Transcript IE 5511 Human Factors and Work Analysis

ME 5211 / IE 5511
Human Factors and Work
Analysis
Instructor: Prof. Caroline C. Hayes
Goals of Human Factors
 To
increase humans’:
– Effectiveness
– Health
– Safety
– Well-being
What are “Human Factors”?

Human Factors (ergonomics) is the study
of helping people to work more efficiently
through design of their:
Where ?
Work
environment
– Tools (products)
– Work process
– Work environment
– Organizational structure
Tools
(Products)
Work
Process
What ?
How ?
Ergonomics
(European term for Human Factors)

Ergonomics comes from the Greek words:
ergo + nomos
Work

Laws
Companies like Human Factors not only
because it increases:
– Safety/ health/ well-being of workers
But also:
– Profitability
Human Factors is Interdisciplinary

A collection of disciplines concerned with creating effective
interactions between people and technological systems.
 Those systems could be:
– products,
– Processes
– Policies
– a combination.

Examples of disciplines concerned with human factors:
–
–
–
–
Engineering,
Computer Science
Psychology
Business
- Psychology
- Kinesiology, sports
- Medicine,
Disciplines represented in our
2010 Human Factors class:
Mechanical Engineering
Biomedical Engineering
Aerospace Engineering
Statistics
Environmental Health
Computer Science
Industrial and Sys. Eng.
Electrical Engineering
Human Factors: Body and Mind
 Most products today involve both:
Physical components  Physical Ergonomics
Computer component  Cognitive Ergonomics
 HF involves the design to make human interaction in both
physical and cognitive aspects effective (Such as cell phones, cameras,
car (dashboard displays))
Designers of things and
processes need to understand:

HF may impact all parts of the design
 Need to communicate with HF experts
 Big need: Designers should be able to span
disciplines/work with other disciplines
Goals of the course: IE 5511

To identify:
– Human constraints and needs (physical and
–
–
–
–
cognitive)
Methods for understanding human needs in a
situation, or when using a product
Methods for assessing effectiveness of a
product or system, (such as time studies)
Approaches for improving productivity,
health and safety,
The value of standards.
Who will be teaching you?
Course Website: (www.me.umn.edu\education\courses\ie5511)
• Instructor: Prof. Hayes
•
•
•
•
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 612- 626-8391
Office: ME 2110
Office Hours: Right after class
• Teaching Assistant: Jacques Dolan
My Background

Position: Professor, Mechanical Engineering,
University of Minnesota.
 Education: PhD, Carnegie Mellon University, 1990;
Robotics
 Appointments: Director of Graduate studies for
Human Factors graduate minor program:
http://www.education.umn.edu/kin/kinesiology/HFminor.html
Faculty Legislative Liaison


Research: computer supported decision making
Consulting for local and international firms: make
human/technology systems more efficient and
effective.
Expectations

Homework most weeks, usually due Wed.
 One quiz, two tests, final exam.
 A semester-long project on a human factors
topic, in teams.
Grade Breakdowns
Quiz
 Exams 1& 2
 Homework
 Project
 Final Exam

10 %
40 %
5 %
15 %
30 %
Policies

Students may discuss homework problems, but
they are expected to solve problems on their own.
 Make up quizzes and exams will not be given
except in the case of documented medical
emergencies.
 Homework is considered late after the end of
class.
 Late homework will be accepted for 24 hr after
due date for 50% credit.
Human Factors:
Re-engineering Systems for
Efficiency and Safety
Organizational
structure, roles
Motivation:
Incentives/rewards
Work
Process
Tools
(Products)
Work
environment
Why do Companies Care about
Human Factors?
• To make products more competitive and appealing
to consumers:
• Easier to use
• Easier to understand
• Safer
• Higher quality at same or lower cost,
• For a customer, there is always someone else who can make
• A more acceptable product
• Better, faster, cheaper
Why do designers and managers need
to know about Human Factors?

Because all products are used by people at some
point in their lifecycle
Engineering
Marketing
Manufacturing
Product Life Cycle
Packaging
Delivery
Recycle

Service
Use
Designers must design these products and process
by which they are made.
We must design products and
processes that

Fulfill their functions,
But also:
 Can easily be used and understood by
people,
 Can be manufactured, assembled, handled
by people, in all part of their life cycle.
 Are enjoyable to use (Don Norman),
Examples of Human Factors Needs

Space Mission planners should be able to control the
Mars Rover in terms that make sense to them

Medical Tools: Doctors should be able to comfortably
hold surgical tools without risk of dropping it or excessive
hand fatigue

Nuclear power plants: operators should be able to easily
read warnings + power plant indicators

Aviation: Pilots should be able to quickly find the
information they need and intuitively understand it
Human Factors are important any time people and technology interact!
Human Factors in Transportation
A Prius Cockpit
An airplane cockpit
Health Care Robot
Remote doctor checks on patient
www.cbc.ca/.../tech/robotics/robot-doctor.html
Surgical Robot
Examples of HF and Safety

Nuclear reactor meltdowns
(Chernobyl, 3 mile Island)
Melted down largely because:
– Although displays showed much of the right
information,
– Displays were too complex to be understood easily by
the operator,
– Hundreds of warning bells went off but it was hard to
know to which to attend.

