Participatory ergonomics in design processes: the role of boundary objects

The aim of this paper is to introduce the concept of boundary objects in order to better understand the role of objects in participatory ergonomics (PE) design processes. The research question is: What characterizes boundary objects in PE processes? Based on two case studies, we identify eight characteristics of boundary objects and their use, which make them particularly useful in PE design processes. These characteristics go beyond the object itself and extend into the context of their use. We argue that the selection of boundary objects in PE processes is of great importance, since different objects enable workers’ participation and collaborative design in different ways. The framework developed may serve to provide criteria to guide practitioners and intervention researchers in the selection of objects to facilitate a PE process. The paper concludes with a list of recommendations for ergonomic practitioners that are based on the framework.     

Integrating ergonomics and engineering in the technical design process

Leyland DAF and the University of Nottingham collaborated in establishing an ergonomics team to support the truck design and development process in the company. The project was planned within the framework of a Teaching Company Scheme funded jointly by Leyland DAF and the UK government. This framework provided a training environment in which the team, which was formed of young professional ergonomists and engineers, could quickly acquire the specialist skills needed for work in the automotive industry in addition to gaining practical experience in applying ergonomics, and the programme was structured to promote the integration of ergonomics and engineering considerations within the technical design process. The experience gained in this project has shown the benefits of such an approach to implementing ergonomics in product design, and provided an insight into the ways in which ergonomists and designers can communicate more effectively in a manufacturing organization.     

Integrating ergonomics into engineering: Empirical evidence and implications for the ergonomists

Engineering design is a strong determinant of workplace ergonomics. A survey among 680 engineers in 20 Danish enterprises indicated that engineers are not aware that they influence the work environment of other people. Ergonomics had a low rating among engineers, perhaps because neither management nor safety organizations expressed any expectations in this area. The study further indicated that effects of ergonomics training in engineering schools were very limited. The engineering cultures in enterprises, together with other organizational factors, are suggested to be of greater importance than the professional training. The implications for industrial ergonomists might be an acknowledgement of the role as change agent when trying to integrate ergonomics into engineering. In doing so, they need also to acknowledge that engineers are widely different. They have different backgrounds and a “sensitivity” to ergonomics depending on their current engineering domain, tasks, organizational position, and the industrial branch of their organization. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Hum Factors Man 17: 353–366, 2007.     

Integrating ergonomics into production system development - The Volvo Powertrain case

Understanding the barriers and assists to integrating ergonomics into production system design remains a research issue. An action research case study at Volvo Powertrain/Sweden was conducted. Researchers worked collaboratively with the firm in efforts to improve the company's ability to handle ergonomics in their daily work of improving and developing production systems. Researchers observed and reflected collectively on the change process using field notes and recordings to support their observations.Observed integration barriers included both individual level issues like life events, and organisational aspects such as communication barriers between groups or assignment of tasks to people not involved in decision-making. Observed assists included the ‘political reflective navigation’ (c.f. Broberg, O., Hermund, I., 2004. The OHS consultant as a ‘political reflective navigator’ in technological change processes. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 33 (4), 315-326) by the project owner to find new ways to overcome barriers and anchor ergonomics into the organisation. While special ‘ergonomics’ groups did not survive long, progress was observed in including ergonomics in regular design groups. A cross-functional workshop that fostered discussion across organisational boundaries helped shift focus from retrofitting systems to future production systems and improve engagement of engineering teams. Progress was marked by both success and setbacks and full integration appears to require more than 2 years time. It is concluded that support by senior managers should include succession planning for personnel that are key to the change effort.     

Frontal geometry from sketches of engineering objects: is line labelling necessary?

