A study about the relationship between lean implementation and psychophysical demands in productive areas
Keywords:
Ergonomics, Lean manufacturing, Lean implementation, Lean ergonomicsAbstract
The growing market competition demands a continuous search for improvements in business processes and their costs. During a long time, organizations have been implementing lean practices to achieve their goals with maximum efficiency and efficacy. To reach higher levels of quality and flexibility, and also reduce costs, the deployment of lean production practices presents the individuals as a fundamental part to achieve and sustain continuous improvement. Despite all the operational benefits provided by lean practices, some researchers state that their adoption might increase physical and psychological demands on employees, as the search for maximum productivity through cost reduction can, usually, neglect human needs. Thus, the present research aims at comparing physical and psychological demands in productive areas with different levels of lean implementation. The paper presents a comparison between the lean implementation level of two production cells from an optical manufacturer, and the ergonomics analytical assessment of both cells by the Renault method. The results point that cells with higher levels of lean implementation are more likely to present lower levels of both physical and psychological demands.
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