Most recent papers:

• Gamification's impact on manufacturing: Enhancing job motivation, satisfaction and operational performance with smartphone‐based gamified job design.
  Minyang Liu, Yanqun Huang, Dawei Zhang.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. October 12, 2017
  Gamification is defined as applying game design elements to non‐game contexts. The integration of gamification into the workplace adds a stimulating and captivating game‐like layer to the working experience of employees. This is predicted to improve their positive affect at work and operational performance to a certain extent. With the ubiquity of smartphones and Internet technology, smartphone‐based interactive operations can better facilitate the implementation of gamification in work processes. Against a backdrop of a drastic transformation facing the Chinese equipment manufacturing industry, we gamified a number of  computer numerical control machine operational jobs. A gamified job design framework was proposed, based on the job characteristics model and the game elements hierarchy. To achieve gamification in this context, a smartphone application was designed. We then hypothesized that smartphone‐based gamified job design (SGJD) would enhance participants’ three key indicators, namely, (i) job motivation, (ii) job satisfaction, and (iii) operational performance. We also analyzed how participants’ willingness to embrace gamified job design, known as “consent,” affected the improvement in the three key indicators. The results illustrated that SGJD significantly increased participants’ job motivation, job satisfaction, and operational performance. Furthermore, our experiment showed that consent to SGJD was positively correlated to the improvement in job motivation. However, no significant correlation was observed between consent to SGJD and an improvement in job satisfaction or operational performance.

  October 12, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20723   open full text
• Expected versus experienced neck comfort.
  Joyce M. A. Bouwens, Udo W. Schultheis, Suzanne Hiemstra‐van Mastrigt, Peter Vink.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. October 11, 2017
  There is certainly room for economy‐class travelers to make their trips more pleasant. A travel pillow might improve comfort. In this study, the comfort expectations and experience of travel pillows were examined. Comparing these 2 aspects indicated that it is not always possible to predict the comfort experience associated with a product based on a picture, and that there is a discrepancy between expected and experienced comfort. Experienced comfort is highest for travel pillows that restrict head movements in all directions in order to maintain a neutral posture. The results of this study also support earlier studies that suggested that discomfort experience can be predicted by observing the number of participants’ in‐seat movements; more movements result in higher experienced discomfort.

  October 11, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20721   open full text
• Affective experience of physical user interfaces: Similarities and differences among control types.
  Ilsun Rhiu, Sangwoo Bahn, Chang S. Nam, Myung Hwan Yun.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. September 28, 2017
  This study aims to determine similarities and differences in affective experience when manipulating 3 physical user interfaces (PUIs): button, touch screen, and jog dial inputs. First, we conducted literature and expert reviews to identify key affective experiences of PUI manipulation. As a result, seven affective experiences (Softness, Elasticity, Heaviness, Smoothness, Sharpness, Clarity of Feedback, and Rattle) were identified, and they were categorized into two dimensions (Force and Feedback Vibration). Three experiments, including 51 types of buttons, 25 synthesized stimuli for touch screen, and 51 types of jog dials, were then conducted to determine the relationship between affective experiences, satisfaction, and physical parameters of each PUI. According to the results, it was common for all three PUIs that Clarity of Feedback was the most important factor for satisfaction. However, there were also differences between the effects of affective experiences and physical parameters. User satisfaction on manipulating jog dials was found to be less affected by affective experiences than buttons and touch screens. Among physical parameters, the strength of feedback was the most important factor for the affective experience of buttons and touch screens, whereas the period of feedback was the most important factor for jog dials. These similarities and differences could be explained by cognitive and manipulative factors (e.g., attention level, types of feedback, and hand posture of manipulation). The results of this study can help researchers and practitioners better understand and enhance the affective aspects of PUI manipulations.

  September 28, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20722   open full text
• Dorsal and palmar aspect dimensions of hand anthropometry for designing hand tools and protections.
  M. Vergara, M. J. Agost, V. Gracia‐Ibáñez.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. August 09, 2017
  Most hand anthropometric studies are performed on the palmar aspect, while dimensions of the dorsal aspect are also useful in ergonomics and hand modeling. A survey of hand anthropometrics for a Spanish population (69 females, 70 males) is presented. Landmarks were selected to compare lengths from the dorsal and palmar aspects and to be useful for hand modeling and ergonomics design. Ninety‐nine dimensions of fingers and thumb of the right hand (41 lengths, 32 depths, 26 breadths) were collected, including thumb breadths and depths. Descriptive statistics of all the dimensions are presented. Lengths were measured from both dorsal and palmar aspects and paired lengths compared through t‐tests. Significant differences were found in almost all the lengths, showing that databases should explicitly state the aspect (dorsal or palmar) where dimensions have been measured. The data provided are useful for designing tools and hand protections and developing hand models more accurately.

  August 09, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20714   open full text
• Competency‐based IT personnel selection using a hybrid SWARA and ARAS‐G methodology.
  Jalil Heidary Dahooie, Elham Beheshti Jazan Abadi, Amir Salar Vanaki, Hamid Reza Firoozfar.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. August 03, 2017
  In the knowledge economy, human capital is a key factor in any organization to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Thus, selection of competent personnel is the most important function of human resource managers. However, because of a wide range of criteria and organizational factors that affect the process, personnel selection is often regarded as a complex problem that can be answered through multicriteria decision‐making (MCDM) procedures. Despite the great importance of determining a comprehensive set of criteria, it has not gained enough attention in the literature. This study presents a competency framework with five criteria for choosing the best information technology (IT) expert from five alternatives. The stepwise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) and grey additive ratio assessment (ARAS‐G) methods are also used to derive the criteria weights and provide the final alternative, respectively. The results reveal that subject competency is the major criteria in IT personnel selection.

  August 03, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20713   open full text
• Identifying and analyzing critical factors impacting on passenger comfort employing a hybrid model.
  Jing Liu, Suihuai Yu, Jianjie Chu, Bingchen Gou.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. August 01, 2017
  With the increase in air travel, comfort is becoming an important issue with which airlines differentiate themselves in a competitive market. Passengers are paying more attention to their comfort experience during flights. However, passenger comfort is affected by various factors that result from the complex cabin system. Besides, the factors have interrelations between one another. How to identify the key factors and comb through their interrelations to improve passenger comfort efficiently is a critical problem in cabin design. To solve this problem, a hybrid model is proposed to identify the key factors and discuss the interrelation between them based on the questionnaire data. First, factor analysis is conducted to segment complex influencing factors into groups and to extract the most important factors. Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method and fuzzy set theory are combined in the next analysis, considering both the interrelation between factors and the fuzziness of subjective comfort perception concurrently. It forms a structural model and then visualizes the causal relationships among factors through a causal diagram. The results of an empirical study show that the proposed model is capable of identifying the critical factors that affect passenger comfort effectively and could offer a priority of factors to improve passenger comfort.

  August 01, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20712   open full text
• Accident analysis of gas cylinder handling work based on occupational injuries data.
  Jeong Nam Kim, Byung Yong Jeong, Myoung Hwan Park.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. July 20, 2017
  This study is concerned with the characteristics of occupational injuries and sick leave for gas cylinder handling workers. Possible incidents and sick leave have been identified and analyzed for 223 occupational accidents in the gas cylinder handling work. Management level of accidents for prioritizing prevention measures is induced for the combination of accident agencies, types, and gas cylinder handling work processes. Accidents occurring during the specific gas cylinder handling work process showed different characteristics, depending on the type and agency of the accident. Most critical accidents that require corrective actions for prevention were slips and trips caused by floors, walkways, steps, or ground surfaces and overexertion and bodily reaction and posture caused by gas cylinder in the manual delivery of heavy cylinders process. Also, fall to lower level caused by floors, walkways, steps, or ground surfaces in the loading to and unloading from vehicles process and struck by or against caused by fixtures in the manual delivery of heavy cylinders process were also ranked high. The findings of this study can be used to develop more effective accident prevention policies to reduce occupational accidents in gas cylinder handling works.

  July 20, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20711   open full text
• Sustained lean transformation of working conditions: A Swedish longitudinal case study.
  Malin Håkansson, Lotta Dellve, Måns Waldenström, Richard J. Holden.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. July 17, 2017
  Studies of lean production's effect on working conditions are mixed but point toward worsened conditions. The aim of this longitudinal study was to assess how lean contributes to transforming work characteristics in a medium‐sized specialized industrial family business. A mixed methods approach was used to combine an external assessment of work characteristics with self‐reported employee questionnaires. Favorable psychosocial working conditions were indicated, with role conflicts decreasing over time. The assessment of work provided descriptions of how lean practices contributed to decreased task control due to standardized work and simplified work processes. At the same time, employees still had opportunities to influence their long‐term work assignment. There was also a trend toward job enlargement through new, higher‐skilled tasks, multiskilling, and extended opportunities to influence work through different continuous improvement activities. The participative lean approach and type of skilled jobs may have contributed to this transformation.

  July 17, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20710   open full text
• Using event related potentials to investigate visual aesthetic perception of product appearance.
  Yi Ding, Fu Guo, Mingcai Hu, Yaqin Cao.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 28, 2017
  Visual aesthetic directly affects the user's purchase decision and results from the user's analysis and judgment after perceiving product appearance. Therefore, understanding the neural mechanisms of visual experience is critical for product design. This study combined subjective evaluation with ERPs (event‐related potentials) to investigate the user's aesthetic experience as evoked by smartphones. A visual aesthetic scale was constructed, and the results from the questionnaire were used to verify the reliability of the aesthetic scale. Before the ERPs experiment was constructed, smartphones were divided into higher visual aesthetic and lower visual aesthetic based on subjective evaluation according to the aesthetic scale. An amended oddball paradigm was then used in the ERPs experiment. Landscapes were presented as rare targets, while smartphone pictures were presented as frequent nontarget stimuli. The ERPs were then averaged separately for each aesthetic type. Two negative components were recorded and compared with respect to two aesthetic types on the participants’ prefrontal, frontal, and central sites. The smartphone pictures with lower scores of visual aesthetic elicited larger amplitudes of N100/N200 than those with higher scores according to the within‐subjects, repeated‐measures analysis of variance. The exploring of neural responses correlated with visual aesthetic can provide an accurate method of measuring the user's perception and can help marketers know which product gives the user a higher visual aesthetic experience. The difference of ERPs may be taken as an evaluating indicator of product design.

  June 28, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20704   open full text
• Development of thumb endurance curves associated with various exertion levels.
  Kyeong‐Hee Choi, Sung‐Yong Lee, Jun‐Hyub Lee, Yong‐Ku Kong.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 23, 2017
  Tasks involving the thumbs of workers are frequently carried out at industrial sites or in laboratories. This study measured thumb endurance time according to relative force levels in males and females. The experiment in this study involved 30 healthy participants (15 males and 15 females). Maximum thumb pressing force (MTPF) was measured and thumb endurance curves were developed using the measured thumb endurance time of participants’ dominant hand according to various force levels (10, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100% MTPF). On the basis of the results, females demonstrated greater endurance time than males at 20% MTPF, and statistically significant differences according to gender are not shown at MTPF levels of 40% or higher. A rapid increase in endurance time was observed at low force levels. The findings of this study are expected to facilitate the establishment of appropriate working levels for the thumbs of workers in order to optimize work design. In this study, the effects of gender and target force level on thumb endurance time performance were evaluated. The findings of this study could provide valuable information for developing ergonomic guidelines of thumb pressing force tasks for the workers.

  June 23, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20708   open full text
• The effects of multiple firefighting activities on information processing and work performance in a smoke‐diving room: An intervention study.
  Rasoul Hemmatjo, Majid Motamedzade, Mohsen Aliabadi, Omid Kalatpour, Maryam Farhadian.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 21, 2017
  Firefighters perform various tasks during firefighting operations under unknown and unpredictable conditions. The present study investigated the impact of firefighting activities and cooling tactics on information processing and work performance. Firefighters performed typical firefighting tasks in the four experimental conditions, namely i) no cooling device (NC), ii) cooling gel (CG), iii) cool vest (CV), and iv) cooling gel and cool vest (CG + CV). The measurement of information processing, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) scores decreased significantly after the firefighting activities in the four conditions, relative to baseline. The results revealed no significant difference in PASAT scores among the four conditions. However, the performance time (PT) was significantly shorter for the CV and CG + CV compared to the NC and CG conditions. The findings confirmed that the firefighting activities have a detrimental effect on information processing. The CG + CV and CV were more effective than CG and NC in improving PT during firefighting. However, the cooling strategies have a negligible effect on improving information processing performance.

