Discussão pós implantação das possíveis contribuições da ergonomia no projeto de automatização de linhas de produção

Abstract

This research, elaborated from theoretical grounds in the area of design and ergonomics, has as its object of study an improvement project implemented in a producer of cellulosic fiber packaging (molded pulp) for packaging eggs and fruit, located inside the State of São Paulo. This project aimed to improve the operation conditions of the workers who took care of finishing activities at the apple trays production line. The research question is to discuss how the use of the Ergonomics concepts in the development of workspace design projects can help to prevent against new constrains on the development of activities. Specifically, it seeks to highlight the need of using tools that provide to the design process deep details about the activities involved in carrying out the tasks of the workspace where the improvement project will be implemented. Considering that the Ergonomics in workspace design can contribute for the collective construction to solve problems related to work reducing the probability of new constraints following the implementation of the project. It was used the approach of Situated Ergonomics, the Future of Activity Analysis and the method of Ergonomic Work Analysis. The obtained results showed that the design process used was not built with the effective participation of the users and the interaction between the actors involved in the operation lacked from an important knowledge about “how to do” of the operation. It was observed that the new situation brought difficulties in the development of activity as well as the creation of new constrains. It was concluded that the Ergonomics applied in the development of projects promotes the collective construction between the different actors in the process, resulting in a deep detail of the activities involved to develop the tasks and, as a consequence, better information being possible to design systems that meet the workers needs.