A. Mital – författare

There is an urgent need to disseminate ergonomics "know-how" to the work place. This book meets that need by providing clear guidelines and problem solving recommendations to assist the practitioner in decisions that directly protect the health, safety and well-being of the worker.The guidelines have evolved from a series of symposia on Ergonomic Guidelines and Problem Solving. Initially experts in each area selected were asked to write draft guidelines. These guidelines were circulated to participants at the symposia and to other experts for review before being comprehensively revised. In some instances these guidelines cannot be considered complete but it is important now to put some recommendations forward as guidelines. It is hoped that as new research emerges each guideline will be updated.Each guideline has been divided into two parts. Part I contains the guidelines for the practitioner and Part II provides the scientific basis or the knowledge for the guide. Such separation of the applied and theoretical content was designed to facilitate rapid incorporation of the guide into practice.The target audience for this book is the practitioner. The practitioner may be a manager, production system designer, shop supervisor, occupational health and safety professional, union representative, labor inspector or production engineer. For each of the guidelines, relevant practitioners are described.Topics covered include work space design, tool design, work-rest schedules, illumination and maintenance.

The 1980s have witnessed a tremendous growth in the field of computer­ integrated manufacturing systems. The other major areas of development have been computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, industrial robotics, automated assembly, cellular and modular material handling, computer networking and office automation to name just a few. These new technologies are generally capital intensive and do not conform to traditional cost structures. The net result is a tremendous change in the way costs should be estimated and economic analyses performed. The majority of existing engineering economy texts still profess application of traditional analysis methods. But, as was men­ tioned above, it is clear that the basic trend in manufacturing industries is itself changing. So it is quite obvious that the practice of traditional economic analysis methods should change too. This book is an attempt to address the various issues associated with non-traditional methods for evaluation of advanced computer-integrated technologies. This volume consists of twenty refereed articles which are grouped into five parts. Part one, Economic Justification Methods, consists of six articles. In the first paper, Soni et at. present a new classification for economic justification methods for advanced automated manufacturing systems. In the second, Henghold and LeClair look at strengths and weaknesses of expert systems in general and more specifically, an ap­ plication aimed at investment justification in advanced technology. The third paper, by Carrasco and Lee, proposes an enhanced economic methodology to improve the needs analysis, conceptual design and de­ tailed design activities associated with technology modernization.

Electromyography (EMG) is the study of muscle behaviour via electronic means, and is thus a technique fundamental to ergonomics, physiology and biomechanics. This text describes the principles of EMG and its application domains, focusing on anatomy, biology, muscle characteristics, physics, mechanics, EMG signal, noise/artifacts/errors, equipment/devices/techniques, interpretation and computerised data acquisition, and analysis. The book provides a theoretical base, a strategic framework and user experiences.

Manual Materials Handling MMH creates special problems for many different workers worldwide. Labourers engaged in jobs which require extensive lifting/lowering, carrying and pushing/pulling of heavy materials have suffered increasing rates of musculo-skeletal injury, especially to the back.; This guide is intended to include all activities involved in MMH lifting, pushing, pulling, carrying and holding. Recommendations are provided in the form of design data that can be used to design different MMH work activities.The guide is divided into two parts. Part I outlines the scope of the problem, discusses the factors that influence a person's capacity to perform MMH activities and / or should be modified to reduce the risk of injuries, and reviews the various design approaches to solving the MMH problem. Part II provides specific design data in six distinct chapters. The seventh chapter of Part II of the guide describes various mechanical devices that are available to aid MMH activities.; The guide is aimed at all concerned with the health impact of MMH activities; occupational health and safety workers; senior human resource managers; ergonomists; workers' compensation lawyers; union representatives.

Manual Materials Handling MMH creates special problems for many different workers worldwide. Labourers engaged in jobs which require extensive lifting/lowering, carrying and pushing/pulling of heavy materials have suffered increasing rates of musculo-skeletal injury, especially to the back.; This guide is intended to include all activities involved in MMH lifting, pushing, pulling, carrying and holding. Recommendations are provided in the form of design data that can be used to design different MMH work activities.The guide is divided into two parts. Part I outlines the scope of the problem, discusses the factors that influence a person''s capacity to perform MMH activities and / or should be modified to reduce the risk of injuries, and reviews the various design approaches to solving the MMH problem. Part II provides specific design data in six distinct chapters. The seventh chapter of Part II of the guide describes various mechanical devices that are available to aid MMH activities.; The guide is aimed at all concerned with the health impact of MMH activities; occupational health and safety workers; senior human resource managers; ergonomists; workers'' compensation lawyers; union representatives.

Manual Materials Handling MMH creates special problems for many different workers worldwide. Labourers engaged in jobs which require extensive lifting/lowering, carrying and pushing/pulling of heavy materials have suffered increasing rates of musculo-skeletal injury, especially to the back.; This guide is intended to include all activities involved in MMH lifting, pushing, pulling, carrying and holding. Recommendations are provided in the form of design data that can be used to design different MMH work activities.The guide is divided into two parts. Part I outlines the scope of the problem, discusses the factors that influence a person''s capacity to perform MMH activities and / or should be modified to reduce the risk of injuries, and reviews the various design approaches to solving the MMH problem. Part II provides specific design data in six distinct chapters. The seventh chapter of Part II of the guide describes various mechanical devices that are available to aid MMH activities.; The guide is aimed at all concerned with the health impact of MMH activities; occupational health and safety workers; senior human resource managers; ergonomists; workers'' compensation lawyers; union representatives.

