A Preliminary Experimental Study on the Workers’ Workload Assessment to Design Industrial Products and Processes

TLDR

Human‑centered design places users at the core of product and process development, aiming to improve experience and efficiency, and is key to achieving Industry 5.0’s focus on worker wellbeing and sustainable production. The study proposes an ergonomic assessment method that analyzes workers’ workload to guide the design of industrial products and processes. The method simultaneously measures physical and cognitive workload during shifts using a minimal set of non‑invasive wearables and subjective questionnaires. A preliminary test in a real industrial setting showed the method can help companies design optimized products and processes that promote worker wellbeing.

Abstract

The human-centered design (HCD) approach places humans at the center of design in order to improve both products and processes, and to give users an effective, efficient and satisfying interactive experience. In industrial design and engineering, HCD is very useful in helping to achieve the novel Industry 5.0 concept, based on improving workers’ wellbeing by providing prosperity beyond jobs and growth, while respecting the production limits of the planet as recently promoted by the European Commission. In this context, the paper proposes an ergonomic assessment method based on the analysis of the workers’ workload to support the design of industrial products and processes. This allows the simultaneous analysis of the physical and cognitive workload of operators while performing their tasks during their shift. The method uses a minimum set of non-invasive wearable devices to monitor human activity and physiological parameters, in addition to questionnaires for subjective self-assessment. The method has been preliminarily tested on a real industrial case in order to demonstrate how it can help companies to support the design of optimized products and processes promoting the workers’ wellbeing.