In order to meet the expectations of today’s market and compete in the global world we live in, many companies are facing changes. A low cost production and high quality is not enough to be competitive. Companies must also satisfy the external customers’ claims, which to a great extent imply demands on an increased productivity. It is not enough to look to the external customers. The people working within the production system are the internal customers and the production system must be designed to suit their needs. Increased productivity can be stressful for operators, especially in the automotive industry, where heavy and frequent lifting is part of the daily work. The increased competition can thus in the long run lead to consequences for operator health as a result of heavy, and frequent, lifting. Due to this, more companies are looking over the possibilities to automate parts of their production process. The purpose of this thesis is to explore, using simulation tools, how automation of heavy lifting can affect productivity and work environment in processing or manufacturing processes. The research questions that will be answered are: o In what way does automation affect productivity in processing processes? o How can simulation tools act as an aid in designing automation? o What impact does automation have on the operator’s ergonomic work environment? To answer these questions, a literature study has been conducted in three main areas: production development, automation and simulation. A case study was carried out in a processing cell within the heavy vehicle industry, which currently does not have an approved ergonomic working environment. The company wanted to implement a robot and the purpose was to investigate how ergonomics and productivity was affected. The comparison was made using a simulation created in the ExtendSim software. The purpose of the simulation was to compare the current production system with a layout where a robot was implemented in the system. From this thesis, the conclusions were drawn that automation can affect a company’s productivity in a positive way provided that the preparatory planning is carried out thoroughly. The thesis shows that a simulation tool can be helpful from a number of aspects when automation is to be designed, and not least that it can undoubtedly be positive for the operator’s ergonomic work environment to automate parts of the production that includes heavy and frequent lifting.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mdh-35743 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Lundstedt, Moa, Hronek, Sofie |
| Publisher | Mälardalens högskola, Akademin för innovation, design och teknik, Mälardalens högskola, Akademin för innovation, design och teknik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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