  June 21, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20709   open full text
• A service recovery method to enhance customer satisfaction with a case study of motion sport game.
  Ming‐Chuan Chiu, Yi‐Jie Chang.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 19, 2017
  Service recovery is a concept that involves regaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. Although existing studies have addressed its importance, few service recovery methodologies have been developed. Thus, there is a need to develop a systematic framework that can first detect customer status and then provide appropriate recovery recommendations to ensure customer satisfaction. This study develops such a framework in relation to an individual health maintenance practice. While regular moderate exercise is known to promote good health and help prevent disease, the lack of exercise remains a crucial health issue. This study presents a logistic regression model that uses both physiological data (heart rate and blood pressure) and psychological data (ratings of perceived exertion) to detect the effectiveness of an individual's exercise and to provide sports‐related service recovery suggestions as needed. To implement and assess this service recovery model, the use of a motion gaming system is proposed.

  June 19, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20705   open full text
• Effect of local wrist muscle fatigue on multiple assembly‐related psychomotor skills.
  Liuxing Tsao, Liang Ma, Luoru Wang.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 13, 2017
  Human operators are still a vital resource in modern manufacturing systems, especially for fine assembly tasks. Declining muscle strength due to physical tasks can impair psychomotor skills and can cause adverse effects on assembly quality. To understand how local muscle fatigue can influence multiple psychomotor skills, 20 subjects participated in an experiment in which four psychomotor tests were performed to mimic fine assembly tasks, and their performances under nonfatigued wrist and fatigued wrist conditions were compared. Results showed that wrist fatigue caused significant decrements in the dexterity of fingers and fingertips, but there was no significant influence on arm‐hand steadiness. Local muscle fatigue impairs psychomotor skills to different extents but does not necessarily lead to lower performance. Humans are capable of coordinating motion units to compensate for the influence of muscle fatigue, but this is rather limited. It is suggested that in assembly operations, tasks should be arranged according to different task demands on diverse psychomotor skills.

  June 13, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20707   open full text
• Development of ergonomic gun barrel cleaning method: Automation and its advantages.
  Kyung Hyun Nam, Songil Lee, Gyouhyung Kyung, Jihwan An, Sangjin An.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 13, 2017
  The aims of this study were to assess postural risks associated with the current gun barrel cleaning method and to develop an ergonomic gun barrel cleaning method that could reduce such risks. The inner surfaces of gun barrels should be cleaned after use to maintain their firing function. The current method of cleaning gun barrels requires multiple soldiers to push and pull a long cleaning pole for 1–3 hr. Such motions require both hands to be raised to shoulder height. The current manual method and a newly designed automated method were compared in terms of safety and effectiveness. Postural risk assessments were performed using OWAS, RULA, and REBA. Results: The manual cleaning method involves the highest postural risk level (Action Category/Level 4), requiring immediate intervention, and exposes multiple soldiers to life‐threatening situations for a longer time during wartime. The postural risk associated with using the automated cleaning system was much lower (Action Category/Level 2). Once loaded into the gun barrel by a single soldier, the automated system takes approximately 20 min to complete cleaning. The automated cleaning method reduces musculoskeletal disorder risks associated with cleaning gun barrels and increases military power. The automated gun barrel cleaning method is an ergonomic solution that can be used for cleaning gun barrels within a short time without exposing soldiers to postural risks.

  June 13, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20706   open full text
• Effects of three‐dimensional virtual reality and traditional training methods on mental workload and training performance.
  Chin‐Jung Chao, Sheng‐Yu Wu, Yi‐Jan Yau, Weng‐Yan Feng, Feng‐Yi Tseng.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 24, 2017
  Industries will implement effective training programs to improve training performance, and an ideal training performance occurs under proper mental workload (MWL). Virtual reality (VR) has recently been widely utilized in training; however, only a few studies have investigated its effects on MWL and training performance simultaneously. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of VR training and traditional training methods, such as technical manuals (TM) and multimedia films (MF), on training performance and MWL. The results of the performance measurement show that VR training is considered the best training method compared to TM and MF, particularly in the case of complex tasks. The results of physiological measurements (GSR [galvanic skin response], LF% [low frequency], and LF/HF [high frequency] ratio) show a significant difference between reading TM and using computer (MF and VR), wherein the latter has a lower MWL. However, no significant difference in subjective MWL assessment (NASA‐TLX [task load index]) and HF% measurement is found.

  May 24, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20702   open full text
• Effects of movement speed and predictability in human–robot collaboration.
  Markus Koppenborg, Peter Nickel, Birgit Naber, Andy Lungfiel, Michael Huelke.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 24, 2017
  Human–robot collaboration (HRC) is characterized by a spatiotemporal overlap between the workspaces of the human and the robot and has become a viable option in manufacturing and other industries. However, for companies considering employing HRC it remains unclear how best to configure such a setup, because empirical evidence on human factors requirements remains inconclusive. As robots execute movements at high levels of automation, they adapt their speed and movement path to situational demands. This study therefore experimentally investigated the effects of movement speed and path predictability of an industrial collaborating robot on the human operator. Participants completed tasks together with a robot in an industrial workplace simulated in virtual reality. A lower level of predictability was associated with a loss in task performance, while faster movements resulted in higher‐rated values for task load and anxiety, indicating demands on the operator exceeding the optimum. Implications for productivity and safety and possible advancements in HRC workplaces are discussed.

  May 24, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20703   open full text
• Estimating electromyography responses using an adaptive neuro‐fuzzy inference system with subtractive clustering.
  Erman Çakıt, Waldemar Karwowski.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. April 28, 2017
  This study aimed to develop an adaptive neuro‐fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) approach to estimate the normalized electromyography (NEMG) responses, where the independent variables are demographic variables including population, gender, ethnicity, age, height, weight, posture, and muscle groups. The study groups comprised 75 US‐based (54 males and 21 females) and 10 Japan‐based (all males) automobile assembly workers. A total of 65 inputs and 1 output reflecting the NEMG values were considered at the beginning. After correlating analysis results, a total of 35 significant predictors were considered for both ANFIS and regression models. The data were partitioned into two datasets, one for training (70% of all data) and one for validation (30% of all data). In addition to a soft‐computing approach, a multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis was also performed to evaluate whether or not the ANFIS approach showed superior predictive performance compared to a classical statistical approach. According to the performance comparison, ANFIS had better predictive accuracy than MLR, as demonstrated by the experimental results. Overall, this study demonstrates that the ANFIS approach can predict normalized EMG responses according to subjects’ demographic variables, posture, and muscle groups.

  April 28, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20701   open full text
• Low back pain in farmers: The association with agricultural work management, disability, and quality of life in Korean farmers.
  Hannae Jo, Hee‐won Park, Sora Baek, Eun Kyoung Kang.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. March 30, 2017
  This study aimed to identify the associations among low back pain (LBP), LBP‐related disability, agricultural working condition management, and quality of life (QOL) in Korean farmers. Demographic information, agricultural work management, and outcomes of LBP were obtained by standardized questionnaires (Oswestry Disability Index [ODI] for disability and European Quality of Life‐5 Dimensions‐3‐Level version [EQ‐5D‐3L] for QOL). Presence of LBP was determined if the LBP had lasted longer than 1 week or had been more frequent than once a month, and presence of LBP‐related disability was determined if the ODI score was more than 12. Poor health checkups (OR [odds ratio] = 1.70–86, p < .05), were positively associated with LBP, and working at dawn (OR = 1.85–1.96, p < .05), was positively associated with LBP‐related disability after adjusting related demographic factors. EQ‐5D‐3L indexes were significantly lower in participants with LBP (0.83 ± 0.17 vs. 0.92 ± 0.06, p < .001) and disability (0.81 ± 0.18 vs. 0.93 ± 0.05, p < .001). This study showed that the presence of LBP was related to poor health checkups and that LBP‐related disability was related to a poor working time schedule. These results indicate poor QOL and suggest the need for coping strategies such as regular health checkups and a proper working time schedule.

  March 30, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20699   open full text
• Effect of participant physiques on increases in shank circumference for the two prolonged standing conditions.
  Yi‐Lang Chen, Bing‐Ze Wu, Ding‐Hau Huang.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. March 30, 2017
  This study examined the effect of participant physique on the increase in shank circumference (ISC) for the 2‐hr standing. We recruited 20 healthy male participants (10 with normal body mass index (BMI) and 10 who were overweight) and examined their ISC every 20 min under two prolonged standing conditions (static and intermittent standing). Results showed that prolonged standing types, physiques, and sustained time significantly influence the ISC. The ISC during intermittent standing (mean = 0.38 cm) was significantly lower than that observed during static standing (mean = 0.52cm). That is, 1 min of relaxation after every 20 min of standing can effectively relieve the load on the participants’ shank during standing. The normal (BMI = 21.9) group exhibited a significantly higher ISC than the overweight group (BMI = 26.5) did. This increase was also reflected in the subjective discomfort rating results. The standing type may be more dominant than the worker's physique on the lower‐limb loading when performing prolonged standing tasks.

  March 30, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20700   open full text
• Risk assessment of parking lot management based on occupational injuries data.
  Byung Yong Jeong, Myoung Hwan Park.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. March 21, 2017
  This study is concerned with the characteristics of occupational injuries and sick leaves for the workers doing parking lot management. Possible incidents and sick leaves have been identified and analyzed for 470 occupational accidents in the parking lot management process. Management level of accidents for prioritizing prevention measures is induced for the combination of the accident types and parking lot management processes. Accidents occurring during the specific parking lot management process showed different characteristics, depending on the type of accident and agency of accident. Most critical accidents that required corrective actions for prevention were being struck by an object in the “guide” process and slipping in the “valet parking” process. And, possible incidents predicted also as high level of management were slips in the “fee collection” and “cleaning” processes and falls to lower level in the “operating lift” and “repair” processes. Also, traffic accidents in the “guide” process, overexertion and bodily reaction and posture in the “patrol” process were ranked ‘high. The findings of this study can be used to develop more effective accident prevention policies to reduce occupational accidents in parking lot management.

  March 21, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20698   open full text
• Comparison of a semiautomatic protocol using plastering and three‐dimensional scanning techniques with the direct measurement protocol for hand anthropometry.
  Wonsup Lee, Xiaopeng Yang, Sunghye Yoon, Baekhee Lee, Eunjin Jeon, Heeeun Kim, Heecheon You.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. March 21, 2017
  This study aimed to compare a three‐dimensional (3D) semiautomatic measurement protocol (3D‐SAMP) that measures hand dimensions using a plaster hand and a 3D scanner with the conventional direct measurement protocol (DMP). An experiment was conducted to measure 52 dimensions of one hand by 20 measurers with three repetitions. The locations of landmarks attached to the plaster hand were automatically identified and then measurements of the hand dimensions were automatically extracted in the 3D‐SAMP. Significant measurement differences with a range of 2.1 to 4.4 mm between the 3D‐SAMP and the DMP were observed in 13 out of the 52 dimensions, and the 3D‐SAMP showed better reliability than the DMP in terms of intra‐ and intermeasurer variability. The 3D‐SAMP was found significantly faster and easier in hand measurement than the DMP (11.1 ± 3.5 min for 3D‐SAMP and 17.8 ± 4.5 min for DMP; 5.2 ± 0.8 for 3D‐SAMP and 4.3 ± 0.8 for DMP using a 7‐point scale with 1 for very dissatisfied and 7 for very satisfied for ease of measurement) when fabrication (about 1 hr 10 min) and scanning (3 min) of a plaster hand were not considered. The proposed 3D‐SAMP is applicable only to plaster hands available in hand measurement.

  March 21, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20697   open full text
• Modeling the influence of individual and employment factors on musculoskeletal disorders in fabrication industry.
  Mahesa. R. R, M. N. Vinodkumar, V. Neethu.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. March 07, 2017
  This study was designed to identify the individual and employment factors that influence highly frequent, less severe self‐reported musculoskeletal disorder pain incidences among welders. A self‐reporting questionnaire to measure two individual factors (age and experience), six employment factors (physical workload, working hours, shift work, nature of employment, mode of apprenticeship training, and association with present employer), along with a modified Nordic questionnaire response sheet was used to collect data. The survey was conducted among welders employed in a fabrication cluster in a southern part of India. A total of 987 completed questionnaires (response rate: 66%) were analyzed using the SPSS program. The analysis showed that two employment factors, “shift work” and “mode of apprenticeship training” significantly influence self‐reported musculoskeletal disorder pain. The mode of apprenticeship training was found to influence musculoskeletal disorder pain in the neck region for annual prevalence and causes annual disability in neck and upper back regions. Similarly, shift work was found to influence musculoskeletal disorder pain in the shoulder and neck regions for weekly and annual prevalence and causes annual disability in shoulder, wrist/hands, upper back, and hip/thigh/buttock regions among welders. These factors can be considered as points for targeting intervention efforts.

