Development model for sustainable production system in manufacturing firm

Abstract

This paper describes the development model for sustainable production system in manufacturing industry which demonstrates how organizations will achieve the best possible health outcomes and productivity at the same time in the production system. Several peer reviewed articles published in international journal were examined, analyzed and classified whose common aspect was to report ergonomic interventions carried out in the workplace that led to the changes and improvement of productivity and well being of workers. From this reviewed paper, gap was identified that led to the development of sustainable production system. Most of the published study examine only the physical content of the job and determine its effect in the health [1,2] however, workers do his tasks dynamically, which means that physical attributes of the job cannot be considered as independent to the psychosocial and cognitive aspect of the job, each of them are interdependent. Job tasks are to be harmonized with the physical, social, cultural and cognitive variations of the local workers [3]. The realization that Musculoskeletal Disorder(MSDs) are existing in the workplace and that these hampers the production system because of the lost of days work, ergonomic applications are still a neglected discipline in the manufacturing firm because there is limited data and information available in the literature that linked ergonomic applications to productivity. Hence, sustainable production system was coined in the study as it connotes to the achievement of both the sustainable working life and sustainable productivity. With the prevalence of automation in the industries, workers have to cope up with the speed of the machines, and respond to the faster processing of information given to them. The physical work of the workers is now transferring to the machines. However, mentally demanding jobs and automation can create more problems in the future [3]. The rapid work of change today which requires several types of flexibility [3] should also consideroccupational health and safety. Ensuring workers’ health, safety and well being and improving the conditions of work environment and at the same time achieving the productivity target of the organization essentially means contributing to the main thrust of Sustainable Production System