PPE | Product and Process Ergonomics

Digitalization creates new technological fundamentals and opportunities in fields such as production, logistics and company organization. It offers a wide range of opportunities for the development and implementation of technological innovation in companies and contributes significantly to transformative and disruptive developments in social and industrial processes.

But how can digital technologies be designed and deployed to improve the productivity, health, satisfaction and safety of people in the workplace? Which unwanted effects of digital technologies can be identified early on, and which steps and strategies can be adopted to counteract them?

In order to assess the potential and impact of new technologies on employees and work processes in companies and to use these technologies in a human-centric way, expertise in industrial engineering and ergonomics is required.

The Product and Process Ergonomics department focuses on the human-centric design and introduction of new technologies and work processes in the context of digital transformation. Core competencies include the analysis and evaluation of process and product ergonomics as well as the evaluation of new types of equipment and technical assistance systems.

In addition to conducting empirical research and evaluation, the department focuses on deriving design recommendations for processes and products, refining and validating ergonomic procedures, and addressing ethical, legal, and social aspects.

A central goal is to enable small and medium-sized enterprises to increase productivity with digital technologies, while simultaneously promoting the health, safety and satisfaction of their employees. In collaboration with partners from research and industry, we develop concepts and tools for successful digital transformation and support transformation processes from a holistic perspective and with a human-centric approach.

Work 4.0

• Transfer of process design principles from Industry 4.0 to other sectors
• Support for the human-centric introduction of new technologies into existing systems of work
• Development and implementation of methods for the identification and assessment of ethical, legal and social risks
   

Industrial engineering

• Identification of potential for process optimization as well as development of suitable analytical methods and design measures
   

Occupational health and safety

• Ergonomic design and evaluation of workplaces
• Development of new methods to support risk assessment
• Stress/strain analyses
• Derivation of work design measures for effective occupational health and safety management