  March 07, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20696   open full text
• Modeling and solving assembly line design problems by considering human factors with a real‐life application.
  Adil Baykasoglu, Seren Ozmehmet Tasan, Ali Serdar Tasan, Sebnem Demirkol Akyol.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. February 07, 2017
  Ergonomics has been playing an important role in assembly system design (ASD) that contains not only the main assembly line balancing problem but also the subassembly line balancing and assembly layout problem. The ergonomics in ASD has an impact both on productivity and on workers’ health, especially when frequent changes in the product mix occur. In this study, we propose a systematic approach in order to handle ASD, which consists of three subproblems, while considering ergonomic risk factors. The first two subproblems are solved simultaneously using the proposed rule‐based constructive search algorithm, where ergonomic risks are evaluated by OCRA method. Later, layout problem is solved under transportation constraints using local search methods with various neighborhood structures. To provide the applicability and evaluate the performance of the proposed systematic approach, a real‐life case study in a harness manufacturing company is solved and prototype productions are performed.

  February 07, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20695   open full text
• Stroke effect on legibility of Japanese characters.
  Dengchuan Cai.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. January 24, 2017
  This study applied a computer program to analyze the descriptors of Japanese characters, including 56 Hiragana, 56 Katakana, and 98 Kanji characters. An experiment was designed to test the legibility of these characters by 40 Japanese students studying in university. Subjects were asked to identify characters displayed in the screen center, shown initially at an illegible size and gradually enlarged until the subject recognized them. The results illustrated that the Hiragana characters were more legible than the Katakana, and the Katakana characters were more legible than the Kanji. Although the legibility thresholds were increased with the number of strokes in these three kinds of Japanese characters, the effects of the number of strokes on legibility among them were different. Increasing one stroke in a Kanji character would necessitate a 0.4‐arcminute enlargement to maintain legibility, whereas no linear stroke effect was found in Hiragana and Katakana characters. This may because of the features of stroke of Hiragana and Katakana are quite different from that of Kanji. Furthermore, for Hiragana and Katakana, adding a semivoiced consonant sign ‘o’ to a common character would necessitate a 7‐arcminute enlargement to maintain legibility and adding a voiced consonant sign ‘ ” ’ to a common character would necessitate a 10.3‐arcminute enlargement to maintain legibility. The results can be used as reference for information and interface design.

  January 24, 2017   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20694   open full text
• Effective human utilization in an original equipment manufacturing (OEM) industry by the implementation of agile manufacturing: A POLCA approach.
  C. Ajay Guru Dev, V. S. Senthil Kumar, G. Rajesh.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. December 05, 2016
  Agile manufacturing (AM) has been recognized as an international strategy for improving industrial competitiveness. Agility refers to the ability of an organization to adapt to changes within its environment and to utilize them for earning profit and constituting a major item of expense for any organization, having a palpable effect on its profitability. Manpower utilization is considered as one of the important attributes affecting the organization's ability to be agile. In other words, an effective manpower utilization in any agile environment can reduce the workload and enhance the profitability of any organization. The efficiency of any agile organization lies in improved production, through the utilization of a smaller workforce without impacting on its work‐life balance. Thus, this research is focused on ensuring minimum manpower utilization on the machine shop floor of an Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) industry by implementing the Paired‐cell Overlapping Loops of Card with Authorization (POLCA) approach. Effective manpower utilization is an important aspect requiring focus in all areas relating to manufacture. However, POLCA, despite being a powerful and multiapplicative tool for AM, has still not been used by researchers for effective manpower utilization. This article takes initiative in this area.

  December 05, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20692   open full text
• Ground reaction force and required friction during stair ascent and descent.
  Kai Way Li, Szu‐Yin Huang, Wen‐Hsin Chiu.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. November 10, 2016
  A stair climbing experiment was performed using a four‐stair instrumented stairway. A force platform was mounted in the first stair. Four floor surfaces, including the original force platform surface and three additional floor coverings on the platform, were tested. Human subjects wore the same type of lab shoes and ascended and descended the stairway. Their ground reaction forces were collected. The results showed that when descending, the double‐stair condition resulted in significant (p < .0001) higher vertical ground reaction force at foot landing as compared to the single‐stair condition. The vertical ground reaction force at foot push‐off for stair ascent were significantly (p < .0001) higher than those for stair descent. The mean required coefficient of friction ranged from 0.086 to 0.245 and from 0.051 to 0.246 for foot landing and foot push‐off spots, respectively. Stair descent required significant (p < .001) higher friction than stair ascent both at foot landing and push‐off. Double‐stair stepping required higher friction than single‐stair stepping. Stair descent should be of primary concern in assessing the risk of slip‐ and fall‐related incidents on stairway, and double‐stair descent should be avoided.

  November 10, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20691   open full text
• Combinatorial optimization of resilience engineering and organizational factors in a gas refinery by a unique mathematical programming approach.
  A. Azadeh, V. Salehi, M. Mirzayi, E. Roudi.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. November 09, 2016
  This study is an attempt to evaluate the mutual impacts of resilience engineering (RE) and managerial and organizational factors in a large gas refinery. RE is a paradigm for safety management that focuses on how to help people cope with complexity under pressure to achieve success. The data obtained from questionnaire are analyzed by statistical methods and data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. The results of Cronbach's alpha test show that the data are reliable. The results of DEA demonstrate that learning and flexibility among all RE factors have the greatest impact on managerial and organizational factors. In addition, the organizational factors have a greater influence on RE in comparison with managerial factors. Spearman's test was used to verify the results of this study. This is the first study that identifies the most important factors of integrated managerial and organizational factors and RE through a unique mathematical programming approach in a gas refinery.

  November 09, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20690   open full text
• A hybrid consumer‐oriented model for product affective design: An aspect of visual ergonomics.
  Yang‐Cheng Lin, Chun‐Chun Wei.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. September 29, 2016
  Crucial issues for product designers include how to capture consumers’ attention, evoke their pleasurable preferences, and affect their purchase decisions. In this article, we focus on consumers’ affective preferences in relation to visual ergonomics to propose a new hybrid consumer‐oriented model using gray relational analysis (GRA), gray prediction (GP), and the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The GRA is used to identify the most influential elements of the product form to help product designers focus their attention more on these elements without compromising the predictive performance. The GP is used in conjunction with the GRA to obtain a better structure for the hybrid consumer‐oriented model, and TOPSIS is performed to determine the optimal alternatives for best matching consumers’ affective preferences. These experimental results show that the new hybrid consumer‐oriented model incorporated with the CAD/CAM system can facilitate the product affective design process.

  September 29, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20403   open full text
• Placement of a touchpad and click‐buttons to relieve arm fatigue and discomfort in a laptop PC.
  Seung Jo Han, Sun‐Uk Kim.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. September 22, 2016
  We investigated the muscle fatigue and degree of discomfort for seven combinations of positions in a touchpad and two click‐buttons (one hand: center, midright, and right in position of touchpad and buttons; two hands: all centered, centered touchpad and left buttons, right touchpad and centered buttons, and right touchpad and left buttons) while using a laptop PC. Sixteen subjects participated in tasks involving the operation of a touchpad and two click‐buttons. The muscle fatigue was evaluated by applying median frequency electromyography (EMG) for 5 minutes to the subjects while they were performing each task, and the overall degree of discomfort was measured by fuzzy logic questions after the completion of each condition. When using only one hand, the right position resulted in the lowest muscle fatigue and degree of discomfort in comparison with the other conditions (p < .05). When using two hands, the right placement of the touchpad and the left one of the buttons showed the lowest results in both the muscle fatigue and degree of discomfort (p < .05). On the other hand, the traditional centered locations in the case of both one hand and two hands were the most disadvantageous for the shoulder and wrist. The results indicate that the traditional location of the touchpad and click‐buttons in the center induced abduction in both the shoulder and the wrist, which was expressed as an increase in muscle fatigue and overall discomfort. Therefore, developing a configuration in which it is possible to adjust the positions of the touchpad and buttons based on the user's preference is required.

  September 22, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20410   open full text
• The mediating effect of rewarding on the relationship between employee involvement and job satisfaction.
  Cahit Ali Bayraktar, Ozlem Araci, Gaye Karacay, Fethi Calisir.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. September 22, 2016
  Employee support provides enormous benefits to help sustain a competitive advantage, respond to changes more quickly than competitors, and position the organization ahead of others. Awareness of this fact triggers organizations to prepare new motivational programs and practices. Employee involvement and rewards are among the many ways to achieve employee job satisfaction and motivational needs. Employee involvement entails giving employees an opportunity to influence decisions and actions regarding their jobs. Furthermore, rewards have the potential to prompt employees to act in line with organizational goals. This study aims to examine the relationship between employee involvement and job satisfaction based on the mediation effect of rewarding. Four hundred employees from the financial sector responded to a questionnaire. The relationship between employee involvement and job satisfaction was tested using hierarchical linear regression analysis. Results revealed that rewarding does mediate the relationship between employee involvement and job satisfaction. Organizations that give priority to employee needs and motivational processes should take both employee involvement and rewarding into consideration.

  September 22, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20683   open full text
• Design and validation of a knowledge map system—the case of construction industry in Taiwan.
  kuo‐Wei Lee, Kang‐Li Wu, Hsing‐Ping Kuo, Pen‐Li Yuan.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. September 19, 2016
  Knowledge map systems (KMSs) have recently received widespread attention. A review of the literature shows that relatively few studies explicitly address the issues of implementation and user evaluation of the system and are limited in application. In view of this dilemma, this study aims to integrate the key features of knowledge assets maps, knowledge sources maps, knowledge structure maps, and knowledge task maps in order to develop an operational KMS. Also, the technology acceptance model was used as the theoretical basis for the assessment of user acceptance of the system, which is validated using structural equation modeling. In terms of user acceptance assessment, our empirical results shows that the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use will positively affect user attitude toward the proposed KMS. Also, our results suggest that social defense negatively moderates the effect of attitude toward the system on behavior intention. Furthermore, we found that the management system also positively moderates the effect of attitude toward the system on behavior intention. On the basis of theoretical evaluation and empirical investigation, we hope that the proposed construction of a knowledge system can serve as references for both academic and related practical fields.

  September 19, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20409   open full text
• What Matters the Most? The Key Factors That Lead to a New Service Adoption.
  Jun Yang, Jungkun Park, Seiji Endo.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. September 12, 2016
  On the basis of data collected from an online survey, we used regression analysis to empirically identify the key factors leading to consumers’ adoption intentions toward a new service, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in the United States. This study makes the following contributions to the literature: 1) Our results suggest that the influence of strong ties (i.e., family and friends) has a more significant impact on consumers’ adoption intentions for a new service than that from weak ties. 2) We also find that, for a really new product/service category, such as VoIP service, consumers’ trust toward technology (or the product category itself) matters more than their trust toward the sponsoring company. 3) Consumers’ trust also has a moderating impact on perceived performance and perceived effort level. 

  September 12, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20407   open full text
• Incorporating Tactile Cues into Human‐Centered Virtual Product Design.
  H. Onan Demirel, Vincent G. Duffy.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. September 12, 2016
  This study introduces a high‐fidelity tactile feedback mechanism to capture ergonomics attributes of users inside virtual product development cycle. The research question posed regards whether the tactile feedback mechanism in virtual experiment proposes high fidelity of ergonomics results when compared to physical experiment outcomes. This question was evaluated through an objective and a subjective study. Objective study was composed of an ergonomics product assessment experiment, where two different cart designs (a commercial cart and a prototype model) were evaluated for ergonomic adequacy (L4/L5 compression forces). Subjective evaluation was consisted of a questionnaire to assess subjects' preferences regarding which cart model they preferred in three different design categories; maneuverability, accessibility, and ergonomics. Results showed that tactile feedback mechanism was able to replicate the physical test conditions in virtual environment with high fidelity, and prototype cart model received higher mean ratings when compared to commercial cart model in each design category.

  September 12, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20402   open full text
• Comparison of national e‐health implementation in the United States and South Korea.
  Kyungdoh Kim, Hyesung Seok, Robert W. Proctor.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. September 08, 2016
  With the development of the health care industry, there has been growing recognition that e‐health implementation is needed to improve the efficiency, quality, and safety of care. In addition, a review of previous studies suggests that much can be learned by investigating the difference in national e‐health implementation in the United States and in South Korea. To this end, the main objective of this article is to compare the national e‐health implementation in the case of the United States and South Korea. The results show that in the United States a decentralized e‐health implementation is being followed by individual‐level e‐health. South Korea is pursuing ubiquitous health (u‐health) after a hospital information system and electronic health were implemented. The United States still lags behind many other countries in the implementation of e‐health, possibly due to its low uncertainty avoidance culture. South Korea has been among the frontrunner groups in e‐health implementation as a consequence of its highly developed telecommunication infrastructures and high uncertainty avoidance culture. On the basis of these results, we recommend that establishing health care policies be done on a national scale that takes into account the countries’ cultures.

