Incorporating Physical Demand Criteria into Assembly Line Balancing

Details

• Personal Author:
  Carnahan BJ ; Norman BA ; Redfern MS
• Description:
  Many assembly line balancing algorithms consider only task precedence and duration when minimizing cycle time. However, disregarding the physical demands of these tasks may contribute to the development of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the assembly line workers. Three line balancing heuristics that incorporate physical demand criteria were developed to solve the problem of finding assembly line balances that consider both the time and physical demands of the assembly tasks: a ranking heuristic, a combinatorial genetic algorithm, and a problem space genetic algorithm. Each heuristic was tested using 100 assembly line balancing problems. Incorporating physical demands using these algorithms does impact the assembly line configuration. Results indicated that the problem space genetic algorithm was the most adept at finding line balances that minimized cycle time and physical workload placed upon participants. Benefits of using this approach in manufacturing environments are discussed. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Musculoskeletal Diseases Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Assembly Line Workers Industrial Engineering Industrial Processes Manufacturing MSD Musculoskeletal Disorders Task Performance
• ISSN:
  0740-817X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Alabama ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  33
• Issue:
  10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057638
• Citation:
  IIE Trans 2001 Oct; 33(10):875-887
• Email:
  banorman@engrng.pitt.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• Performing Organization:
  Deep South Center for Occupational Health and Safety, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19980701
• Source Full Name:
  Institute of Industrial Engineers Transactions
• End Date:
  20040630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:da2f436389b53bafdb9c211f6d2de830ee3b380fca10e1fdbb52f59cad89fbef7aa491b53dd73089861bb82ecddd4fa3c4aa0788641e4092fa1463e775fa432b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/214910/cdc_214910_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 309.37 KB ]