Redesign of doorframe assembly workstation

Abstract: Schott Thermofrost AB is the Swedish subsidiary of the German Schott Group a world leader in cooling appliances. The company produces cold room doors and the associated door frames. They also process, cut, coat and temper all the needed glass. The factory is located in Arvika in Sweden and employs roughly 150 people. The company recently started focusing on improving the working environment at the factory. This has mainly been done by reducing work related strain on assembly workers through ergonomics. By cooperating with the local health care service, Värmlandshälsan, the company has completely revised its door assembly. Previously the assembly was done on a flat table making it necessary for the workers to continuously bend their necks and backs. Now the assembly has been remodeled by using a slightly tilted vertical surface for assembly that can also be easily raised and lowered. This has resulted in a considerable improvement in the work environment and has raised worker satisfaction. However as of yet there has been no change in the even more complicated and time consuming doorframe assembly. The purpose of the thesis was to design a new workstation for the doorframe assembly in order to reduce the continuous strain on the workers. This has been achieved by detailed studies of the current assembly routines, benchmarking, brainstorming, theoretical ergonomic studies which resulted in the design of a new workstation. The final design can be seen in chapter 7. The new work station allows for the assembly table to be tilted as well as raised and lowered with a minimum of effort. The height is adjusted by using an industrial lift column. Two pillow blocks mounted on a joint axis of rotation allow the work surface to be angled 86° in both directions. This allows the workers to maintain a rigid posture which does not cause undue stress on their necks or backs. The doorframe is placed on the work surface and is then secured by a locking mechanism comprised of a series of telescopic slides, springs and solenoids. The components for the new workstation will cost approximately 11138 SEK.