New Explorer was first manufactured virtually to avoid worker injury - nwitimes.com
CHICAGO | The new 2016 Ford Explorer was made in virtual reality long before it started rolling off the production line in the Chicago Assembly Plant. Ford's ergonomists used virtual manufacturing to simulate every motion workers would make when building the sport-utility vehicle, to ensure they would not suffer any repetitive stress injuries over the long term, Ford Ergonomics Engineer Marty... The company brought workers into a lab for a 23-camera, full-body motion capture system - similar to what is used by professional athletes - so they could record more than 5,000 data points about how assembly line workers move and complete tasks... The data gathered is used to streamline tasks on the assembly line to prevent fatigue, strain and the type of musculoskeletal industries that can happen with repetitive motion. "We refer to our assembly line employees as 'industrial athletes,' due to the physical nature of the job," said Allison Stephens, technical leader for assembly ergonomics at Ford. "They would do it 300 times a day maybe 250 times a year, so they might do the task 750,000 times in a lifetime. Source: www.nwitimes.com
