Track: Human Factors and Ergonomics Competition

Abstract

This study shows the streamlining of manual material handling of AMG Rice dealer workers to the task of carrying rice sacks from the delivery truck to the company’s warehouse by applying the fundamentals of Manual Material Handling and Identification and Elimination of Waste (i.e, DOWNTIME, Three MU’s). The researchers utilized manual material handling as the primary concept of this ergonomics paper and supported the study by applying waste elimination and risk reduction techniques while increasing worker’s job satisfaction. This study also introduced Process Observation Analysis (POA) to analyze the lead time of workers when transporting the rice sacks from the truck up to the company’s warehouse. The researchers used POA as the primary tool in data collection. The researchers decreased the process lead time by 45.19% by implementations of different six sigma tools and application of proper manual material handling techniques. Furthermore, the study used the NIOSH Lifting Equation for calculating the recommended weight of the rice sacks that each worker must carry. The results of the study showed beneficial effects to both the worker’s safety and AMG Rice Dealer’s transporting processes.