Open access
Date
2021-12Type
- Journal Article
Abstract
Due to current trends in the manufacturing industry, such as mass customization, manual operations contribute drastically to the overall costs of a product. Methods-Time-Measurement (MTM) identifies the optimization potential of manual workplaces, which significantly influences a worker's productivity. However, traditional MTM requires great efforts to observe and transcribe manual assembly processes. Yet, various digital approaches exist that facilitate MTM analyses. While most of these approaches require the existence of real workplaces or cardboard mock-ups, it would be beneficial to conduct a virtual MTM in earlier phases of production planning. However, the quality of virtual MTM analyses compared to traditional MTM conducted in reality has not been assessed yet. This paper is addressing it by conducting a comparative user study with 21 participants completing the same task both at a real and virtual workplace, which they access via Virtual Reality technology. Our results show that participants' MTM-2 values achieved at the VR workplace are comparable to the real workplace. However, time study data reveals that participants moved considerably slower in VR and thus needed more time to accomplish the task. Consequently, for the measurement of manual work in VR it is even necessary to utilize predetermined times, such as MTM-2 since time study data is insufficient. This paper also serves as a proof of concept for future studies, investigating automated transcription systems that would further decrease the efforts conducting MTM analyses. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000492283Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing TechnologyVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
SpringerSubject
Workplace Optimization; MTM; Human-centered Design; Virtual Reality (VR)Organisational unit
08844 - Kunz, Andreas (Tit.-Prof.) / Kunz, Andreas (Tit.-Prof.)
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