Electromyography (EMG) is the study of muscle behaviour via electronic means, and is thus a technique fundamental to ergonomics, physiology and biomechanics. This text describes the principles of EMG and its application domains, focusing on anatomy, biology, muscle characteristics, physics, mechanics, EMG signal, noise/artifacts/errors, equipment/devices/techniques, interpretation and computerised data acquisition, and analysis. The book provides a theoretical base, a strategic framework and user experiences.

Electromyography (EMG) is the study of muscle behaviour via electronic means, and is thus a technique fundamental to ergonomics, physiology and biomechanics. This text describes the principles of EMG and its application domains, focusing on anatomy, biology, muscle characteristics, physics, mechanics, EMG signal, noise/artifacts/errors, equipment/devices/techniques, interpretation and computerised data acquisition, and analysis. The book provides a theoretical base, a strategic framework and user experiences.

The 1980s have witnessed a tremendous growth in the field of computer­ integrated manufacturing systems. The other major areas of development have been computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, industrial robotics, automated assembly, cellular and modular material handling, computer networking and office automation to name just a few. These new technologies are generally capital intensive and do not conform to traditional cost structures. The net result is a tremendous change in the way costs should be estimated and economic analyses performed. The majority of existing engineering economy texts still profess application of traditional analysis methods. But, as was men­ tioned above, it is clear that the basic trend in manufacturing industries is itself changing. So it is quite obvious that the practice of traditional economic analysis methods should change too. This book is an attempt to address the various issues associated with non-traditional methods for evaluation of advanced computer-integrated technologies. This volume consists of twenty refereed articles which are grouped into five parts. Part one, Economic Justification Methods, consists of six articles. In the first paper, Soni et at. present a new classification for economic justification methods for advanced automated manufacturing systems. In the second, Henghold and LeClair look at strengths and weaknesses of expert systems in general and more specifically, an ap­ plication aimed at investment justification in advanced technology. The third paper, by Carrasco and Lee, proposes an enhanced economic methodology to improve the needs analysis, conceptual design and de­ tailed design activities associated with technology modernization.

The 1980s have witnessed a tremendous growth in the field of computer­ integrated manufacturing systems. The other major areas of development have been computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, industrial robotics, automated assembly, cellular and modular material handling, computer networking and office automation to name just a few. These new technologies are generally capital intensive and do not conform to traditional cost structures. The net result is a tremendous change in the way costs should be estimated and economic analyses performed. The majority of existing engineering economy texts still profess application of traditional analysis methods. But, as was men­ tioned above, it is clear that the basic trend in manufacturing industries is itself changing. So it is quite obvious that the practice of traditional economic analysis methods should change too. This book is an attempt to address the various issues associated with non-traditional methods for evaluation of advanced computer-integrated technologies. This volume consists of twenty refereed articles which are grouped into five parts. Part one, Economic Justification Methods, consists of six articles. In the first paper, Soni et at. present a new classification for economic justification methods for advanced automated manufacturing systems. In the second, Henghold and LeClair look at strengths and weaknesses of expert systems in general and more specifically, an ap­ plication aimed at investment justification in advanced technology. The third paper, by Carrasco and Lee, proposes an enhanced economic methodology to improve the needs analysis, conceptual design and de­ tailed design activities associated with technology modernization.

The development of the theory of fuzzy sets was motivated largely by the need for a computational framework for dealing with systems in which human judgement, behavior and emotions play a dominant role. Although there are very few papers on fuzzy sets in the literature of psychology and cognitive science, the theory of fuzzy sets provides a much better model for human cognition than traditional approaches.By focusing on the application of fuzzy sets in human factors, this book provides a valuable, authoritative overview of what the theory is about and how it can be applied. An impressive feature is the broad spectrum of applications, ranging from the use of fuzzy methods in the ergonomic diagnostics of industrial production systems to approximate reasoning in risk analysis and the modeling of human-computer interactions in information retrieval tasks. Equally impressive is the very wide variety of disciplines and countries represented by the contributors.

As the ergonomic aspect of many problems facing the industry today attracts more attention from the management, providing scientific knowledge and the know-how to solve such problems is becoming increasingly more important. The impetus for this book originated from the pressing need to make the state-of-the-art ergonomic information on workspace, equipment and tool design available to practising ergonomists, safety specialists, engineering designers, and business and technical managers.The book reinforces the notion that ergonomic data should be explicitly integrated in the design of a system, and should become an indispensable part of the overall design process in production engineering, on an equal basis with such activities as mechanical component design, quality assurance, maintenance, inspection, etc. The focus is on selected ergonomic data for workspace, equipment and tool design, with special emphasis on the practical aspects of applying the available information to specific problem areas.

This book is aimed at both researchers and practitioners, and provides a collection of expert systems in manufacturing and production engineering along with their knowledge base and rules. We believe that inclusion of the knowledge base and associated rules is essential if practitioners are to derive full benefit from these expert systems. This unique book is the result of our belief and the efforts of our distinguished colleagues who subscribe to this philosophy.A total of 15 different expert systems are included in this book. These expert systems are preceded by an introductory chapter written by Kuo, Preface XVll Mital and Anand. The expert system rules are included on a floppy disk in ASCII and can be easily accessed. These rules and the description of the expert system's structure should assist the usersin customizing these systems.Overall, the expert systems included in this volume cover a fairly wide variety of manufacturing and production engineering topics.