Evaluation of the Ergonomic Potential of Adaptive Assembly Jigs for Large-Scale Products Using Human Modelling

Abstract The implementation of plug and fly principles for the assembly of high-lift systems requires the design of new work processes and jigs. Conventional jigs are inflexibly and lag of capabilities to adapt for product and process designs. Adaptive jigs provide higher flexibility and allow workers to position the product in accordance with their personal needs. This paper presents a novel wheel-shaped adaptive jig and investigates its influence on the ergonomics of assembling a high-lift system. A CAD program is used to model the high-lift system, the adaptive jig and workers. Based on these models, virtual scenes are generated that can be assessed with the key indicator method. The results show that the adaptive jig design improves ergonomics by eliminating the riskiest tasks during the assembly process. The adaptive jig concept has a high potential for improving production processes because it can respond flexibly to changes in the assembly process as well as to changes in product design.