A COMPARATIVE DIGITAL PHYSICAL ERGONOMICS ANALYSIS BETWEEN MANUAL AND SEMI-AUTOMATED MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS: HUMAN-CENTERED GUIDELINES FOR WORKSTATIONS OPTIMIZATION

Industry 5.0 marks a further shift towards human-centered industrial processes, driven by increased automation and innovative technologies. Understanding operator risks in this context is crucial for ensuring worker safety and well-being. This paper introduces an innovative framework for the comprehensive and objective analysis of industrial operators' physical ergonomics. Conducted within a company that produces refrigeration systems, the study focuses on tasks such as hooks insertion and brazing on heat exchangers. Combining subjective and objective methods, the analysis includes self-assessment questionnaires, the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ), the Body Part Discomfort Scale (BPDS), and the Borg CR10 questionnaire. Utilizing the Xsens MVN Awinda motion capture system, the study captures operators' movements and employs algorithmic analysis to assess ergonomics objectively. RULA analysis primarily concentrates on joint angles and hazardous postures, while the inclusion of Strain Index and NIOSH analyses provides further insight into the risks associated with hand and wrist movements and lifting tasks. Preliminary findings indicate significant time reduction in high-risk postures with semi-automated processes. Moreover, there's a noticeable decrease in medium-risk activity time for brazing. The study recommends guidelines for workstation redesign based on physical ergonomic analyses and human-centered design principles. Future work will involve cognitive ergonomics analysis and will include human factors in product and process redesign efforts.