  September 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20408   open full text
• Maintenance Scheduling Optimization in a Multiple Production Line Considering Human Error.
  M. Sheikhalishahi, A. Azadeh, L. Pintelon, P. Chemweno, S. F. Ghaderi.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. August 08, 2016
  An analytical multiobjective maintenance planning model that maximizes reliability while minimizing cost and human error is proposed. In order to incorporate human error, the model minimizes the maximum human error over the planning horizon. Human Error Assessment and Reduction Technique (HEART) is used to quantify the human error. Maintenance activities include adjustment and replacement activities, in which each of them consumes a certain amount of human resource, spare parts, and budget and brings about a specified level of reliability and human error. Economic dependence is also considered, in which grouping maintenance activities reduces total cost. However, this may increase human error probability due to operator fatigue or time pressure. The main purpose is to investigate the relationship between human factors and maintenance activities to find the preferred maintenance plan. A multiple production line is considered as a case study. A sensitivity analysis is performed, and the effects of grouping and human factors on the preferred maintenance plan are discussed. It is shown how human proficiency may affect reliability and cost.

  August 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20405   open full text
• Establishing the Usability of a Virtual Training System for Assembly Operations within the Automotive Industry.
  A. Langley, G. Lawson, S. Hermawati, M. D'Cruz, J. Apold, F. Arlt, K. Mura.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. August 08, 2016
  Virtual training systems deliver training within a virtual environment (VE) using virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) technologies. However, to be fully accepted as a valid tool for training within the automotive industry, evidence is required on the ability of these systems to deliver effective and efficient training to the relevant users. This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of the first prototype of the virtual training system (VTS) developed within the VISTRA (Virtual Simulation and Training of Assembly and Service Processes in Digital Factories) project (FP7‐ICT‐285176), using real end users from the OPEL automotive plant in Rüsselsheim, Germany. Two separate and independent studies were employed that used objective and subjective methods of investigation to establish performance and usability measures. The objective results show that virtual training was effective in reducing error during task performance when compared to traditional training. The subjective results concluded that the opinions of the participants were mainly positive concerning the overall use of the VTS for assembly operation training; however, a number of issues were highlighted and reported to the developers for further advancement of the system.

  August 08, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20406   open full text
• Psychophysical Demands and Perceived Workload—An Ergonomics Standpoint for Lean Production in Assembly Cells.
  Marcelo Pereira da Silva, Guilherme Luz Tortorella, Fernando Gonçalves Amaral.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. July 29, 2016
  The adoption of a lean production model means a systematic implementation of various management methods and practices. Such a model presents the human element as a key factor in continuous improvement efforts, influencing workers’ job content and the quality of work. However, there are few evidences regarding research on quantitative assessment of the work demand, either psychological or physical, in a lean production environment. Therefore, this study aims to analyze from an ergonomics perspective the psychophysical demand and workers’ perceived workload within assembly cells undergoing a lean production implementation. The proposed method integrates complementary concepts of widely known techniques, enabling the consolidation of several assessment criteria into one particular index for both psychological and physical demands. Such a diagnostic method is illustrated in a case study from the automotive parts manufacturing sector, whose application is performed in three critical assembly cells selected by senior management. Our findings show systemic gaps between work demand and employees’ profile, indicating improvement opportunities in order to provide a better work environment.

  July 29, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20404   open full text
• Product‐to‐Service Extension: The Impact of Brand Equity on Upscaled Service.
  Jiseon Ahn, Jungkun Park.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. July 25, 2016
  A recent trend in the luxury industry shows many companies using brand extension strategies to leverage their assets among competitors. Despite the popularity of brand extensions, limited research has been conducted to determine its effectiveness when using parent product brands in order to introduce new service brands. Thus, the primary purpose of this study is to propose the framework to increase the understanding of luxury brand extensions by focusing on the horizontal category brand extension from product to service. The impact of perceived quality, brand association and brand loyalty of the luxury car brand on consumers’ perception and attitude toward the rental car service brand was observed to differentiate from other research that focuses on brand extension within product categories. A total of 324 samples were collected and analyzed using structural equation modeling with AMOS. The brand association of the parent brand showed a significant impact on the evaluation of the extended service brand. In addition, a high level of the brand association was also found to influence the final purchase decision of the extended service brand. However, this study could not find any significant effect of perceived quality and brand loyalty for the parent product brand on the extended service brand. The framework proposed in this study has merit to increase the understanding of service brand extensions by exploring luxury car brands and luxury rental car brands. In the service brand extension, there was a gap in consumer perception between the product brand and the extended service brand. In order to maximize the positive impact of the parent brand, marketers and retailers should investigate the different roles of the brand equity items.

  July 25, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20676   open full text
• Dimensions of Employee Energy and Their Differences: Evidence from Chinese Insurance Companies.
  Hong Chen, Hua Cheng, Dandan Zhu, Ruyin Long.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. July 18, 2016
  The purpose of this research is to explore the structure of employee energy and analyze its differences in demographic variables as well as the differences between groups. The study collected 294 questionnaires of employees in Chinese insurance companies. Confirmatory factor analysis and one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used in the data analysis. The results showed that employee energy is a three‐dimensional concept that comprises basal energy, growing energy, and behavioral energy. Employee energy only has significant differences on monthly income and the level of positions, and the employees who have high employee energy share the characteristic of both high monthly income and the level of positions. Respondents were divided into four groups: 1) high‐positive‐energy, 2) low‐positive‐energy, 3) low‐negative‐energy, and 4) high‐negative‐energy employees. High‐positive‐energy employees showed the characteristics of high basal energy, high growing energy, and high behavioral energy, showing a feature of plump wings. Finally, this research put forward suggestions to provide a reference for energy management. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  July 18, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20677   open full text
• Development of an Advanced Picking Station Considering Human Factors.
  Eun Young Lee, Min Kyu Kim, Yoon Seok Chang.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. July 04, 2016
  Goods to destination consists of racks, shuttles, conveyors, and picking stations. Racks are used for storing tots, shuttles and conveyors are used for transferring totes, and picking stations are used for order picking. Picking activities are typically repetitive and physically demanding. Awkward postures can result in muscle fatigue and injuries. To understand picking activities and human factors, we performed picking tests and descriptive surveys with participants. Different postures with different picking desk configurations were tested and analyzed with 30 participants. Among the participants, 10 people participated in an electromyograph test and provided subjective results. In case of the LED indicator location of the digital picking station (DPS), 66% of participants felt comfortable when the LED was located between waist level and eye level. In case of the button location of the DPS, 70% of participants felt comfortable when the button was located at waist level. The result shows different views of the DPS application in the warehouse. Last, most participants felt comfortable when totes were placed 5–10 cm higher than the height of the average workstation. This study shows various options for designing picking stations. We believe that this research will provide good guidelines for picking station design which could lead to increases in productivity and workers’ convenience.

  July 04, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20669   open full text
• Human‐Robot Interaction in Assisted Personal Services: Factors Influencing Distances That Humans Will Accept between Themselves and an Approaching Service Robot.
  Christopher Brandl, Alexander Mertens, Christopher M. Schlick.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 20, 2016
  In the provision of robot‐assisted personal services, the ergonomic design of the phase when a robot approaches a human being is important for the efficacy, efficiency, and safety of human‐robot interaction. For this reason, an empirical user study was conducted, using a repeated measures fractional factorial design. The participants (n  =  30) were approached 30 times by the 1.45‐m‐tall service robot Care‐O‐bot® 3 under different conditions to investigate what influences the distances that humans will accept between themselves and an approaching robot. The results show that participant body position, robot speed, and speed profile significantly influence the accepted distances. Furthermore, an effect of habituation was found for the repeated approaches. Significant effects of participant age and gender as well as robot appearance on the accepted distance were not found.

  June 20, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20675   open full text
• The Impact of Image Dimensions toward Online Consumers’ Perceptions of Product Aesthetics.
  Jungkun Park, Frances Gunn.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 17, 2016
  Marketers and industrial designers devote considerable attention to the visual attributes of products, based on the premise that the visual appearance of products influences consumers’ judgments of the products’ attributes. This research investigated consumers’ perceptions about particular types of innovative products (revolutionary technology‐driven products), with 275 consumers sample purchased from an independent marketing company. To achieve the main goal, interrelations among image of product and aesthetics of product have been examined using structural equation modeling with two psychological moderators: consumer innovativeness and needs for uniqueness. The results of this study provide evidence that individual differences in uniqueness motivation moderated how online consumers’ perceptions of a product's image characteristics influenced perceptions of value showing consumers’ need for uniqueness was more influential toward perceptions of the product's value than perceptions of functional value. Consequently, these findings expand understanding of the consumer characteristics that respond to perceptions of products’ epistemic value.

  June 17, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20679   open full text
• Acceptance of the virtual item auctioning system in online games: The role of intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and trust.
  Cigdem Altin Gumussoy.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 17, 2016
  The virtual item auctioning system (VIAS) has economic potential as millions of online players trade their virtual items in an auction‐based environment. However, little empirical research has been conducted about understanding the factors affecting the decision to use the VIAS in online games. To address this gap, the current study uses the technology acceptance model (TAM) to explore the effects of extrinsic motivation‐perceived usefulness, intrinsic motivation‐flow, and trust on the decision to use the VIAS in online games. Three hundred and twenty‐eight surveys were gathered from the users of VIAS in online games. The research model was tested with the structural equation modeling technique, using AMOS 20. The results showed that intrinsic motivation is more important than extrinsic motivation in explaining the use of the VIAS. Furthermore, trust is a strong predictor of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. We conclude the study with the discussion of the findings, managerial implications, and suggestions for future research. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 17, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20682   open full text
• Finding the Latent Semantics of Haptic Interaction Research: A Systematic Literature Review of Haptic Interaction Using Content Analysis and Network Analysis.
  Joobong Song, Ji Hyoun Lim, Myung Hwan Yun.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 17, 2016
  As interest in multimodal and tangible interfaces is increasing in the field of human–robot interaction and virtual reality, haptics has been researched across areas such as engineering, computer science, psychology, and neuroscience. The main objective of the study was to construct a comprehensive review of the current haptic‐related literature based on quantitative data derived from content analysis and network analysis. Using the results of content analysis and network analysis of 6,000 research articles on haptic interaction, the haptic‐related literature was classified into two categories: 1) studies on technologies providing haptic stimuli and 2) studies on the human perception of haptic stimuli. Emotions in haptic feedback and haptic perception characteristics of various body sites were identified as potential research topics for further investigation. Greater research effort on understanding human haptic sensation and perception using the proposed systematic approach could accelerate the development of haptic interaction technology.

  June 17, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20678   open full text
• Study on Determinants of Chinese Managers’ Crisis Intention under Financial Turbulence: An Empirical Study Based on Chinese Listed Companies.
  Zhonglin Sheng, Weida He.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 14, 2016
  This article presents a study on determinants of Chinese managers’ crisis intention under the global financial turbulence from a resource‐based view. It draws three important findings through an empirical analysis of 91 Chinese listed companies. First, there is a significant negative relationship between slack resources and crisis intention. Second, there is a significant positive relationship between diversification and crisis intention. Finally, diversification positively moderates the linkage between slack resources and crisis intention. This study extends the resource‐based view to the area of crisis management and provides important guidance on how to effectively deal with the current economic crisis.

  June 14, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20670   open full text
• Computer‐Aided Ergonomic Analysis for Assembly Unit of an Agricultural Device.
  Demet Gonen, Ali Oral, Mehmet Yosunlukaya.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 13, 2016
  In many applications, those who work on assembly processes are required to work in nonergonomic stances. Incorrect positions may cause strain and persistent problems. In addition, strain in workers’ bodies also has a negative effect on labor productivity. Ergonomics should be applied to avoid this kind of negative impact on workers’ health as well as productivity. Ergonomics introduces the basic principles of system productivity and human‐machine‐environment relationship. With a series of computer‐aided ergonomics analysis (CAEA), necessary precautions can be taken in advance by determining the undesirable stances. Through CAEA, productivity for machinery and comfort for people can be ensured by creating an efficient working environment without causing health problems for workers who work in production. In this study, in an agricultural equipment producing company, current working positions of a worker carrying out tasks during the assembly of wheel hay rakes, have been evaluated via the CATIA Ergonomic Analysis Module. On the basis of the results, the design of the assembly unit was ergonomically improved. As a result of the improvement in the working environment, unfavorable stance positions were avoided and production time was decreased by 60%.

