1995 Volume 61 Issue 592 Pages 4834-4839
As the 21st century begins, Japan will have the largest ratio of population of advanced aged people in the world, resulting in a considerable depreciation of labor productivity in the present labortype intensive of work, This research presents a proposal to improve productivity while providing a more reasonable work area. The method of research was to observe and measure the vertical and horizontal movements of a typical sitting worker performing "get and place" actions. The valuation index used in the experiment was obtained by measuring the motion locus, the motion velocity, the amount of myoelectric energy, the motion time and the difference in the work burden from two directions : vertical and horizontal. The results indicated a regression curve expressing the relationship between the motion time and vertical/horizontal angles. This indicated that a work area which takes into consideration the vertical and horizontal positioning of the worker can minimize the motion time, resulting in a more efficient and reasonable work place.