Ergonomics Improvements of the Visual Inspection Process in a Printed Circuit Assembly Factory

• Autorzy: Yeow P. H. P. , Sen R. N.
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

An ergonomics improvement study was conducted on the visual inspection process of a printed circuit assembly (PCA) factory. The process was studied through subjective assessment and direct observation. Three problems were identified: operators’ eye problems, insufficient time for inspection and ineffective visual inspection. These problems caused a huge yearly rejection cost of US $298,240, poor quality, customer dissatisfaction and poor occupational health and safety. Ergonomics interventions were made to rectify the problems: reduced usage of a magnifying glass, the use of less glaring inspection templates, inspection of only electrically non-tested components and introduction of a visual inspection sequence. The interventions produced savings in rejection cost, reduced operators’ eye strain, headaches and watery eyes, lowered the defect percentage at customers’ sites and increased the factory’s productivity and customer satisfaction.

Słowa kluczowe

EN

occupational health and safety; eye problems; quality; productivity; cost savings

PL

ergonomia; kontrola jakości materiału; choroba oczu

• Wydawca: Taylor & Francis
• Czasopismo: International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics
• Rocznik: 2004
• Tom: Vol. 10, No. 4
• Strony: 369--385
• Opis fizyczny: Bibliogr. 39 poz., rys., tab.

Twórcy

autor

Yeow P. H. P.

• Faculty of Business and Law, Multimedia University, Melaka, Malaysia

autor

Sen R. N.

• Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Malaysia

Bibliografia

• 1. Mackworth JF. Research on the measurement of human performance. London, UK: HMSO; 1950.
• 2. Schmidtke H. Ergonomie. Band 1. Munich, Germany: Hanser; 1973.
• 3. Warm JS. An introduction to vigilance. In: Warm JS, editor. Sustained attention in human performance. Chichester, UK: Wiley; 1984. p. 1-14.
• 4. Warm JS, Dember WN, Lanzetta TM, Bowers JC, Lysaght RJ. Information processing in vigilance performance: complexity revisited. In: Swezey RW, editor. Progress for people: proceedings of the Human Factors Society 29th Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD. Santa Monica, CA, USA: Human Factors Society; 1985. vol. 1, p. 19-23.
• 5. Warm JS, Chin K, Dittmar ML, Dember WN. Effects of head restraint on signal detectability in simultaneous and successive vigilance tasks. J Gen Psychol 1987;114:423-31.
• 6. Warm JS, Rosa RR, Colligan MJ. Effects of auxiliary load on vigilance performance in a simulated work environment. In: Perspectives. Proceedings of the Human Factor Society 33rd Annual Meeting, Denver, CO. Santa Monica, CA, USA: Human Factors Society; 1989. vol. 2, p. 1419-21.
• 7. Kroemer KHE, Grandjean E. Fitting the task to the human - a textbook for occupational ergonomics. London, UK: Taylor & Francis; 1997.
• 8. Burri GJ Jr, Helander MG. A field study of productivity improvement in the manufacturing of circuit boards. Int J Ind Ergon 1991;7:207-215.
• 9. Helander MG, Burri GJ. Cost effectiveness of ergonomics and quality improvement in electronic manufacturing. Int J Ind Ergon 1995;15:137-51.
• 10. Ntuen CA. Application of fuzzy set theory to cognitive workload evaluation of electronic circuit board inspectors. Human Factor and Ergonomics in Manufacturing 1999;9:291-301.
• 11. Hsu SH, Chan T. A study of inspection performance and the personality of quality inspectors. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management 1994;11:55-65.
• 12. Bossemeyer A. Laboratory experiment: Human error at visual search of circuit boards. Z Arbeitswiss 1998;52:56-61.
• 13. Sen RN, Yeow PHP. Ergonomic study on printed circuit assembly lines for better productivity and quality. In: Hanson MA, Lovesey EJ, Robertson SA, editors. Contemporary Ergonomics 1999. London, UK: Taylor & Francis; 1999. p. 38-42.
• 14. Sen RN, Yeow PHP. Ergonomic improvements for the manufacture of printed circuit assemblies through design changes. In: Stevenson M, Talbot J, editors. Better integration: bringing research & practice together. Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference. Narrabundah, ACT, Australia: Ergonomic Society of Australia; 2001. p. 241-7.
• 15. Sen RN, Yeow PHP. Ergonomic study on the manual component insertion lines for occupational health and safety improvements. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE). 2003;9:57-74.
• 16. Sen RN, Yeow PHP. Ergonomic weighted scores to evaluate critical instructions for improvements in a printed circuit assembly factory. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing 2003;13:41-58.
• 17. Sen RN, Yeow PHP. Costs effectiveness of ergonomic redesign of electronic motherboard. Appl Ergon 2003;34:453-63.
• 18. Yeow PHP, Sen RN. Ergonomic improvements on the manual insertion line of a multimedia printed circuit assembly factory. In: Straker L, Pollock C, editors. In: Proceedings of CybErg 1999: The Second International Cyberspace Conference on Ergonomics. Perth, Australia: International Ergonomics Association Press, Curtin University of Technology; 1999. p. 711-21.
• 19. Yeow PHP, Sen RN. Solving dropout problems in a printed circuit assembly line. In: Straker L, Pollock C, editors. Proceedings of CybErg 1999: The Second International Cyberspace Conference on Ergonomics. Perth, Australia: International Ergonomics Association Press, Curtin University of Technology; 1999. p. 698-710.
• 20. Yeow PHP, Sen RN. Ergonomic improvements of workstations for visual inspection and electrical tests in a multimedia product factory. In: Proceedings of the International Ergonomics Association XIVth Congress and Human Factors and Ergonomic Society 44th Annual Meeting. Santa Monica, CA, USA: Human Factors and Ergonomic Society; 2000. vol. 5. p. 107-10.
• 21. Yeow PHP, Sen RN. Quality, productivity, occupational health and safety, and cost effectiveness of 5 ergonomic studies in electronic factories. In: Proceedings of the Nordic Ergonomic Society’s 34th Annual Congress, Kolmården, Sweden, October 1-3, 2002. Linköping, Sweden: Linköpings Universitet. p. 847-52.
• 22. Yeow PHP, Sen RN. Quality, productivity, occupational health and safety and cost effectiveness of ergonomic improvements in the test workstations of an electronic factory. Int J Ind Ergon 2003;32:147-63.
• 23. Institute for Interconnecting and Packaging Electronic Circuits (IPC). Acceptability of electronic assemblies (Standard No. ANSI/IPC-A-610B). Northbrook, IL, USA: IPC; 1994.
• 24. Drury CG. Methods for direct observation of performance. In: Wilson JR, Corlett EN, editors. Evaluation of human work - a practical ergonomics methodology. 2nd ed. London, UK: Taylor & Francis; 1995. p. 45-68.
• 25. Drury CG. The use of archival data. In: Wilson JR, Corlett EN, editors. Evaluation of human work - a practical ergonomics methodology. 2nd ed. London, UK: Taylor & Francis; 1995. p. 101-12.
• 26. Sinclair MA. Subjective assessment. In: Wilson JR, Corlett EN, editors. Evaluation of human work - a practical ergonomics methodology. 2nd ed. London: Taylor & Francis; 1995. p. 69-100.
• 27. Howarth PA. Assessment of the visual environment. In: Wilson JR, Corlett EN, editors. Evaluation of human work - a practical ergonomics methodology. 2nd ed. London: Taylor & Francis; 1995. p. 445-82.
• 28. Tsao YC, Drury CG, Morawski BT. Human performance in sampling inspection. Hum Factors 1979:21:99-105.
• 29. Karwan MH, Morawski TB, Drury CG. Optimum speed of visual inspection using a systematic search strategy. IIE Transactions 1995;27:291-9.
• 30. Chaney FB, Teel KS. Improving inspector performance through training and visual aids. J Appl Psychol 1967;51:311-5.
• 31. Drury CG, Addison JL. An industrial study of the effects of feedback and fault density on inspection performance. Ergonomics 1973;16:159-69.
• 32. Czaja SJ, Drury CG. Training programs for inspection. Hum Factors 1981;23:473-84.
• 33. Micalizzi J, Goldberg J. Knowledge of results in visual inspection decisions: sensitivity or criterion effect. Int J Ind Ergon 1989;4:225-35.
• 34. Gramopadhye AK, Drury CG, Sharit J. Feedback strategies for visual search in airframe structural inspection. Int J Ind Ergon 1997;19:333-44.
• 35. Drury CG. Visual search in industrial inspection. In: Brogan D, editor. Visual search. London, UK: Taylor & Francis; 1990. p. 263-76.
• 36. Bullimore MA, Howarth PA, Fulton EJ. Assessment of visual performance. In: Wilson JR, Corlett EN, editors. Evaluation of human work - a practical ergonomics methodology. 2nd ed. London, UK: Taylor & Francis; 1995. p. 804-39.
• 37. Thibos LN, Bradley A, Still DL, Zhang X, Howarth PA. Theory and measurement of ocular chromatic aberration. Vision Research 1990;30:139-46.
• 38. Sen RN. Recent trends of ergonomics research in India and Malaysia. HQL Quarterly (Japan) 1998;12:2-4.
• 39. Megaw ED. The definition and measurement of visual fatigue. In: Wilson JR, Corlett EN, editors. Evaluation of human work - a practical ergonomics methodology. 2nd ed. London, UK: Taylor & Francis; 1995. p. 841-63.