worker is typically assigned to a particular fixed task and continuously repeats the assigned task unable to accommodate production rate variation quickly and economically. Manual assembly lines, where workers travel with the work along the line performing all required tasks, are an example of assembly systems which have greater flexibility over traditional systems due to an improved response to product demand variation. Implementing assembly systems in this way is difficult, especially when the design reflects an imperfect understanding of how workers can best perform within the system. Different designs for such systems have a profound impact on the worker performance in terms of productivity and ergonomics. Because the workers in these systems are the most valuable non depreciable resources, a reasonable level of ergonomics must be ensured in the system design. At the same time the required production rate must be met.
Available design approaches for such dynamic workforce utilisation systems mainly take into account separate design issues related to worker performance in terms of productivity or ergonomics. Moreover, within these approaches, the ergonomics performance evaluation is confined to the workstation design level, not at the whole system level at early design stage from beginning to end, where the assembly process takes place. To address these limitations in design approaches, the research described in this thesis aims to develop an efficient, flexible, and robust framework, validated through case study, covering all the steps required during the design of walking worker assembly line (WWAL). The architecture of the developed framework considers two levels in WWAL design: (1) structural design level, and (2) operational design level. The developed framework takes into consideration both structural and operational variables of the system. It aims to achieve a set of strategic objectives involves simultaneously optimising the worker performance in both productivity and ergonomics as an aid in the process of the system design and also re-designing “operationally” to cope with different requirements of product demand.
School/Discipline
University of South Australia. School of Engineering.
School of Engineering.
School of Engineering.
Dissertation Note
Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2013.
Provenance
Copyright 2013 Atiya Al-Zuheri. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Australia 3.0 licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/)
Description
1 ethesis (xvi, 255 pages)
colour illustrations
Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-231)
colour illustrations
Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-231)
Access Status
506 0#$fstar $2Unrestricted online access