Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment
School of Advanced Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering
School of Advanced Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering
Thesis Abstract
Traditional assembly line designed by assigning one operator to each workstation performing assembly task at that workstation on the line, has some deficiencies, such as low flexibility, need constant demand and difficult balancing. Walking-worker line WWAL, with an assembly worker travelling with the work along the line, has several advantages over a traditional line, particularly in flexibility (in terms of product variability) and efficiency (in terms of high productivity). However, WWAL is not widely implemented in industrial environments.
Part of the reason for the lack of such assembly systems is believed due to the assertion of some practitioners that adoption of this production approach presents a series of detrimental aspects for labour productivity and ergonomics conditions. In addition to that, the existing research about the WWAL provides no complete experimental or empirical modelling techniques that can be used to consider the relevant concerns of practitioners. Furthermore, mathematical and conceptual models for systems with agile workers that can be dynamically allocated to different tasks or workstations are complex.
The proposed research investigates in detail at the modelling and optimisation of the walking-worker line, which intends to focus on both ergonomics and productivity perspectives for improvement.
The proposed research methodology involves the following:
