Essential Manufacturing

28Human Factors in Manufacturing

28.1 Introduction

Manufacturing is about people just as much as it is about technology and organisation. As well as creating products for people to use, manufacturing involves the use of people in the creation process. Some of the factors that relate to these people are considered in this chapter.

Within the manufacturing system people should be able to enjoy their work and carry it out efficiently in a pleasant, healthy and safe environment. Here, we will examine how these criteria are met by looking at the areas of job satisfaction, health and safety and ergonomics, including the work environment.

28.2 Job Satisfaction

Before people can enjoy their work and gain satisfaction from what they are doing they must feel motivated to carry out that work in the first place. In 1943 Abraham Maslow proposed a ‘Theory of Human Motivation’ that included a hierarchy of needs composed of five levels (see Figure 28.1). He said that needs would appear in ascending order only. For example, a physiological need would be the satisfaction of hunger and thirst, and the need for safety would be of secondary importance until these essentials of life had been acquired. In our industrialised societies with advanced economies the physiological needs are usually satisfied for most members of society. Similarly, on a general level, safety needs are satisfied except in specific cases where, for example, war, accidents or criminal acts might occur. The social needs at ...