Application of Computer Numerical Control (CNC) technology in manufacturing industry has been rec... more Application of Computer Numerical Control (CNC) technology in manufacturing industry has been recognized as one of the effective solutions to high productivity, efficiency, and precision. In advancement of CNC machine tool technology development; however, the ergonomic issues related to human-machine design are still less-addressed by scholars. This study was carried out to analyze a CNC machining center based on the operators’ requirements. The functional and dysfunctional questionnaire form developed based on Kano method was applied to determine the operators’ requirements related to technical specifications of the CNC machining center. Another questionnaire form equipped with a diagram of human body parts and ergonomics features was used to acquire information on the CNC machining center design. This study found that there is a significant correlation between the ergonomics problems in the feet towards facilities required for the CNC machining center – an adjustable standing plat...
The needs of research on human posture and its joint-motion relationships are important. Providin... more The needs of research on human posture and its joint-motion relationships are important. Providing a real-time postural measurement tool has attracted the attention of many human postural-related researchers. This study has developed and performed a validation analysis on a new innovative system for sampling and finding the angles of motions of each posture with its related joints using Kinect camera. The validation investigated the static and dynamic accuracy analyses by comparing to a Jamar goniometer and ErgoFellow system. The results showed that Mean Absolute Errors of Kinect in static and dynamic motions are 15.12% and 45.33% respectively. It is concluded that the postural measurement system developed by this study requires further improvements.
The International Journal of Integrated Engineering, 2021
Improper design of manual materials handling (MMH) tasks at workplace can cause musculoskeletal d... more Improper design of manual materials handling (MMH) tasks at workplace can cause musculoskeletal disorders such as muscle strain to industrial workers. To avoid these disorders, ergonomists and engineers require an integrated measurement system which allows them to study the interaction of body posture and muscle effort during performing MMH tasks. However, far too little attention has been paid to develop an integrated measurement system of body posture and muscle activity for assessing MMH tasks. The aim of this study was to develop and test a prototype of integrated system for measuring postural angles and electromyography (EMG) signals of a worker who doing MMH tasks. The Microsoft Visual Studio software, a 3D camera (Microsoft Kinect), Advancer Technologies muscle sensors and a microcontroller (NI DAQ USB-6000) were applied to develop the integrated postural angle and EMG signal measurement system. Additionally, a graphical user interface was created in the system to enable user...
Strength Capabilities and Subjective Limit of Repetitive Manual Insertion Task
Manufacturing industry sector is one of industrializing parties that gives significant contributi... more Manufacturing industry sector is one of industrializing parties that gives significant contribution in achieving the vision of 2020 in Malaysia. The ability of human works is compulsory in letting the industry to be successful in producing products. Unfortunately, many of painful afflictions of musculoskeletal system as Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) are associated with the working posture. Ergonomic play an important role to give comfort ability to the workers who work at any manufacturing industry. Nowadays, there are so many companies that ignore about the ergonomic of their workers. They tend to push the worker to achieve the output of the company rather than think about comfort ability to the workers on the workstation. This project is conducted to investigate the subjective limit for repetitive manual handling tasks according to workstation area and body posture for workers and the pain or discomfort experienced by the workers while undertaken the task. Also the improvement ...
Wearableassistive devices such as passive exoskeletonhavebeen recognized as one of the effective ... more Wearableassistive devices such as passive exoskeletonhavebeen recognized as one of the effective solutions to assist people inindustrialwork, rehabilitation, elderly care, military and sports. Thedesign and development of a passive exoskeletonthat emphasizes on satisfying and fulfilling users’ requirements and users’ experience areessential to ensure the device remains competitive in the global market. Agood user experience of using an exoskeletonstimulates users’ satisfaction, as contemporary users are not only considering basic functional features but alsofascinated by perception values such as aesthetics and enjoyment. Themain purpose of this article is to review the critical factors that are influencing user experience before, during and after utilizing a passive exoskeleton. The authors had searched relevant articles from academic databases such as Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science as well as free Google search for the publicationperiod from 2001to 2021. Several search ...
Global automotive arena has overshadowed by intense competition because customers nowadays being ... more Global automotive arena has overshadowed by intense competition because customers nowadays being more selective about their preference towards car selection. In a different dimension, car's interior design promised maximum satisfaction for customers. For long distance drivers, comfort feeling influence by many factors, which one of them contributes by interacting with in-car environment. This paper primarily concentrated into the human comfort study which studying the driver in-car activity such as handling the steering, monitoring the driving and using the in-system. Ultimately, this paper proposed a knowledge based system framework of interaction of driver with in-car system. The current problem face by driver relates to car interior compartment (car seat, navigation system, signaling panel, instrument panel, gear knob, pedaling system, and mirror) can be understand and recommended for improvement. Also, this study helps to measure the satisfaction of drivers while cooperate with incar system. In order to measure in-car driver interaction, an intelligent system introduces a knowledge base system which using hybrid technique called neuro-fuzzy techniques. The neural network involve with developing the system in multi layer concept and the fuzzy basically using IF-THEN rule. This research explores the humanmachine interaction through a driver knowledge based system. The conceptual framework contributes on optimize the design process, decision making and analysis in assisting automotive productivity and quality.
Posture, Muscle Activity and Oxygen Consumption Evaluations Among Metal Stamping Operators: A Pilot Study in Malaysian Small and Medium Industries
In the new era of world industrialization, ergonomics plays an important role to improve occupati... more In the new era of world industrialization, ergonomics plays an important role to improve occupational health and productivity in most industries including small and medium industries (SMIs). However, SMIs in Malaysia do not put any priority on ergonomics awareness, for an example, by not designing the workstation ergonomically. As a consequence, operators are exposed to various ergonomic risk factors and prone to have ergonomic injuries. The objectives of this study are to evaluate working posture, muscle activity, and oxygen consumption while operators perform metal stamping process in a workstation, before and after the workstation is modified. The Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA), surface electromyography (SEMG), and oxygen analyser are used to evaluate working posture, muscle activity, and oxygen consumption respectively. Results of evaluations found that the modified workstation has reduced the physiological stress such as extreme posture, work/loading in the muscles as well as energy expenditure. The study concluded that an ergonomic workstation design can contribute significantly to improve physiological performance of the operators.
Manufacturing process often related to continues process to produce better quality and profitable... more Manufacturing process often related to continues process to produce better quality and profitable product. Continues process is often linked with unstoppable process where workers done their job repetitively ever day. Repetitive motion of the workers may cause them have carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and this condition occur for workers in aero space industry. Therefore, investigate needs to be done on working posture and hand grip force to prevent CTS. The method is using the questionnaire on psychology working experience and equipment using vibration force and hand grip strength. The result shows the relationship between four factors; working experience, working posture, hand grip strength and exposure time. The suggestion is given such as hand massage, suitable vibration glove; reduce exposure time and regular exercise hands frequently to improve circulation for help CTS workers.
The fast Fourier transforms (FFT) is commonly applied in transformation of electromyography (EMG)... more The fast Fourier transforms (FFT) is commonly applied in transformation of electromyography (EMG) signals from the time domain to the frequency domain. However, this technique has a limitation to provide the time-frequency information for EMG signals. This paper presents the analysis of EMG signal for contraction of muscle activity by using spectrogram. Spectrogram is one of the time-frequency representation (TFR) that represents the three-dimensional of the signal with respect to time and frequency in magnitude presentations. The contraction of muscle activity was based on manual lifting of a 5 kg load performed by the right biceps brachii at lifting height of 75 cm and 140 cm. Ten healthy volunteers in fresh condition participated as subjects to acquire raw data of EMG signals. The raw data of EMG signals were then analysed using MATLAB 2011 to obtain the TFR. Based on the TFR, this study obtained the instantaneous RMS Voltage ( V rms (t) ) to visualize the trend of the EMG signal...