  June 13, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20681   open full text
• Classification of Risks of Occupational Low Back Disorders with Support Vector Machines.
  Mehmet Erdem, Fatih Emre Boran, Diyar Akay.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 01, 2016
  Though technology has shown a rapid development, manual material handling (MMH) tasks are still usual activities in most industries. According to recent surveys, MMH tasks remain one of the main reasons for the emergence of occupational low back disorders (LBDs). It is critical to be able to discriminate as accurately as possible between MMH jobs that place workers at high versus low risk of LBDs. In this study, the risk of occupational LBDs has been classified by support vector machines (SVMs) considering both trunk motion variables and workplace variables, which have been extensively used to identify risk of LBDs. The LBDs‐SVM model has outperformed the existing models in terms of accuracy, which is equal to 88.5% for correct classification of high risk when 10‐cross validation is applied. In other words, the proposed model has correctly classified an average of 29.2 cases out of 33 high‐risk cases, which is critical to be determined compared to low‐risk cases. The results obtained in this study indicate that SVM is a better classifier than the other existing methods in the literature to classify LBDs risks.

  June 01, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20671   open full text
• Does Employee Relationship Quality Influence Employee Well‐Being? An Empirical Analysis Based on Manufacturing and Service Industries.
  Hong Chen, Jia Wei, Ke Wang, Yi Peng.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 01, 2016
  This study developed employee well‐being (EWB) and employee‐relationship scales (including six parts, employee‐superior, employee‐subordinate, employee‐organization, employee‐coworker, employee‐family, and employee‐friend) through considering the management situation in China and the integrity of the construct. According to an empirical analysis based on manufacturing and service industries (N = 571), this study explored the influence of employee relationship quality (ERQ) on EWB through Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. According to the results, in terms of relationships inside work, the dimensions of all ERQ types had positive correlations with EWB. The degree of stability of a relationship outside work, such as employee‐family and the employee‐friend, was found to have negative effects on EWB. Regardless of whether they are general employees or leadership employees, the employee‐superior relationship was the principal factor that influenced EWB. These results provide new insights into employee relationship management and EWB promotion.

  June 01, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20674   open full text
• Occupational Injuries and Deaths in Domestic Waste Collecting Process.
  Byung Yong Jeong.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 26, 2016
  This study investigates the domestic waste collecting processes and the characteristics of occupational injuries in each collecting process. Accident data for 517 injured persons were categorized by the collecting processes in progress during the accident and were analyzed in terms of age of injured person, length of employment, accident type, and source of accident. Results show that “waste collecting” (42.2%) was the most common type of collecting process in injuries, followed by “loading of waste” (36.3%), “truck driving during collection” (9.3%), “going/returning to work” (8.1%), and “unloading at a disposal site” (4.1%). Also, the most probable form of accident was slips on slippery ground in the “waste collecting” process (18.4%), followed by falls on slippery surface at a height in the process of “loading of waste” (8.5%) and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) by improper posture and heavy waste bags in “loading of waste” (7.9%), and vehicle accidents in “going/returning to work” (7.4%). Meanwhile, the most deaths were due to falls by clinging on to the footrest of garbage trucks in “truck driving during collection” (28.6%) and vehicle accidents in “going/returning to work” (28.6%). This study is a descriptive retrospective examination of injury records. The findings of this study can be used as basic information in order to prevent hazardous incidents reoccurring in the domestic waste collection industry.

  May 26, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20680   open full text
• Application of Lean Manufacturing in Hospitals—the Need to Consider Maturity, Complexity, and the Value Concept.
  Peter Hasle, Anders P. Nielsen, Kasper Edwards.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 16, 2016
  Lean is widely applied in hospitals, but the impact tends to be limited. This paper investigates three possible explanations: 1) maturity, 2) complexity, and 3) the value concept and analyses the bearing of these in a case study of lean application in a large Danish university hospital. The results indicate that lean tends to be applied in secondary and support functions with a logistic character and therefore has had a limited impact on the overall healthcare performance. The case study shows that there are constraints related to low lean maturity, the complexity of processes and operations as well as differences in value perceptions among the different professions (e.g., doctors, nurses, and managers) within the hospital. The conclusion is that lean is useful for hospitals, but the lean concept as well as its implementation methods need to be fitted to the organizational complexity and diverging values in hospitals in order to bring about a larger impact. It is therefore necessary to develop new models for the lean concept as well as the implementation of lean adapted to the particular context of hospitals with a stronger focus on patient experiences and on coordination of social relations.

  May 16, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20668   open full text
• A Design Process for a Customer Journey Map: A Case Study on Mobile Services.
  Heekyung Moon, Sung H. Han, Jaemin Chun, Sang W. Hong.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 16, 2016
  A customer journey map (CJM) is a widely used tool to represent user experience with a service. Although numerous companies have used this tool to improve existing services or to develop new services, the maps are neither consistent nor mutually compatible because no clear design process for a CJM has been presented. This study aimed to develop a design process and rule sets for a CJM based on a human factors approach. The 10‐step process and the rule sets were built on case studies of 25 categories of mobile services. Large‐scale case studies were conducted with mobile service providers and combined with the result of a user diary method that collected users’ daily activities and the difficulties that the user perceived when performing a task. We suggested various methods for using the CJM to generate new service opportunities. The proposed design process and the way for opportunity discovery can help service designers to develop unified CJMs and to identify innovative service ideas.

  May 16, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20673   open full text
• Effect of Job Rotation Types on Productivity, Accident Rate, and Satisfaction in the Automotive Assembly Line Workers.
  In Sik Jeon, Byung Yong Jeong.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. April 20, 2016
  This study investigates different autonomous job rotation types to analyze their impacts on productivity, accident rate, and worker's satisfaction. The subjects of research were 422 assembly‐line units in 3 production plants from an automobile company. The preferred rotation types and workers’ satisfaction scores in the 422 units were surveyed by the average worker's experience and work productivity, quality and accident rate scores were traced over a 5‐year period. Results showed that workers with little work experience preferred to work in shorter cycles composed of a small variety of tasks, whereas workers with more experience preferred longer cycles composed of a larger variety of tasks. In addition, autonomously chosen rotation systems proved to boost productivity and work satisfaction when compared to units that did not implement job rotation. In contrast, only 4 out of 10 rotation types showed improvements in decreased number of accidents. Of the 10 rotation types, ones with daily cycles with a small range of tasks and weekly cycles with a wide range of tasks displayed the most promising results for productivity, work satisfaction, and accident prevention. This study implies that the preferred types of rotation do not necessarily lead to higher productivity, safety, and satisfaction. The results of this study are expected to serve as a basic guideline for job design.

  April 20, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20667   open full text
• Organizational Commitment and Engagement in Two Finnish Energy Sector Organizations.
  Jarno Einolander.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. April 19, 2016
  This study was conducted to show a novel way to analyze organizational commitment and engagement levels in organizations and to compare the results of two Finnish organizations operating in the energy sector. Employees estimate the truth value of statements with regard to their own organization at a given moment in time. The employees also specify how they would like the situation represented by the statements to be in the future. In this study, we requested participation from a total of 90 senior salaried employees from two companies in the spring of 2014. In the end, we obtained 54 responses in total, giving us a response rate of 88% for Company A and 25% for Company B. On the basis of the responses, a collective understanding of each organization was first defined, and then a comparison was made between these two organizations. The results of these comparisons show that there are similarities between the companies, even though the degree of affective commitment was significantly higher in one of the companies. However, both companies had similar focus points and priorities in the current state, target state, and proactive vision. On the other hand, the study also discovered that there were major differences regarding some of the evaluated features, as expected. As a result of the analysis, important areas of development were observed in both companies.

  April 19, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20664   open full text
• Not All Autonomy is the Same. Different Dimensions of Job Autonomy and Their Relation to Work Engagement & Innovative Work Behavior.
  Stan Spiegelaere, Guy Gyes, Geert Hootegem.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. April 15, 2016
  Job autonomy is a key enabling factor for employee engagement and innovative employee behavior. Although job autonomy used to be viewed as a multi‐dimensional construct, there has been little recent discussion on the different dimensions of job autonomy and how they relate to employee outcomes. This study uses a sample of 927 employees from different sectors to research the relation between autonomy regarding the (1) work method, (2) work scheduling, (3) work time and (4) place of work and two main employee outcomes: work engagement (WE) and innovative work behavior (IWB). The results show that all studied dimensions of autonomy are bivariatly related to higher levels of WE and IWB. Yet, when simultaneously analyzing the dimensions of job autonomy using structural equations modelling, most of the effects become insignificant. For WE, only the effect of work method autonomy is statistically significant. For IWB, work method and locational autonomy play a positive role. This signals that the current managerial attention for, e.g., work time autonomy (flexitime) does only contribute to enhanced work engagement and IWB insofar as such a systems result in higher work method autonomy.

  April 15, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20666   open full text
• Analysis of Consumer Value Using Semantic Network: The Comparison of Hierarchical and Nonhierarchical Value Structures.
  Ga‐Won Kim, Ji Lim, Myung Yun.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. April 01, 2016
  This study compares the value structure of consumers derived from a nonhierarchical method that only requires grouping similar components and a hierarchical method that needs additional steps to classify components into the levels of abstraction, using semantic network analysis. The overall process of understanding consumers’ value structure consists of data collection, data structuring, and network analysis using UCINET 6.0. A case study was conducted to identify the value structure of teenage Internet use behavior. Based on the relative ranking of words with the smallest farness from others, the nonhierarchical method showed “beauty” as the key value of teenagers, while the hierarchical method revealed “warm relationship” as the critical value in their use of the Internet. This nonhierarchical method showed the ability to elicit more diverse values, depending on the characteristics of consumer groups when compared with conventional hierarchical method. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  April 01, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20665   open full text
• Effects of Grip Curvature and Hand Anthropometry for the Unimanual Operation of Touchscreen Handheld Devices.
  Sung Hee Ahn, Sanghyun Kwon, Sangwoo Bahn, Myung Hwan Yun, Wooyeon Yu.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. March 28, 2016
  This study evaluated the effect of hand anthropometry and screen curvatures of handheld devices on hand comfort during single‐hand touchscreen operations. By employing both subjective ratings and electromyography methods, the comfort level was measured using three mock‐up devices with different curvatures; one was flat and the others had curvatures of 400 R and 100 R. The participants were classified by sizes and shapes of their preferred hand based on factor analysis results. In this study, 26 adults in their 20s and 30s participated in the experiment of tapping and dragging tasks with the mock‐ups. The results indicated that the curvatures of the handheld touchscreen devices did not affect muscle activity but perceived comfort. On the other way around, size and shape of hand were found as the factors to affect muscle activities but not perceived comfort. The interaction effects between size and shape of hand were found as well. Overall, this study suggests that curvature and anthropometric characteristics of hand is the common factor in determining comfort for the handheld device design. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  March 28, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20662   open full text
• Effects of Font Size, Stroke Width, and Character Complexity on the Legibility of Chinese Characters.
  Na Liu, Ruifeng Yu, Yunhong Zhang.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. March 03, 2016
  This study investigated the effects of font size, stroke width, and character complexity on the legibility of Chinese characters. A within‐subjects design experiment was employed. Thirty‐six subjects participated in the experiment and completed the character‐search tasks in the pseudo‐texts. The search time per target character, correct response number, and correct response rate were used to measure the legibility. The results indicated that the font size and character complexity had significant effects on the legibility, while the effect of stroke width was not significant. All the two‐way interactions among the three display factors had significant effects on the legibility. Stroke width is critical to the legibility for characters with high‐level complexity, whereas font size is the critical factor influencing the legibility for characters with low‐level complexity. The combination of 12pt font size and 1:10 stroke width resulted in the best legibility for both character complexity levels. The findings provide useful information for the font design of Chinese texts displayed on a visual display terminal to improve the legibility.

  March 03, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20663   open full text
• The Influence of Various Seat Design Parameters: A Computational Analysis.
  Mengjie Huang, Khatereh Hajizadeh, Ian Gibson, Taeyong Lee.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. February 18, 2016
  Nowadays, low back pain becomes a common healthcare problem. Poor or unsuitable seat design is related to the discomfort and other healthcare problems of users. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of seat design variables on the compressive loadings of lumbar joints. A basis that includes a musculoskeletal human body model and a chair model has been developed using LifeMOD Biomechanics Modeller. Inverse and forward dynamic simulations have been performed for various seat design parameters. The results show that the inclination of backrest and seat pan may or may not decrease the compressive spinal joint forces, depending on other conditions. The medium‐level height and depth of seat pan and the medium‐level and high‐level height of backrest are found to cause the minimum compressive loads on lumbar joints. This work contributes to a better understanding of sitting biomechanics and provides some useful guidelines for seat design.

