Ergo Research Center Focuses on Auto Manufacturing

May 15th, 2007

Ohio State University’s College of Engineering recently opened a new research center that will explore ergonomic issues in automotive manufacturing that impact worker safety as well as skyrocketing health care costs. The new Center for Occupational Heath in Automotive Manufacturing (COHAM) opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, May 2 at at 1314 Kinnear Road in Columbus, OH.

Equipped with a “real world” manufacturing environment, new production technologies and cutting edge analysis methods, COHAM is focused on developing health risk assessment techniques for the high tech manufacturing critical to Ohio‘s economy. COHAM is the only university-based full scale manufacturing operation in the world where automobile manufacturers as well as suppliers can test the effects of manufacturing systems on the health of workers. This approach will provide quantitative cost-benefit information to manufacturers so they can make production decisions based upon scientific evidence.

“The creation of COHAM breaks new ground in the manufacturing research arena,” Dr. William Marras, director of COHAM, said. “By partnering with auto and manufacturing companies to learn how injuries occur, we can solve problems that will impact worker safety and health care costs, as well as productivity and quality.”

A unique interdisciplinary partnership between several Ohio State departments and a variety of automobile manufacturers and suppliers, COHAM will design assembly tasks and processes that minimize occupational health risks and enhance efficiency. Designed to be a showcase for occupational health research, the Center will also serve as a platform for automobile manufacturing suppliers to demonstrate their new technologies and potential solutions for occupational health.

COHAM will feature several new production technologies, such as overhead car carriers, new tool concepts and adjustable height skillet systems developed to orient the vehicle relative to the worker, in an attempt to reduce musculoskeletal stress. These systems use numerous support functions including tools, rail systems, balancers and carts. Some of these systems have been adopted overseas, but they are expensive; few have made their way into American auto manufacturing environments because little work has been done to optimize the implementation of these devices in a working environment.

Entry Filed under: Everything Else