A tool which can quickly interpret line drawings (with hidden lines removed) of engineering objects as boundary representation CAD models would be of significant benefit in the process of engineering design. Inflation of the drawing to produce a frontal geometry, a geometric realisation of that part of the object visible in the drawing, is an important stage of this process.Previous methods of producing frontal geometries have relied on the technique of line labelling (labelling edges as convex, concave or occluding). Although restricted subsets of the line-labelling problem have known solutions, reliable methods have not been found for the general line-labelling problem, and traditional methods, when adapted to drawings with non-trihedral junctions, are unacceptably slow.Many other papers assume that line labelling is an essential step. Here, we show this is not necessarily true, and that comparable results can be obtained by a novel alternative approach. Firstly, we consider what outputs from line labelling are essential to the production of frontal geometry. Secondly, we investigate by what other means these outputs can be produced.Our work indicates that the only essential output from line labelling for frontal geometry is the determination of which T-junctions in a drawing are occluding and which are non-occluding. This information is required for inflation, and also for detection of symmetry and for constructing hidden topology.Thus, we propose and analyse a new method which, in the absence of line labels, simultaneously inflates a drawing to produce the frontal geometry and attempts to determine whether each T-junction is occluding or not. For drawings of objects with holes or pockets, and for cases where line labelling is particularly unreliable, our new method can provide a better alternative.     

Cognitive processes in engineering design: a longitudinal study

Abstract

In this paper we report an empirical study of the cognitive processes of semi-expert electronics engineers pursuing real-world design projects. Extensive diary and interview data were analysed so as to reveal the organization of on-going design activity and the goals that were motivating behaviour. Our analyses indicated that subjects were implementing a highly systematic design strategy which deviated only a small amount (12%) from a top-down, depth-first procedure. Some of this deviation could be accounted for by social demands impinging on the individual designer, and whilst there was also evidence of ‘opportunistic’ deviation from a structured design approach, this did not appear to be a significant feature of our subjects' behaviour. We present a model of the design process as a set of production rules which describe an abstract ‘design schema’ for electronic engineering. This design schema embodies processes which control and co-ordinate problem-understanding and problem-structuring activity as well as the essentially top-down, depth-first pursuit of design solutions. The schema also allows for flexibility in the design process, permitting subjects to cope with contingencies arising through social influences and performance breakdowns. A further aspect of the design schema is that it encapsulates a ‘satisficing’ procedure which reflects a principle that dominated our engineers' solution-search and evaluation activity—they characteristically focused exclusively on initial, satisfactory (but usually sub-optimal) solution concepts rather than comparing alternatives with the aim of optimizing choices. We conclude our discussion by recommending facilities that we feel computer-based design aids should offer users if they are to be genuinely useful adjuncts to design activity.     

Improving engineering design- contributions of cognitive ergonomics

Engineering design is analysed in terms of design problem-solving. Engineering designers of differing productivity hardly differ in mental abilities, especially their tested intelligence. However, they differ in their strategies concerning the analysis of requirements and of the problem, in their search for general principles solving the relevant problem, and in the procedures used for developing specific solutions. Experimental and interview results stress that the interrelationship of thinking and sketching, as well as other kinds of an early low-cost prototyping are of crucial importance for the efficiency of the problem-solving procedure and the result. Possibilities for assisting design problem-solving and to improve the training of designers are discussed.     

A four-step model for diagnosing knowledge transfer challenges from operations into engineering design

Knowledge gained from operations can help optimize the design of new installations in terms of system performance, health, and safety. Transferring such knowledge to engineering design teams makes it available for use in projects. However, the transfer involves different challenges. To better understand and identify these challenges, we combine a knowledge transfer model with a work systems model into the development of a conceptual four-step model for knowledge transfer from operations to engineering design. Knowledge transfer implies that the knowledge must be captured, transformed into an engineering design context, transferred to the appropriate individuals, and finally, applied to the design of new facilities. In this paper, we 1) present the development of this model, 2) illustrate its application in an empirical case study in an offshore oil company, and 3) propose a generic diagnostic tool to be applied in companies to diagnose and identify the existing challenges within knowledge transfer from operations to engineering design.Relevance to industryThe proposed diagnostic tool allows for better understanding of design problems to be faced and for developing design solutions that improve health, safety, and production effectiveness. This benefits knowledge management and engineering design professionals in industries with geographically dispersed organizations.     

The role of ergonomics in office-systems design

Abstract

The office is a major target for the suppliers of computer systems but it is rather more than the ‘paperwork factory’ of the advertisements. Various items of ‘new’ technology promise all manner of benefits from electronic filing to video conferencing. However, many of the components of the advanced office system are similar to the displays, keyboards, printers, black boxes and wiring of traditional computing and bring with them the same ergonomic problems for the users when they interact with the office environment. Solving these problems involves taking a systems approach to the office. A key concept is the system life cycle and in this paper eight ergonomics inputs relevant to the different stages of office-system design are identified.     