  February 18, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20649   open full text
• Doing a Good Job—the Effect of Primary Task Quality on Well‐Being and Job Satisfaction.
  Maja Sasser, Ole H. Sørensen.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. February 11, 2016
  This paper investigates whether employees’ assessment of their primary task quality has a significant impact on their well‐being and job satisfaction, respectively. Furthermore, the paper hypothesizes that professional values and norms affect employees’ quality expectations on their work tasks and thus their assessment of primary task quality. The paper proposes a measure for primary task quality and uses it in the analyses of responses from 1,247 preschool teachers and teaching assistants in 94 public daycare centers in Denmark. The results indicate that an important factor for employees is their experience of quality in the job they perform. Moreover, quality expectations can differ between employees performing the same task due to, for example, difference in professional training. This leads us to propose a new research direction for job design theory that addresses employees’ assessment of the quality of their primary task job performance.

  February 11, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20648   open full text
• Using Ergonomic Risk Assessment Methods for Designing Inclusive Work Practices: A Case Study.
  Amjad Hussain, Keith Case, Russell Marshall, Steve Summerskill.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. January 20, 2016
  In common with many industries, manufacturing faces the challenge of effective management of a diverse workforce. Humans differ greatly, but traditional manufacturing work practices do not take into account human variability issues during the work design process. Variations in individual and organizational work performance are due to many individual factors, such as age, gender, level of skill, experience, and background bring performance inconsistencies. This research investigates the effects of individual skill on work performance in general and workplace safety and human well‐being in particular. A research framework is proposed for highlighting major differences in work‐performing strategies, their potential impact on work performance, and how these findings can be used for designing more inclusive work practices. A case study has been presented in which ergonomics risk assessment methods have been used to validate the usefulness of this framework. It is also concluded that skill has a strong relationship with the level of risk attached to various task‐performing strategies.

  January 20, 2016   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20650   open full text
• Characteristics of Occupational Accidents in Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Western Cuisine Restaurants.
  Byung Yong Jeong, Dong Seok Shin.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. November 25, 2015
  This study aims to provide an analysis of occupational accidents in commercial kitchens by restaurant type. In this research, 1,846 injured persons of restaurant kitchens accidents from 2009 to 2011 have been categorized by Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Western cuisine restaurants. Also, these data were analyzed in terms of properties of the workplace (size of employment), injured persons (gender, age of injured person, and work experience), and accidents (accident type and agency of accident). The results showed the following patterns by the restaurant types: (1) While accidents at Korean (72.2%), Chinese (80.8%), and Japanese (64.0%) cuisine restaurants occurred mostly in small kitchens with under 5 employees, Western cuisine kitchens of this size had an accident rate of only 39.1%; (2) 30–40% of injured persons had less than 1 year of experience in Korean, Japanese, and Western cooking, whereas in Chinese kitchens, less‐experienced cooks composed a larger portion of patients (56.2%); (3) each cuisine showed different leading types of injuries. Slips and falls for Korean kitchens (29.2%), caught in and between objects for Chinese restaurants kitchens (55.3%), and cuts/amputations/punctures in Japanese and Western restaurants (42.1% and 34.8%, respectively) were the biggest contributors to injuries in each type of restaurant. These findings of accident properties according to restaurant types can be used as baseline data for establishing systemized preventive policies.

  November 25, 2015   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20647   open full text
• Application of Evolutionary Neural Networks on Optimization Design of Mobile Phone Based on User's Emotional Needs.
  Fu Guo, Qing‐Xing Qu, Peng Chen, Yi Ding, Wei Lin Liu.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. October 12, 2015
  Taking users’ emotional needs into consideration, this research aims to propose a new method to present product design features exactly and completely. On the basis of genetic algorithm integrated with back‐propagation (BP) neural networks, taking the mobile phone as research object, an optimization design algorithm was finally designed. First, the continuous and discrete design variables that describe mobile phones were screened with methods of dimensions, coordinate label, and morphological analysis. Forty three‐dimensional (3D) mobile phone models were designed by using 3D design software PROE. Accordingly, 12 representative mobile phones were selected through multidimensional scaling analysis and cluster analysis. Fourteen pairwise Kansei image words were obtained by collecting, screening, surveys, and statistical analysis method. Second, a BP neural networks model between design variables and user preference along with Kansei image words was established and verified with questionnaire survey data. Finally, the optimization design model for mobile phones was established considering design requirements and users’ emotional needs. A genetic algorithm integrated with BP neural networks was used to optimize mobile phone design. The results show that the optimization scheme is superior to others, and this paper will provide design suggestion for mobile phone designers.

  October 12, 2015   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20628   open full text
• Analysis of the Competitive Intelligence Activities of Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises from the Industrial Sector.
  María Luisa Cantonnet, Juan Carlos Aldasoro, Ernesto Cilleruelo.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 31, 2014
  The aim of this research is to analyze competitive intelligence (CI) activities in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) from the industrial sector in Spain. Specifically, an attempt is made to identify why these companies carry out CI activities, the types of activity they carry out, and the influence that a company's features and the environment in which it operates have on developing CI activities. An ad hoc questionnaire was put together comprising 124 items distributed among a sample of 425 SMEs from the industrial sector. The results show that a company's features and environment have a significant influence on the CI activities developed by them.

  May 31, 2014   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20582   open full text
• A Stimulation Method to Assess the Contractile Status of the Lumbar Extensors in a Seated Posture.
  Bochen Jia, Maury A. Nussbaum, Michael J. Agnew.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 31, 2014
  The purpose of present study was to develop and evaluate methods to assess stimulation responses of the lumbar extensors, as part of a longer‐term goal of detecting fatigue during prolonged sitting. Three stimulation frequencies (2, 5, and 8 Hz) were tested in separate stages, which include 3 stimulation trains and 4 sampling blocks. Repeated measures analyses of variance were used to determine whether any significant differences in mean stimulation responses occurred with respect to stimulation frequency, sampling block, and stimulation train. Reliability of measured stimulation responses was assessed within and between sampling blocks using intraclass correlation coefficients. Stimulation frequencies significantly affected the stimulation responses and time‐to‐potentiation differed between the 3 stimulation frequencies; it was highest for 2 Hz stimulation. All 3 stimulation frequencies resulted in excellent reliability within and between sampling blocks. Use of the current protocol at 2 Hz is recommended as appropriate to measure the lumbar extensors status during prolonged sitting.

  May 31, 2014   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20584   open full text
• Application of Standardized Motions in Temporal Analysis of Work Activity.
  Gregory Z. Bedny, Waldemar Karwowski, Fred Voskoboynikov.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. February 18, 2014
  This article focuses on the time study of behavioral components of work activity. The method time measurement (MTM‐1) system is a powerful tool for analyzing behavioral components of activity. However, the MTM‐1 system's rules for the selection of basic elements for tasks’ description are necessary but insufficient. Professionals can use the MTM‐1 system rules effectively only after analyzing strategies of a task performance and studying the logical organization of motor and cognitive actions. The results of this study demonstrate that the MTM‐1 system can be used for analyzing behavioral components of activity only after analyzing real strategies of task performance.

  February 18, 2014   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20562   open full text
• How to Improve E‐Satisfaction and E‐Loyalty and Strengthen the Links Between Them: Value From Regulatory Fit.
  Cou‐Chen Wu, Chia‐Lin Hsu.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. January 17, 2014
  This article aims to investigate how regulatory fit can improve e‐satisfaction and e‐loyalty and strengthen the links between e‐satisfaction and both its antecedents (two technology acceptance model factors and the perceived quality of e‐shopping) and consequence (e‐loyalty). The research model and hypotheses are constructed through a literature review. An empirical study is performed to test the proposed research model, using survey research. The data are gathered via a questionnaire, which is developed on the basis of prior empirical studies. Results from this study point to the following: first, the two technology acceptance model factors and the perceived quality of e‐shopping significantly affect e‐satisfaction, which in turn e‐loyalty. Second, regulatory fit not only improves e‐satisfaction and e‐loyalty but also strengthens the links between e‐satisfaction and both its antecedents and consequence. On the basis of these findings, the implications are discussed and directions for future research are highlighted.

  January 17, 2014   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20549   open full text
• Improved Quality Output through Computer‐Based Training: An Automotive Assembly Field Study.
  Lennart Malmsköld, Roland Örtengren, Lars Svensson.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. January 15, 2014
  In this article, two field experiments, conducted in an automotive assembly plant, evaluate how computer‐based training of operational sequences and related quality information can support the assembly performance of the operators. The experiments were performed during the launch of a new vehicle. A comparison was made of learning progress and quality performance between a reference group of operators that only had regular training and a test group for which some of the regular training was replaced with individual computer‐based training. Both quantitative measures of the quality output and questionnaires and observations were used to evaluate the effects of computer‐based training. The results show a clear positive difference in learning progress and improvements in quality output for the test group compared with the reference group. This combined with positive attitudes expressed by the operators and their team leaders shows that this type of training is an effective way to train operators during launches of new vehicles in automotive production.

  January 15, 2014   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20540   open full text
• The Effects of the Service Environment on Perceived Waiting Time and Emotions.
  Shih‐Yi Chien, Ying‐Tung Lin.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. January 15, 2014
  Because customers’ experience of waiting for service may negatively affect their behavioral approach toward the service organization, improving the service environment may also improve their waiting experience. This study examined the different effects of environmental elements on the perceived waiting time route and the emotional route. We surveyed 326 customers of a leading fast‐food chain restaurant in Taiwan during rush hour. We found that the emotional route is a stronger predictor of customer approach behavior than the perceived waiting time route. Moreover, the explained wait and perceived crowding directly affect both the perceived waiting time route and the emotional route. The effect of the design factor on the customer behavior approach is significant in the emotional route, but it is not significant in the perceived waiting route. In addition, perceived crowding has the strongest effect on the perceived waiting time route, and the explained wait has the strongest effect on the emotional route.

  January 15, 2014   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20542   open full text
• Delivery Truck Drivers’ Work Outside Their Cabs: Ergonomic Video Analyses Supplemented with National Accident Statistics.
  Arto Reiman, Ari Putkonen, Nina Nevala, Mika Nyberg, Seppo Väyrynen, Mikael Forsman.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. January 15, 2014
  Delivery truck drivers’ work contains various physically and psychosocially demanding work situations. Fifteen drivers’ and 8 other stakeholders’ identifications of such work situations were examined by video analyses in this study. The identifications were analyzed in‐depth by the researchers and compared with statistics on 3,507 accidents in the Finnish trucking industry. The aim was to determine what kind of identifications were made and to what degree the identifications coincided among the participants and with the accident statistics. The drivers’ identifications differed from the statistics data. The statistics showed a significantly higher relative frequency of movement‐related situations. However, the identifications also included risks for future workload‐related musculoskeletal disorders. Most commonly, these were emphasized during manual materials handling. The participation of different interest groups seems to increase the amount of relevant information obtained. Nonetheless, the age of the evaluator seems not to affect the analyses.

  January 15, 2014   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20547   open full text
• Application of Digital Manuals with a Retinal Imaging Display in Manufacturing: Behavioral, Physiological, and Psychological Effects on Workers.
  Miwa Nakanishi, Tomohiro Sato.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. November 19, 2012
  This study analyses the behavioral, physiological, and psychological effects of digital manuals presented by a retinal imaging display (RID) on workers in the manufacturing industry. An RID consists of wearable glasses that enable users to view a digital image overlaying the real world. We conducted an experiment in which subjects assembled an object by referring to different types of manuals. The experimental results suggest that an RID enables users to conveniently examine real objects against information in the manual, reduces the information‐processing load while performing tasks, and supports effortless performance of tasks. However, using a monochrome picture manual with an RID increases the information‐processing load. On the other hand, a full‐color RID movie manual generates additional responses in users, such as psychological satisfaction.

  November 19, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20535   open full text
• An Ageing‐in‐Place Service Innovation Model by Using TRIZ Methodology.
  Chi‐Kuang Chen, An‐Jin Shie, Kuo‐Ming Wang, Chang‐Hsi Yu.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. November 19, 2012
  Most of the research on the concept of “ageing‐in‐place” has focused on surveys of the needs of senior citizens and/or the quality of the services delivered to them. Service innovation for ageing‐in‐place has received little research attention, however. The present study addresses this issue by proposing a service innovation model for ageing‐in‐place. In this model, a TRIZ methodology is used to develop the parameter correspondence table, which integrates TRIZ contradiction parameters and ageing‐in‐place service‐quality determinants, to deal with service contradiction. A TRIZ contradiction matrix is then applied to generate inventive solutions for the innovation of the ageing‐in‐place service system. A case study is also conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model.

