Field study of age-critical assembly processes in the automotive industry

Abstract

The research project focused on the question, whether older employees experience more strain than younger workers when both suffer the same level of stress. For this purpose, two field studies in an automotive supply company and an automotive company were conducted to analyze age-differentiated strain experienced by healthy assembly workers. Subjective and objective data were collected over the entire morning shift of eight hours. These data comprised motion recording, measurement of heart frequency, and several questionnaires. In field study A 23 female workers aged between 27 and 57 years were observed at single workplaces. 31 male workers between 21 and 60 years were monitored in field study B at an assembly line. Based on these well-founded data, it is statable that older assembly workers are not more strained compared to younger ones. Nevertheless, the results show significant differences in assembly times, pulse differences, and questionnaires.