Human Factor Assessment in Assembly Line: an Operative Model

Abstract

Nowadays the majority of organizations operating in manufacturing field recognize the importance of including the Human Factor contribution into the industrial process optimization (Hong k. et al., 2007). As far technical measures and work organization procedures have been optimized in order to reduce the defects and upgrade the safety, the Human Factor assessment still represents for Managers a difficult task to deal with. This work presents a model designed to quantify the impact of the Human Factor into an assembly line with the aim of reducing operational errors and safety human errors. The model is based on the assessment of two macro factors: Task complexity - that summarises all factors contributing to physical and mental workload requirements to perform a given operative task. Human capability - that summarises the individual physical and cognitive abilities. The model would allow a better matching between workers and operative tasks with the objective of reducing the risk of human error in quality and safety.