Ergonomics in parallelized car assembly: a case study, with reference also to productivity aspects

In 1985 Volvo started the development of a new plant for the assembling of cars. This plant was situated in the town of Uddevalla in Sweden. One deliberate aim with this plant was to combine an enhanced productivity and product quality with good ergonomics conditions and improved work organization. The plant was designed with a production system where parallel work-teams of about five persons could assemble from 1/4 up to complete cars. A newly developed tilting device, a piece of equipment that could rotate, rise and lower the car body in order to facilitate assembly work, was introduced. Ergonomic analyses of postural and musculoskeletal strain showed that parallelized flow production, according to the production principles of the Uddevalla plant, was superior to traditional car assembly according to the serial flow production concept, i.e. the traditional assembly line. It was noted that this ergonomic standard was implemented without compromising productivity. In conclusion, increased knowledge and experience of parallelized production systems has been gained which should be considered in the development of future assembly plants, even though the Uddevalla factory itself was closed down in 1993.