The role of ergonomics in office-systems design

The office is a major target for the suppliers of computer systems but it is rather more than the 'paperwork factory' of the advertisements. Various items of 'new' technology promise all manner of benefits from electronic filing to video conferencing. However, many of the components of the advanced office system are similar to the displays, keyboards, printers, black boxes and wiring of traditional computing and bring with them the same ergonomic problems for the users when they interact with the office environment. Solving these problems involves taking a systems approach to the office. A key concept is the system life cycle and in this paper eight ergonomics inputs relevant to the different stages of office-system design are identified.     

Supporting collaborative learning in engineering design

In team-based project courses, collaborative learning is the dominant learning mode. Collaborative learning has been shown to increase individual learning through co-construction and personal reflection. Rapid adoption of web-based communication and mobile computing by students provide opportunities to take advantage of computer-supported collaboration for engineering education. We present preliminary findings on a computer environment, the Kiva Web, that supports the activities of group collaboration for interdisciplinary engineering design teams. We have employed methods from human–computer interaction (HCI) to iterate on the design in the context of use. In this paper, we discuss the evolution of the Kiva Web and the implications for both student design teams and professional design teams.     

Integration of engineering change objects in product data management databases to support engineering change analysis

This study proposes a product data management (PDM) database that can support engineering change analysis (ECA). It can integrate ECA with the existing main product development process managed by PDM systems. Since engineering change (EC) history is a key EC data element that enables ECA, this study extends PDM databases to represent the EC history with existing entities for ECs and associated products and their product structures. To show the feasibility of the proposed PDM database, this study integrates a prototype PDM system with on-line analytical processing (OLAP) tools and a data mining module for ECA. It also applies the implemented tools to two typical ECA applications, EC evaluation and EC propagation problems. The illustrative application examples show that the proposed PDM database can support ECA through multidimensional data analysis with OLAP and data mining with association rules.     

Integrating task analysis into system design: Surveying designers' needs

The authors are presently developing tools to enable software designers to carry out task analyses (TA). The tools will support a methodology comprising techniques for carrying out task analyses and will also take account of integrating the resulting TA information into system design. To support integration and to identify the requirements for TA tools, a group of designers were surveyed. The survey identified how the designers approach design, whether the designers believe TA would be of use to them and how, why and where TA might contribute to design. Finally the designers' views of the desired characteristics of TA tools was sought. This paper outlines the results of this small, detailed survey of what designers want, need and expect from TA tools.     

Curve interpolation with directional constraints for engineering design

An algorithm to interpolate data points with directional constraints is given in this paper. The interpolating B-spline curve passes through the data points and assumes tangent directions at arbitrarily selected points. The advantages of the method is that the user is free to select any number of directional constraints and the method produces full parametric continuity up to C ^{p − 1} for any degree p interpolation. The method is a generalization of Piegl and Tiller (The NURBS book, 2nd edn. Springer, New York, 1997] in two directions: (1) there is no restriction on the degree, and (2) no need to specify derivatives at all data points.     

An ergonomics action research demonstration: integrating human factors into assembly design processes

In action research (AR), the researcher participates ‘in’ the actions in an organisation, while simultaneously reflecting ‘on’ the actions to promote learning for both the organisation and the researchers. This paper demonstrates a longitudinal AR collaboration with an electronics manufacturing firm where the goal was to improve the organisation's ability to integrate human factors (HF) proactively into their design processes. During the three-year collaboration, all meetings, workshops, interviews and reflections were digitally recorded and qualitatively analysed to inform new ‘actions’. By the end of the collaboration, HF tools with targets and sign-off by the HF specialist were integrated into several stages of the design process, and engineers were held accountable for meeting the HF targets. We conclude that the AR approach combined with targeting multiple initiatives at different stages of the design process helped the organisation find ways to integrate HF into their processes in a sustainable way.

Practitioner Summary: Researchers acted as a catalyst to help integrate HF into the engineering design process in a sustainable way. This paper demonstrates how an AR approach can help achieve HF integration, the benefits of using a reflective stance and one method for reporting an AR study.     