International Journal of Integrated Engineering, 2019
Metal manufacturing sector plays a significant part in industrial and economic developments of Ma... more Metal manufacturing sector plays a significant part in industrial and economic developments of Malaysia. One of the nation's important manufacturing sub-sector focuses in production of fabricated metal products from raw materials. Non-metallic products has been recorded as one of the highest output growth among other sub sectors in manufacturing [1]. Metal stamping is a process in metal product fabrication in which sheet metals are formed and cut into designated shapes using dies [2]. High intensity sound is produced when the die hits and then cuts or forms the flat metal sheets into shapes. Any sound which is annoying or level of sound exceeds 75 dBA is conceived as noise [3]. According to Department of Occupational Safety and Health of Malaysia, the permissible noise level in working environments should be less than 82 dBA [4]. Thus, the stamping process is basically noisy, and radiates large amounts of sound energy directly to the surrounding areas [5]. The excessive of noise is a general occupational hazard that brings adverse effects, including hearing defects, increased blood pressure, abnormality of heart beats, ulcers, low working performance or work quality, shallow sleep, irritation, high stress level and noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) [6], [7].
International Journal of Integrated Engineering, 2018
To mimic a tribosystem setup to the real time model while taking into consideration the subject o... more To mimic a tribosystem setup to the real time model while taking into consideration the subject of green tribology, many tribological wear test rigs are invented. The current work is a dedicated review on the latest development of various tribological wear test rigs build for numerous applications. With the aid of diagrams, the working principles of the machines which are built on specific standards are discussed. Their operating parameters associated with related research using these machines are also included. In addition, recommendations and directions for improvements in tribology machines are reported.
Labor productivity improvement is all about getting more units out with the same or lesser amount... more Labor productivity improvement is all about getting more units out with the same or lesser amount of labor. Due to the economic downturn, the semiconductor company under study wanted to determine the ideal number of operators to be employed especially at the critical operations in order to minimize the labor cost and improve labor productivity. Thus, the main focus of the study is to perform analysis at the bottleneck area in order to determine the labor utilization and also toidentify the ideal man to machine ratio at the semi-automatic final test operation. The lean work study analysis using Process Mapping and Maynard Operational Sequence Technique (MOST) also enabled the authors to unveil the various types of wastes occurring at the final test area in order to propose lean improvement activities. Six Sigma Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control (DMAIC) approach was employed during the implementation of the study. The results of the final test area Lean Six Sigma study showed significant improvements could be made on the labor utilization and man to machine ratio. With the knowledge of how to improve the labor productivity, the semiconductor company will be on the right track towards achieving a leaner and more cost effective operation.
Identification and quantification of poor wrist postures at the occupational setting are generall... more Identification and quantification of poor wrist postures at the occupational setting are generally challenging due to rapid changes in wrist movement. A system prototype was developed to capture and assess wrist postural behaviour at the workplace. This manuscript describes the development and initial validation process of the system prototype. The system prototype utilizes wearable glove attached with Inertia Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors to capture wrist postural behaviours. The postural angle data from sensors were extracted and processed through a customized programming software for visualization purpose. The real-time wrist postural angle data at work is benchmarked and normalized to personal maximum wrist Range of Motion (ROM) data. Preliminary validation compared the wrist postural angle readings between system prototype and traditional goniometer, at 30• for ulnar, radial, flexion, and extension wrist positions. Overall, the results from one sample t-test across 31 subjects indicate statistically no significant differences between the system prototype and goniometer readings at alpha level 0.05 (p-value > 0.05). The results from this preliminary validation activity demonstrate a degree of accuracy in terms of capturing wrist postural angle when being compared to goniometer.
Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Review, 2019
Poor wrist postures due to work requirements is one of the established risk factors contributing ... more Poor wrist postures due to work requirements is one of the established risk factors contributing to the development of workrelated musculoskeletal disorders. This study systematically investigates the underlying hypothesis that identification and monitoring of poor wrist postures at work should be in the function of normalized wrist range-of-motion (ROM) instead of the traditional measurement of absolute wrist angle. This three-stage study looks into 1) existing issues related to current workplace wrist postural assessment methods, 2) development of a new architecture to assess and monitor wrist posture at work, and 3) qualitative review with ergonomics practitioners on the architecture. The first stage utilizes literature review and interview with ergonomics practitioners. Generative collaboration method was used to generate the architecture for the second stage. The third stage employs semi-structured interview with ergonomics practitioners. Several issues were identified in current wrist postural assessment methods. A conceptual architecture of the Wrist ROM System to assess and monitor wrist postural behaviors at workplace is proposed in this manuscript. The architecture was generally well received by the practitioners. The architecture provides the groundwork in the development of a technological system designed as a tool to analyze workplace wrist postural behaviors.
Proceeding of the International Conference on Family Business and Entrepreneurship, 2020
Competitiveness of product innovation depends on how the company can answer the customers’ needs.... more Competitiveness of product innovation depends on how the company can answer the customers’ needs. To capture the right needs, product designer has to go and ask the customers and summary them into priority and translate the needs into technical requirement in order to produce the competitive product. At this era there are many kinds of drinks available in the market. Tea is one of the popular drinks for quite long. Different types of flavor tea created to find its market. This study is trying to offer a new product of Kombucha tea, a fermented tea. A method of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) was implemented to come out the right design of Kombucha tea which may absorb the customer needs. This was done through the questionaries and interview to the community. Based on this information then provide some technical requirements to produce the right quality Kombucha tea that are wanted by the customer. The results show customer requirement from the questionnaires 59% of respondents agr...
Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine the psychological fatigue and analyze ... more Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine the psychological fatigue and analyze muscle activity of production workers who are performing processes jobs while standing for prolonged time periods. Methods: The psychological fatigue experienced by the workers was obtained through questionnaire surveys. Meanwhile, muscle activity has been analyzed using surface electromyography (sEMG) measurement. Lower extremities muscles include: erector spi-nae, tibialis anterior, and gastrocnemius were concurrently measured for more than five hours of standing. Twenty male produc-tion workers in a metal stamping company participated as subjects in this study. The subjects were required to undergo question-naire surveys and sEMG measurement. Results: Results of the questionnaire surveys found that all subjects experienced psychological fatigue due to prolonged standing jobs. Similarly, muscle fatigue has been identified through sEMG measurement. Based on the non-parametric statistica...
Ergonomics participatory oppurtunities for occupational health enhancement in Malaysian SMIs / Isa Halim
The thesis consists of seven chapters represents a total of two years of effort . This thesis beg... more The thesis consists of seven chapters represents a total of two years of effort . This thesis begins with an introductory chapter about Malaysian Small and Medium Industries (SMIs) and the roles of ergonomics participatory approach to enhance occupational health in this sector. After an introductory chapter, a critical literature review on ergonomics participatory approach is provided in the second chapter. Chapter three has been devoted to the essential detail of methodology and procedures undertaken in this research . A large number of well-labelled illustrations associated with clear explanation are provided to give the necessary insight of case study in chapter four. Chapter five presents the outcomes of the research together with the effectiveness of introduced solution. The summarization and conclusion of carried out research are rendered in chapter six. Finally, chapter seven suggests a few recommendations in order to make occupational health in Malaysian SMls become more fea...
Conceptual Design Of Shielded Metal Arc Welding Workstation: Work Posture And Bead Dimension Consideration
The aim of this study was to propose a conceptual design of SMAW workstation which considered wor... more The aim of this study was to propose a conceptual design of SMAW workstation which considered work postures of welders and weld bead dimensions. This study applied full factorial design of experiment. The independent variables were table height, table surface inclination, and work position. Meanwhile the dependent variables were bead height, bead width, and RULA score. Results of analysis of variance showed that the table height, table surface inclination, and work position have an effect on bead width and bead height. This study concluded that the proposed SMAW workstation can offer acceptable bead dimensions when it is designed with adjustable table height, table surface is flat (0°), and work position is standing. However, the work posture still requires further investigation.
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