Airplane and train accidents
 Farm machinery accidents
 Car accidents – cars and cell phones.
Historical Development

HF is concerned with the effective interaction of
people and machines
 Before the industrial revolution people did not
explicitly worry that much about HF
– Less interaction with machines
– Machines’ designs were evolved over long time periods
– Engineered systems were not as big and complicated
– Competition was strictly local
Historical Development (continued)
The roots of HF as a science begin in the late 19th
century
 Industrialization increased, and
 Markets expanded from local to national and
global levels aided by inventions:
– Telegraph, telephone, train, steam ships


Suddenly, businesses needed to be more
efficient to compete.
Efficiency Experts

Fredrick Taylor (start 1881)

Frank Gilbreth (early 1900)

Lillian Gilbreth (early 1900)
Fredrik Taylor, 1881, Midvale Steel,
Philadelphia

Founder of modern time study
 Came up with system of managing work to make
it more efficient:
– Managers plan work 1 day in advance
– Workers get written instructions on tasks and how to
accomplish them
– Each job has a “standard time” determined by a time
study made by experts
– Advocated breaking tasks into “elements”
Taylor's Studies
 Pig Iron Study (1898)
– At Bethlehem Steel Company
– Established methods for carrying 92 lb.
“pigs” of iron up ramp to freight car,
– Provided financial incentives,
– Greatly increased productivity from 12.5
tons/day/worker to 48 tons (4 fold
increase)
Taylor's Studies (cont.)

Shoveling Experiment
– Redesigned shovels (were same size for all
jobs):
Short handle for heavy iron
 Long handled scoop for light rice coal

– Results:
 Productivity increased
 Material handling costs decreased
Taylor's Studies (cont.)

But no one took much notice until 1903
published in ASME : ‘Shop Management’

Then “efficiency madness” swept the nation
and the world.
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
(early 20th century)

Founders of modern motion study techniques
– Study of body motions used in performing tasks
– Aimed at:
 Simplifying motions
 Establishing most favorable motion
sequences
 As he was in brick-laying trade, Increased
performance from 120 bricks/hr to 350
Gilbreths’ Techniques

Photographed and Filmed motions to study
them
– Cyclographic analysis:
 put light on workers’ finger, and photograph the
path.
– Chrono-cyclographic analysis:
 Put strobe on finger – get dotted lines on photo
 Spacing indicates speed
– Devide motion into elements “therbligs”
Cyclograph Analysis



Attach light to finger or part of body,
Photograph the motion using a long exposure,
Motion pattern recorded as a line on film.
Motion photographed in a strobe light
Golfer
Motion studies using strobe lights
Acrobat pole vaulting
Motion Study using motion pictures
Broader Impacts of Effects the
“Efficiency” Movement

Efficiency principles were applied in many areas
outside the factory (turn of the century):
– Architecture: Homes were made smaller and
layouts more efficient with less steps
– Interior design: Kitchen workspaces were made
more efficient (less steps, less reaching, less
cleaning) Origin of the “modern” kitchen design.
– Art: incorporated motion studies into images
(Duchamp 1912).
Nude Decending the Stair,
Duchamp 1912
Duchamp (the artist) descending
the stair
Cheaper by the Dozen

By Gilbreth and Gilbreth, 1948 (children of Frank and
Lilian)
 Lilian and Frank Gilbreth had 12 children
 They viewed home as “efficiency lab”
 “What will work at home will work in the factory”
– Gilbreth shaved with 2 razors (one in each hand)
– Filmed all their children getting their tonsils removed.
Exercise

Figure out how to fit all the objects in the box
– Decide what actions constitute “therbligs” or
“elements”
– Develop and record a procedure (in terms of therbligs)

Figure out how to do it fast
– Time your procedure (minutes, seconds)
– Did your “Therblig” description change?
– Did your procedure description change?
Backlash Against the “Efficiency”
Movement




Workers some times felt like a cogs in the
industrial machine,
When miss-applied, efficiency techniques
simply squeezed more work out of workers
to their detrement.
Workers sometimes refused to cooperate
with efficiency “experts”
Arts and crafts movement in art and
architecture: return to natural forms (hard to
make by machine) and hand craft methods.
Tiffany Lamp
Chair
Hector Guimard, 1904-7
Charles Chaplin in "Modern Times" 1939
Exercise

Figure out how to fit all the objects in the box
– Decide what actions constitute “therbligs” or
“elements”
– Develop and record a procedure (in terms of
therbligs)

Figure out how to do it fast
–
–
–
–
Time your procedure (minutes, seconds)
Did your “therblig” descriptions change?
Did your procedure descriptions change?
Did other things change?
Rules of Exercise





Take all objects out and set them separately on
desk.
Fit all objects in the box so that you can close the
lid all the way.
No squashing or damaging objects.
You may wish to assign different roles to the
people on your team: packer, time keeper, process
recorder, observer, etc.
You will get several minutes to practice, then we
will have a competition.
Exercise (continued)

Each group please report:
– Your best time to complete the task
– Your therbligs
– Your procedure (sequence of therbligs)
– What you did to improve your time? (did you
develop new therbligs? New sequence?
Other?)
Insight

There is a tight relationship between:
The way people actually use a product
Product
effectiveness
The features a
product ought to
have
Customer Satisfaction

Time and motion studies can help designers clarify
the relation between products use, and the features
it ought to have.