关于三网融合的FTTH工程设计问题研究

近些年来随着我国经济的发展与国际地位的提高,我国对各个行业都做出了一定的改进。当今时代是一个网络发达的时代,国家的发展与进步离不开网络。网络已经涉及到生活的各个方面中。如工作、学习、娱乐购物等等。本文将对三网融合的FTTH工程设计问题进行浅要的分析,希望对相关人士有所帮助。     

Integrating a reduced-order model server into the engineering design process

Engineering design is a complex and iterative process that involves multiple engineering teams sharing and communicating information during the design process. One aspect of engineering design involves the development of physics-based models and their analysis via numerical simulations that are computationally expensive. To overcome the time constraints due to the complexity of numerical simulations, reduced-order models (ROM) such as proper orthogonal decomposition are being increasingly used. Decreasing the simulation time, however, does not address the inefficiencies in communicating engineering models and analysis during the design process. This paper proposes developing and incorporating a ROM server into the design workflow. The ROM server stores all data associated with a given engineering model and automatically constructs a ROM every time a model is created or updated, thus maintaining a consistent version of information across multiple engineering teams. A common engineering workflow is compared with one using a ROM server. A cost of synchronization metric has been defined based on the parameters of data size, size of the engineering team and design iterations. This metric has been evaluated and compared for the cases with and without a ROM server and it was found that the cost of synchronization is lower when a ROM server is used in the design workflow. It is shown that as the team size increases, the ROM server helps with more efficient information storage and transfer. Finally, an example problem of a heat-exchanger fin shape design is used to demonstrate the ROM server framework.     

Data-driven engineering design: A systematic review using scientometric approach

In the last two decades, data regarding engineering design and product development has increased rapidly. Big data exploration and mining offer numerous opportunities for engineering design; however, owing to the multitude of data sources and formats coupled with the high complexity of the design process, these techniques are yet to be utilised to the best of their full potential. In this study, a comprehensive assessment of the state-of-the-art data-driven engineering design (DDED) in the last 20 years was conducted. A scientometric approach was employed wherein first, a systematic article acquisition procedure was performed, where a dataset of 3339 articles related to engineering design and big data analytics applications were extracted from Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus. Thereafter, this dataset was reduced to a dataset of 366 articles based on concise data screening. The resulting articles were used to analyse the dynamics of research in DDED throughout the last 20 years and to detect the primary research topics related to DDED, the most influential authors, and the papers with the highest impact in the DDED domain. Furthermore, the co-occurrence network of keywords/keyphrases and co-authorship networks were constructed and analysed to reveal the interconnection of the research topics and the collaboration between the most prolific authors. Finally, an insight how big data analytics is being applied through product development activities to support decision-making in engineering design was presented.     

Computer-aided ergonomics: a case study of incorporating ergonomics analyses into workplace design

One of the primary goals of computer-aided ergonomics is to develop software tools that allow ergonomics information to be accessed at the earliest stages of design. This case study discusses a PC-based software program that allows a designer to quantify a worker's biomechanical risk for injury based on a proposed workplace design. The program couples an established software tool for biomechanical analysis, the Three-Dimensional Static Strength Prediction Program (3DSSPP), with a widely used computer-aided design software package, AutoCAD. The use of this "3DSSPP/AutoCAD interface" in the proactive analysis of an automotive assembly task is described and the results compared with an independent assessment using observations of workers performing the same task. Both studies yield similar conclusions, suggesting that proactive use of software such as the 3DSSPP/AutoCAD interface may be a valid tool in evaluating proposed workplace designs. In this context, issues in the analysis of workplace designs regarding the use of supporting ergonomic tools, assumptions, and posture selection are discussed.     

Learning with web-based interactive objects: An investigation into student perceptions of effectiveness

In its efforts to continue the modernization of its curriculum, the Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Toronto has developed a series of web-based interactive learning applications. This article presents the production cycle of these new interactive learning objects and the preliminary study conducted to measure the students’ perception of the objects’ effectiveness for learning. Three applications are described in detail in this article, namely: Panoramic Radiography: Principles and Interpretation, Gross Human Anatomy 3D Atlas and Restorative Dentistry: Virtual and Interactive Cavity Preparation. Each of these applications introduces unique elements of interactivity with the learning content, specifically designed to address hard-to-grasp concepts in their respective dental disciplines. The results of a student survey conducted post-deployment suggest that the visual and interactive features embedded in the three applications have the potential to induce positive outcomes in mediating the students’ conceptualization of difficult theoretical notions.