From SCDigest's On-Target E-Magazine
May 25, 2011
Supply Chain News: Ford Using High Tech Avatar Worker to Improve Plant Safety, Ergonomics and Quality
New Developments in Avatar Technology Soon to Bring Even More Realistic Simulation to Factory Floor; "Santos" coming Soon
SCDigest Editorial Staff
SCDigest Says: |
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| When digital modeling was introduced at Ford about a decade ago, ergonomic injuries fell about 80%. |
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What Do You Say?
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Video game technology is coming to the factory floor.
Ford Motor Co. announced this week it has developed a global avatar of a worker to help it build vehicles the same way the world over, even though workers' sizes can vary significantly, and to improve safety, quality, and worker ergonomics.
Ford's "global manikin" was developed from size and shape data gathered from six assembly plants around the world.
That led to creation of a female avatar who is 5 feet 4 inches tall, but with large male hands, said Allison Stephens, an ergonomics specialist at Ford.
The size reflects that workers in many parts of the world are smaller than in other nations, but the big hands are to make sure a larger German or North American assembly line worker can grab the necessary part and perform the job.
"Ford is a leader in virtual technology," said Stephens added "We combine Hollywood's motion-capture technology with human modeling software in our Detroit labs to design jobs in Asia and around the world that are less physically stressful on workers. We adjusted the sizes of our Jack and Jill models to reflect the populations at our global plants so all our regions can benefit from what we've learned."
Ford, like most automakers, has used digital modeling for years to design workstations that are as ergonomically correct as possible, to reduce strain injuries.
But the automaker wanted to take the simulations, through its Jack and Jill digital models, a step further. So it created "motion capture labs" in Dearborn and in Merkinish, Germany.
In the labs, real people are suited up with reflective tape on key joints and parts of the body and their movements are captured by more than a dozen cameras. The data is fed into the digital human models to make their movements even more realistic.
The same basic technique is used in developing many computer animated films and video games.
"The result is workers are not going to get the injury and consumers will get better quality vehicles," Stephens said.
By putting a person in the capture motion lab, it became evident that installing a strut, for example, was a difficult reach for a smaller worker, Heck said. With the help of a UAW worker at the Wayne Assembly plant in Dearborn, that finding led to development of a tool to extend the worker's reach and make the assembly easier. A tall person can choose not to use the aid.
That is the general concept Ford is seeking globally — to design assembly plant workstations where the task can be done by this new global manikin. Each plant tweaks its workstations as necessary, to reflect the regional workforce and the individual plant. Ford wants to share its findings in countries where the work is done by suppliers.
(Manufacturing article continued below)
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Stephens said that when digital modeling was introduced about a decade ago, ergonomic injuries fell about 80%. 
