METHODS OF IMPROVING WORK-PLACE LAYOUT

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Abstract
Mass production of man-operated machines entails that their dimensions should be so designed as to suit the majority of their users. The first part of the paper is devoted to a critical review of work-spaces which demonstrates the discomfort to which certain average individuals are subjected. These individuals are the result of world-wide anthropometric-statistical measurements carried out over a number of years. Ergonomists have widened the conception of work-spaces by introducing improved trial-and-error methods. They have constructed clearance tables for various body regions, as well as manikins to scale and mock-ups of work-spaces, into which certain average individuals were placed. It thus seems that a new method has come into use which integrates ergonomic data concerning body dimensions and the optimal angles between the various body segments. One can, therefore, no longer consider the dimensional adaptation of work-spaces as consisting in the mere application of a series of separate recommendations but one must take into account the complex structure of the entire human frame. Furthermore, this method has the advantage of disposing of biological standards which are irrelevant to engineering practice. and it proposes technical recommendations such as are customary in research departments.

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