Digital twins to enhance the integration of ergonomics in the workplace design

Recently, human-centered design has become one of the most promising approaches for improving the entire production process design. During the design phase, among the main important aspects to investigate, ergonomic performance of the workplace (WP) plays a key role. It is well known that design errors can lead to significant delays in the design and engineering of a production process, especially when it is related to a complex system such as the assembly line of an automotive industry. Prediction of the ergonomic performance, which is often coarsely considered during the design phase, can represent a fundamental step in preventing ergonomic issues since the early design phase of a production process, avoiding also negative consequences on line balancing. Based on a concurrent engineering (CE) approach, the aim of this paper is to present a framework that uses digital twins of stations in order to minimise the time necessary to develop and design a new assembly line. The application of this procedure will allow avoiding the possibility of realising a line that reveals ergonomic problems and correcting design errors during the design phase and not just during the production phase. In this way, it is possible to achieve great advantages in terms of cost avoidance for the correction of the design errors and in terms of time to market, which will be significantly reduced. A digital twin of a real station of a Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) assembly line is presented to validate the numerical procedure and the design approach proposed in this paper. Finally, numerical results, regarding the evaluation of an ergonomic index, were compared with experimental ones achieved by analysing data collected during an experimental session.