Postural load balancing in daily personnel planning in an assembly line for trailer production by working posture analysis

摘要

In this industrial engineering study working postures of 57 workers in an assembly of a trailer manufacturer were analyzed according to the OWAS method and its extension to head postures. For eight especially stressful work tasks 19714 body postures were analyzed. Overall the working posture analysis identified a largely acceptable postural load. A significant influence of the work task on relative frequencies of posture categories and work posture combinations assigned to the same action category was found. Differences in working postures within the same work task could be identified. Finally it is shown that the conducted work posture analysis can help to improve the stress situation of workers through postural load balancing.