Ergonomics in manufacturing – relieving the strains of manual material handling
Manual material handling (MMH) contributes to a large percentage of work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WRMSDs). These WRMSDs include stresses and strains to the back, neck, shoulders and upper limbs and can result in prolonged pain for those afflicted. This in turn leads to lost working days, financial stress for those unable to work, and a decrease in productivity for the employer.
Not only does the employer have to cope with decreased capacity, they may also be responsible for paying costly medical bills, either directly or through insurance.
Studies have shown that ergonomic interventions, such as an industrial manipulator, can lower the physical demands of MMH work tasks and therefore reduce the likelihood of WRMSDs. This also is shown to have a positive effect on productivity and product quality.
Scaglia Indeva driving forward ergonomics in manufacturing
The range of industrial manipulators that we produce are designed and manufactured with ergonomics in mind, improving employee wellness as well as company productivity and profitability.
Ergonomic guidelines such as EU EN 1005-2 state that to effectively improve ergonomics and safe handling operation, the manipulator should not only eliminate the strain during load lifting along the vertical axis, but the inertia during acceleration, braking or direction changes also. Our new generation of electronic industrial manipulators (Liftronic®) more than comply with these guidelines.
The innovative fingertip control mode provides an immediate response to the operator’s movement, up or down. This drastically reduces the inertia and enables the system to operate almost like an extension of the operator’s own arm. In addition, a float control mode allows the operator to place both hands on the load, without the need for handles or to press buttons, for ultimate control for precision placement tasks.
With auto-weight sensing and balancing through the means of a microprocessor-based electronic device, the system automatically balances and senses the loads. It is able to adjust the balancing accordingly as the weight changes allowing the operator to handle bulky and heavy loads effortlessly with no stress or strain to their body.
Find out more about manual material handling and ergonomics in manufacturing
Scaglia Indeva has produced an informative brochure on ergonomics and WRMSDs, which can be downloaded free of charge by clicking here.
For more information on the range of industrial manipulators which are proven to give significant ergonomic benefits, please contact us today.