  November 19, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20536   open full text
• Toward Universal Design in Public Transportation Systems: An Analysis of Low‐Floor Bus Passenger Behavior with Video Observations.
  Hwan Hwangbo, Jiyeon Kim, Sunwoong Kim, Yong Gu Ji.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. November 19, 2012
  This study aims to investigate the relationship between ergonomic comfort and the provision of accessibility features for mobility‐impaired persons in the use of public transportation systems in Korea. To deal with mobility issues in a public transportation environment, we chose the low‐floor bus as our research subject because it is the representative of a barrier‐free design solution. We collected data via video observation, which can overcome the limitations of traditional accessibility‐focused studies and laboratory studies by providing data on real usage patterns. We developed a framework to analyze the gathered data which includes user, space, tools, activities, and context. As a result, we observed existing difficulties of mobility‐impaired persons in terms of moving and supporting their bodies on the bus, despite the application of accessibility features. Furthermore, the design only for accessibility of mobility‐disabled persons can cause unexpected predicaments for the passengers who do not have physical handicaps. Drawing on these findings, we concluded that the concept of universal design in public transportation environments must be introduced in Korea. This study suggests video observation as a useful methodology for collecting data in dynamic environments. Additionally, our study is expected to contribute to how the concept of universal design can be implemented, and stimulate issues for ergonomic research based on our behavior pattern analysis.

  November 19, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20537   open full text
• Development of Human Posture Simulation Method for Assessing Posture Angles and Spinal Loads.
  Ming‐Lun Lu, Thomas Waters, Dwight Werren.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. October 24, 2012
  Video‐based posture analysis employing a biomechanical model is gaining a growing popularity for ergonomic assessments. A human posture simulation method of estimating multiple body postural angles and spinal loads from a video record was developed to expedite ergonomic assessments. The method was evaluated by a repeated measures study design with three trunk flexion levels, two lift asymmetry levels, three viewing angles, and three trial repetitions as experimental factors. The study comprised two phases evaluating the accuracy of simulating self‐ and other people's lifting posture via a proxy of a computer‐generated humanoid. The mean values of the accuracy of simulating self‐ and humanoid postures were 12° and 15°, respectively. The repeatability of the method for the same lifting condition was excellent (∼2°). The least simulation error was associated with side viewing angle. The estimated back compressive force and moment, calculated by a three‐dimensional biomechanical model, exhibited a range of 5% underestimation. The posture simulation method enables researchers to quantify simultaneously body posture angles and spinal loading variables with accuracy and precision comparable to on‐screen posture‐matching methods.

  October 24, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20534   open full text
• The Orientation of Business Process Management toward the Creation of Knowledge in Enterprises.
  Agnieszka Bitkowska.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. October 24, 2012
  The main condition for the survival and development of contemporary enterprises is a focus on changes in the business environment. Business Process Management is a concept that enables efficient adaptation to changing business environment conditions. Currently, companies tend to focus on the process approach, using the knowledge that is available within the company. This paper presents research results related to knowledge management in Poland and to both Polish and worldwide practices of Business Process Management. This presentation is followed with a discussion that provides inspiration for in‐depth empirical research in this field. Currently, there is an urgent need for research that addresses the challenging issues related to the integration of available knowledge management technologies, concepts, and methods into organizational business processes.

