Three Questions with Marty Smets

What are some of the near-future innovations you foresee in ergonomics and workplace safety?

There have been a plethora of innovations targeted toward improving workplace ergonomics in recent years. Wearable technologies have been at the forefront of these conversations. These may include wearable sensors for posture or environmental monitoring, and passive/active exoskeletons for endurance augmentation. Many of these technologies advertise bold claims about the effectiveness at preventing or reducing injury. Although they seem to attract a lot of attention, systematic evaluation of these systems in production environments is critical in understanding their proper fit within an ergonomics wellness program. Many of these technologies tend to be reactive approaches that aim to enhance work that has already been designed.

The UAW-Ford Ergonomics program has always maintained a heavy emphasis on baking good ergonomics into the design process for our assembly processes and workstations. The innovations that will lead to real change in risk reduction involve rethinking the entire manufacturing process, starting from a more human-centric perspective. As automotive manufacturers make the transition from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles toward the electric vehicle (EV) space, we have an opportunity to improve the operator experience throughout the entire assembly process, eliminating many of the postures, forces and reaches that we have traditionally had to manage.

Throughout the design process, advancements in digital tools allow teams to better collaborate and think more holistically about manufacturing engineering and the dynamics of a busy workstation. UAW Ergonomics Experts within our plants receive advanced tools training to manage day-to-day concerns throughout the production lifecycle. In parallel, new ergonomics modeling tools are emerging that allow us to evaluate the entire postural solution space of a single task and evaluate how various task combinations may influence overall risk differently. These are the innovations that will allow our engineering and facility teams to work towards best-in-class risk management.

What new worker safety initiatives are being developed by Ford?

Ford Motor Co. has a strong history of working with university partners to systematically evaluate the benefits of ergonomics methods and technologies. We have pathways that allows us to partner with world class researchers to evaluate strategically beneficial opportunities.

This year, we are executing a project funded by our UAW-Ford National Joint Committee for Health and Safety in partnership with a team of researchers at Virginia Tech to optimize the operator experience around lift assists and hoists. Although they may be viewed as a more traditional approach to load management, they are expensive to deploy and have costly outcomes if they are not well-implemented. This project began with dozens of interviews with hoist designers, ergonomics engineers, process engineers and UAW operators to fully understand the opportunity. Later this year, lab-based data collection will quantify the physical demands of various lift assists strategies and help us improve the design, deployment and ongoing management of these critical assembly tools.

How can a conference such as #AppliedErgo2024 serve to share best practices and fresh ideas in the ergo community?

The Applied Ergonomics Conference has a strong history of bringing together practitioners, vendors and researchers across a wide range of industries. The Ergo Cup is a wonderful way to highlight elegant solutions to shared problems and has always been a conference highlight. These days there are so many ways to stay connected throughout the year through digital social platforms. Leveraging these mediums to maintain a year-round conversation around ergonomics tools, technology and simple everyday solutions would be a great way to keep the discussion going.

For more information about Marty Smets and the other HSPI 2024 keynote speakers, go to the Keynote Speakers page.