Machine Room Lift
The top priority identified through the survey of industry professionals in the casegoods facilities, was the handling
of casegoods components. This activity occurs a great deal of time in the machine room areas of these facilities
(cut-off saws, band saws, sanding machines, drill presses, etc). An ergonomic evaluation of the activities in the
machine room identified several risk factors for low back injury for these work activities. Principle among these is the
repetitive bending and twisting required when getting parts from or delivering parts to the shop carts that are used to
transport materials throughout the facility.
A stationary fork lift system was developed whose forks matched the undercarriage profile of the shop carts most
often used in these facilities. As the operator takes away materials from one cart it can be raised and as they take
add parts to the other cart it can be lowered. In this way the operator can maintain a more neutral back posture and
decrease the movement times required.
LABORATORY TESTING
For each trial, the subject picked a piece of wood off a platform and placed it on a table. This task was performed
at 3 different platform heights and the wood piece was placed in 5 different positions at each height. After each
lift/place task was completed, the researcher moved the wood piece and/or platform height before the start of the
next task.
The results of this evaluation show consistent improvements with the introduction of the shop cart lift. This includes
improvement in posture as well as significant changes in the dynamics of the lifting activity. The lift also showed
favorable changes in the movement times required to perform the activity, a productivity benefit that we hope will help
justify the adoption of these interventions.
For more information about ergonomic interventions for the furniture manufacturing industry, please contact:
Dr. Gary Mirka, Professor of Industrial Engineering at North Carolina State University