  October 24, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20533   open full text
• The employee suggestion system: A new approach using latent semantic analysis.
  Phillip Marksberry, Joshua Church, Michael Schmidt.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. September 07, 2012
  Employee suggestion systems are often used as a way to improve participation from members of the organization to help solve problems that cannot be solved through traditional organizational practices. In the government sector, employee involvement programs are the most difficult to implement mainly because management regularly changes with new administration and these changes bring about many short‐term management practices and systems. Toyota's approach to employee suggestion programs has been widely benchmarked and studied, yet there is little research to show that these practices can be applied or are successful in the public sector. This work uses a statistical data‐mining technique to compare which types of human resource management practices are prevalent in employee suggestion programs at Toyota and a target government organization. This work shows that Toyota emphasizes organization‐centered factors to stimulate employee participation in solving small problems that relate to an employee's job. On the contrary, government organizations tend to emphasize employee factors that make conditions right for employees to make larger improvements in their jobs that lead to improvements outside their work areas. Findings suggest that Toyota's approach to employee suggestion programs is not a way to weaken management's obligation to perform problem solving, but instead is another medium to highlight problems that do not require management's intervention. These new insights and others provide an increased understanding of employee suggestion programs in the public sector that are unique to manufacturing. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  September 07, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20351   open full text
• Information problems and company behaviour vis‐à‐vis continuous management training.
  Jon Barrutia, Jon Landeta, Andrés Araujo, Jon Hoyos.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. September 07, 2012
  The purpose of this study is to examine the degree and type of information the company holds on training, and to what extent the lack‐of‐information firms suffer in two senses, information on managerial resources and information on training supply, tends to condition their behavior vis‐à‐vis management training. Data from more than 300 Spanish companies with 50 or more workers are used to examine the connection between information asymmetries and company behavior in relation to continuous management training. The empirical study revealed that company readiness to engage in continuous management training appears to be significantly conditioned by all variables related to the existence of information on managers and training supply. Based on these results, underinvestment in managerial training would be associated with those cases in which information is unavailable or not distributed uniformly and transparently. This study contributes to the existing training literature by providing a novel link between information asymmetries (firm managers; firm training offerings) and their ability to influence training investment rates. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  September 07, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20532   open full text
• Safety considerations during different stages of a project life cycle in the manufacturing industry.
  Sanna Nenonen, Jouni Kivistö‐Rahnasto, Juha Vasara.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. July 30, 2012
  At sites with multiple employers, efficient safety management is essential to ensure safety for both customers and providers. However, implementing effective safety management is challenging, particularly for companies that provide services. Provider companies encounter difficulties managing the safety of service projects for many reasons, including the variety of customers and changes in work environment. Proper preparation and integration of safety into the different project life cycle stages improves safety, but the topic has not received much attention to date. This article discusses the integration of safety considerations into service projects. Material was collected from Finnish manufacturing companies via interviews and a questionnaire. The results show that systematic methods for developing and producing services have not been adopted in the provider companies, but these are often implemented as a result of practical experience. On the other hand, providers and customers both believed that safety is taken into account during different stages of a given service project—safety issues were to some extent taken into account during the tendering and contract stages of a project, and preventive safety measures were commonly implemented during the delivery of services. However, safety performance often was not evaluated after completion of work. For this reason, companies may not have an accurate estimation of each other's safety performance in these types of multi‐employer situations. The results of this study can be used in provider organizations to help systematize safety considerations during service projects and to focus efforts on the most essential points of service project safety management. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  July 30, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20531   open full text
• Evaluation of service quality continuous improvement in coffee shops.
  Benjamin J. C. Yuan, Hung‐Fan Chang, Gwo‐Hshiung Tzeng.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. July 18, 2012
  The business model of coffee shop chains is to copy the successful environment of the first store. This study summarizes the elements and related impact factors of service quality strategies for coffee shop chains to provide a reference for future entrepreneurship. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process method, which combines analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy set theory, allows for more accurate descriptions of the service quality evaluation process. Next, decision makers were invited to take part in the measurement of service quality for coffee shop chains. A questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from 37 managers of coffee shop chains in Taiwan. Such findings underscore the importance of recognizing customers' varying preferences. This study tries to fill the gap by assessing the relative impact of service quality by considering various individual differences. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  July 18, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20526   open full text
• Measuring the functional and usable appeal of crossover B‐Car interiors.
  Kai‐Shuan Shen, Kuo‐Hsiang Chen, Ching‐Chien Liang, Wei‐Ping Pu, Min‐Yuan Ma.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. July 12, 2012
  Recently, the Crossover B‐Car interior has become very popular and provides some appealing characteristics. We probe users' needs for the interior of a vehicle and propose a draft resolution for interior design, space utilization, and variations in functionality for Crossover B‐Car developers. This study explores the appeal of Crossover B‐Car interiors from the perspectives of usability and functionality. We interviewed 14 experts, using the evaluation grid method (EGM) for expert evaluation to determine the semantic structure of appeal for Crossover B‐Car interiors. Hence, a hierarchical diagram of Crossover B‐Car interior preferences was created to determine the critical factors. We then surveyed 1100 users through a questionnaire. According to the following statistical analysis, appeal factors were affected in varying degrees by particular reasons and characteristics. The results are useful for the designers and researchers of Crossover B‐Car interiors and also contribute to studies in the field of human factors and ergonomics. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  July 12, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20525   open full text
• An investigation of the social‐affective effects resulting from appearance‐related product models.
  Cheng‐Hung Lo, Chih‐Hsing Chu.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. July 05, 2012
  This article proposes the concept of social‐affective product design to address the effects of product features on personal interactions. Using eyeglass frames as the target product, this study included a factorial experiment to evaluate design features concerning personality traits signified by facial shapes. The experiment involved extracting three representative types of facial shapes by sorting 60 photographs and constructing three‐dimensional models to rate attractiveness. The study then analyzed participant responses according to three social‐affective measures: approachability, assertiveness, and masculinity, evoked by faces wearing factorized eyeglass frames. Results show that increasing the levels of certain design features strengthens the impression of specific personality traits. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  July 05, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20352   open full text
• The grid rotation method and its application to the glove sizing system.
  Cheol Lee, Jeonghoon Mo, Soeui Shin, Kyungsik Lee.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 27, 2012
  In this article, we propose a grid rotation method for glove sizing to accommodate a greater fraction of the population with a given number of sizes. The method is based on the optimization of two geometric variables, the rotation degree and the number of grid points. Instead of applying a traditional tabulation method to the original samples, we apply the tabulation after rotating the sample points by a certain degree to improve coverage. We further optimize the grid points for the same purpose. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. For the glove sizing system developed by the proposed grid rotation method, the coverage rate is increased by 2.3% compared to previous work for the same number of glove sizes. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 27, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20522   open full text
• Effects of Color, Scouring Method, and Age on the Visual Sensibility of Naturally Colored Organic Cotton (NaCOC).
  Jangwoon Park, Yoon Chang, Wongi Hong, Myungeun Lee, Ahreum Han, Youngjoo Chae, Gilsoo Cho, Heecheon You.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 27, 2012
  In parallel to the social trend of green consumerism and well‐being, the demand for naturally colored organic cotton (NaCOC) continually increases in the textile and clothing industry. The present study examined the effects of NaCOC color, scouring method, and age on the visual sensibility of NaCOC. Two age groups (20s and 30s; 40s and 50s) of women rated three color sets of NaCOC specimens (ivory, green, and coyote brown) treated by two chemical scouring methods (Na2CO3 and NaOH) and two bioscouring methods (enzyme and boiling water) using 7‐point scales of nine visual sensibilities (bright‐dark; clear‐murky; heavy‐light; vivid‐subdued; warm‐cool; fresh‐stale; strong‐weak; showy‐plain; and luxurious‐cheap). Preferred scouring methods by NaCOC color and/or age group were recommended for each visual sensibility (e.g., preferred scouring methods for fresh sensibility are Na2CO3 for ivory NaCOC, Na2CO3 and NaOH for green NaCOC, and boiling water for coyote brown NaCOC). In addition, the representative visual sensibilities of each NaCOC color (e.g., those of coyote brown NaCOC are dark, murky, heavy, vivid, warm, stale, strong, plain, and luxurious sensibilities) were identified for the women participants. Last, it was demonstrated that a bioscouring method can replace the traditional chemical methods for selected visual sensibilities (e.g., boiling water for luxurious sensibility). © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 27, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20384   open full text
• Design of a mobile social community platform for older Chinese people in Urban areas.
  Qin Gao, Daniel Ebert, Xing Chen, Yao Ding.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 27, 2012
  The increasing proportion of the older population and changes in the Chinese family structure make older Chinese people more vulnerable to social isolation than they previously were. This article illustrates the development of a mobile social application for older people in urban areas in China. The application facilitates the organization of leisure‐time activities between older people with similar interests living in adjacent areas. Preliminary social requirements of older people were collected through user interviews, and the major functions and features for the application were determined from the results of the interviews. Usability considerations for user interface design for older people were collected from literature and were integrated in the prototype of the mobile application. Older people's acceptance of the application was assessed by demonstrating the prototype to and interviewing 100 older people living in Beijing. The results highlight the critical impact of perceived benefits or relevancy on older people's adoption of new technology. Implications for the mobile social application for older Chinese people are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 27, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20523   open full text
• Ergonomics Improvement in Order Selection in a Refrigerated Environment.
  Paul H. P. Yeow, David T. Goomas.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 27, 2012
  The purpose was to conduct an ergonomics improvement in the order selection process in a refrigerated dairy factory. The workers' task was to pick dairy products to fulfill orders. Plant walkthroughs, unstructured interviews, and direct observation methods were used to study the existing process and problems. Ergonomics intervention was made by introducing a wireless handheld scanning system. A field experiment was carried out to compare the conventional paper pick list with the new system. Results indicated that workers faced difficulty in the paper pick list system, that is, to grasp a clipboard, turn pages, and place marks while wearing thick gloves. The new system eliminated this problem, and because of its ergonomics visual and audio feedback properties and more efficient process, it increased productivity (by 8.4%) and workers' satisfaction, simplified tasks, improved work quality, and reduced delay in invoicing. Replicating the intervention, other process‐based manufacturing companies may reap similar benefits. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 27, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20374   open full text
• Exploring the hotel service personnel's cognitive implications toward service attributes and ethics.
  Chin‐Feng Lin.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 27, 2012
  It is extremely important for service personnel to have high ethical standards, be committed to the business, and be willing to serve customers well, as this can help their employer to gain a competitive advantage. This study adopted the Kano model and proposed a service ethics scale to explore service personnel's cognitive implications toward hotel service attributes and ethics. Based on a literature review and expert interviews, this study summarized 40 service ethics variables. A total of 438 responses from hotel service personnel were collected. Through factor analysis, seven dimensions (factors) of service ethic measurement were confirmed. The analytical results showed that hotel attributes within the “service attitude” and “room facilities” factors are evaluated as attractive and one‐dimensional qualities by the service personnel with high ethical standards. Such attributes should thus be a focus of hotels to increase the level of customer satisfaction. Finally, the limitations and managerial implications of this work, as well as directions for future research, are also provided. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 27, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20349   open full text
• Evaluating bar coding‐aided medication administration through identification of nursing work deficiencies.
  Renran Tian, Byung Cheol Lee, Gulcin Yucel, Steven R. Abel, Kyle E. Hultgren, Vincent G. Duffy.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 25, 2012
  Health care information technology (IT) systems manage administrative and clinical processes more accurately and efficiently. However, their effects on clinical work flow are still not fully understood. In this article, we investigate the bar‐coded medication administration (BCMA) system for its effect on nurses working in inpatient departments. Evaluation is applied by examining work deficiencies before and after the IT system implementation based on a proposed nursing work model. A list of nurse‐perceived risks of work deficiencies related to the current BCMA system has been identified. Results show five main deficiencies that are mainly related to aspects of the IT environment and work schedule/process, including increased workload, IT systems downtime, unclear orders/task schedules, reduced time for patient‐care tasks, and redundant documentation. This study emphasizes the importance of understanding the reciprocal relationship between IT implementation and health care work system. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 25, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20397   open full text
• A computational model for early assessment of padded furniture comfort performance.
  Yary Volpe, Lapo Governi, Rocco Furferi.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 25, 2012
  Seating comfort has always been a primary issue in the design of padded furniture pieces. This paper proposes a computational model‐based methodology to assist the designer willing to take comfort into account as a primary requirement for padded furniture design. The methodology is based on a virtual mannequin, which can be tailored to reproduce the average target user, and the complete assembly of the main elements composing a typical armchair. Since contact pressure distribution is recognized to be strictly related to seating comfort perception, the contact occurring between these components, during the seating act, was simulated by means of a finite element solver and the resulting contact pressure distribution was computed. Several simulations were carried out with reference to a set of different armchair layout and materials; the obtained results showed a reasonable agreement with the experimental data recorded by means of a capacitive mat. Finally, by using an exemplificative criterion based on comfort‐related pressure distribution parameters, the authors demonstrate the possibility of selecting the best‐performing configurations prior to building a physical prototype. The proposed approach, tested on a complex seat and a wide range of possible materials, can be considered of general applicability since 1) the virtual mannequin, as opposed to what is reported in a number of scientific works, is not requested to closely resemble a single test subject, and 2) the selected seat structure and seat components encompass the most commonly used ones for this kind of product so that a few generally applicable considerations can be drawn. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 25, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20524   open full text
• Ergonomics in design processes: The journey from ergonomist toward workspace designer.
  Rikke Seim, Ole Broberg, Vibeke Andersen.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 25, 2012
  The aim of this article is to study the learning processes that take place in an interactive research project, which involved university researchers as well as ergonomic practitioners. The project simultaneously developed and tested a new framework—designated Workspace Design—for intervention in workplace design processes in companies. The basic idea in Workspace Design was that ergonomists should take a new role and apply new participatory methods when involved as consultants. The course of the project was evaluated by the application of social learning theory. The goal was to find out if and why the ergonomic practitioners had learned to practice the new concept by themselves. The results confirm that learning to some extent took place with help from two different mechanisms: learning by interacting and learning by practicing. Three factors are of crucial importance to the successful transfer of a new framework to ergonomic practitioners: 1) the practitioners must take part in developing and testing the framework and the subsequent interpretation of results, 2) they must have the opportunity to practice the framework in the daily consultancy setting and then reflect on their experiences, and 3) their consultancy organization must be committed to adopt the new framework. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 25, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20508   open full text
• Less expert workers and customer complaints: Automotive case study.
  Ricardo Mateo, Martín Tanco, Javier Santos.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 12, 2012
  Many researchers consider absenteeism to be a significant problem for employers. Absenteeism lowers the overall level of worker expertise, which may affect product quality and trigger an increase in customer complaints. This research was carried out in a prominent automobile manufacturing company, with an assembly line–driven rigid production process. This article gathered customer quality complaints registered during the 17 months after cars were delivered to customers, from one year of car production, to analyze how employee absenteeism affects customer quality complaints. The empirical evidence presented by this research in the automotive industry confirms that absenteeism does not lead, necessarily, to a decrease in quality. This evidence must make organization redefine the value of their expert workers. Moreover, these results could have an impact on assembly‐line design and the use of worker job‐rotation programs for technologically sophisticated assembly lines. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 12, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20396   open full text
• Competence assessment in higher education: A dynamic approach.
  Fariza Achcaoucaou, Laura Guitart‐Tarrés, Paloma Miravitlles‐Matamoros, Ana Núñez‐Carballosa, Mercé Bernardo, Andrea Bikfalvi.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 11, 2012
  Advances in the implementation of the European Higher Education Area have had a great impact on university environment and the process of design, evaluation, and implementation of new curricula. Identifying competence levels among students can help course organizers to improve both academic content and teaching/learning processes. The present study addresses this issue by examining the implementation of an Internet‐based competency assessment tool. We analyze the status and evolution of soft skills among students on the Official Masters program Creating and Managing Innovative Technology‐Based Companies at the University of Barcelona, using a tool known as Tricuspoid, specifically designed for evaluating entrepreneurial competences. The results show that the tool, first, enables students to identify their strong and weak points and to develop personal strategies for improvement; second, provides teachers with additional information about the effects of their input on student competences; and third, supplies useful information for quality management of the Master's programs, because it can detect trends in the training needs of new students and help to enhance content accordingly, and therefore match the design of the academic program to the requirements of labor market. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 11, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20394   open full text
• Upper body and finger posture evaluations at an electric iron assembly plant.
  Hui Wang, Jaejin Hwang, Kyung‐Sun Lee, Jong‐Seon Kwag, Joong‐Soon Jang, Myung‐Chul Jung.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 08, 2012
  This study evaluated the postures that workers used to perform 18 different tasks at an electric iron assembly plant by classifying the common simultaneous and individual postures of eight upper body segments and the fingers. The postures of the head, upper arms, lower arms, hand, and trunk were assigned to the categories of “Neutral,” “Bend,” “Twist,” and “Invisible.” The finger postures were also assigned to 14 categories. Overall, most workers bent the head, lower arms, and hands and used power grips to wrap all fingers around parts and tools. The upper arms and trunk were in neutral positions because the workers stood at a conveyor belt. Among 18 tasks, the task of “setting temperature” seemed the lightest work because most body segments were in neutral positions for more than 54.6% of a cycle time, while the task of “palletizing” seemed the most stressful work because all body segments were bent more than 54.4% of a cycle time. These posture differences among the tasks result from the different task characteristics of workplace design, task difficulty, and work duration. It would be useful in designing workplace and evaluating physical workload. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 08, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20362   open full text
• A review of web‐based dietary interventions: From the human–computer interaction practitioners' perspective.
  Bum chul Kwon, Inkyoung Hur, Ji Soo Yi.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 08, 2012
  Despite the popularity of web‐based dietary interventions, there are few evidence‐based, practical guidelines that help human–computer interaction (HCI) practitioners design new dietary intervention systems. We suspect that a lack of such guidelines is partly due to a chasm between two major research domains, healthcare and HCI. We believe that technologies developed in HCI are not used and evaluated by healthcare researchers, so we fail to accumulate experiences to develop guidelines. To assess the gap, we carefully selected 86 papers that employed and evaluated various web‐based dietary interventions in both fields and analyzed general characteristics, behavior change strategies, intervention media, and research outcomes used in each paper. Through this review, we reaffirmed our belief about the discrepancies between healthcare and HCI, and additional findings helped us offer some suggestions to close the gap. We also identified several interesting patterns among behavior change strategies, intervention media, and outcomes that provide potential topics for future research. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 08, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20371   open full text
• A preliminary study on pace rating using video technology.
  Peeradaech Suwittayaruk, Dirk Van Goubergen, Thurmon E. Lockhart.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 08, 2012
  Pace rating has always been recognized and treated as difficult, subjective, and even controversial. Recently, a new idea of pace rating using video technology by showing work motions on a reference video and an actual (real‐life) video simultaneously on a screen has been proposed. By adjusting the speed (and thus the pace) of the reference video, industrial engineers or workers without extensive background in time study can synchronize the motion patterns in both videos, thus quantifying the actual pace of the method under study using their visual sense. However, the impact of motion pattern compatibility between the two stimuli (work motions on the reference video and the actual video) has not been investigated in detail. In this study, we elaborate that motion pattern compatibility between the reference video and the actual video has a significant effect on correct determination of the response (the rated pace) in terms of both the accuracy and the precision. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 08, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20510   open full text
• CCPE: Methodology for a combined evaluation of cognitive and physical ergonomics in the interaction between human and machine.
  Lars‐Ola Bligård, Anna‐Lisa Osvalder.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 07, 2012
  Evaluation methods of today often focus on cognitive ergonomics (such as mental workload or usability) or physical ergonomics (such as physical workload or body posture). This article describes an analytical methodology of a joint systematic search for potential deficiencies in the human–machine interaction; such as high physical and mental workload, use errors, usability problems, and physical ergonomic errors. The purpose with the joint search is to achieve a more holistic evaluation approach and make the evaluation cost more effective than when using separate evaluation methods for cognitive and physical ergonomic aspects. The methodology is task‐based, which makes it possible to use both with focus on the device design, as in development projects; as well as with focus on the procedure, in the operative organization. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 07, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20512   open full text
• An empirical study of an internet marketing strategy for search engine optimization.
  Bih‐Yaw Shih, Chen‐Yuan Chen, Zih‐Siang Chen.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 07, 2012
  Over the past few years, more and more Internet visitors are reaching websites through search engines rather than through direct links from another web page. Search engines have come to occupy a prominent position in the online world and are being used to find all kinds of information including things, events, people, and places. The search engine is also coming to play a greater role as a critical link between firms that use the Internet to build their image and find their target customers. How to achieve a high ranking in such search results given certain search words or phrases has become an issue of much interest in Internet marketing. The purpose of the current study is to develop a search engine optimization (SEO) mechanism that can be used by an enterprise to improve the ranking of its website in the search engine results. Social networking sites are included in our exploration of Internet marketing strategy. The proposed mechanism is then applied in the operations of an online ebook store. The website rankings obtained from two well‐known online search engines (Google and Yahoo) are evaluated in efforts to explore a better strategy to ensure higher rankings. The results reveal that a well‐designed SEO strategy, with the incorporation of social networking, can effectively enhance the website's visibility and exposure. Such a strategy will eventually contribute to overall site traffic and improve interaction with customers. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 07, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20348   open full text
• A survey of hand anthropometry and biomechanical measurements of dentistry students in Turkey.
  Erman Cakit, Behice Durgun, Oya Cetik, Oguz Yoldas.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 06, 2012
  The objectives of this study were 1) to determine various hand dimensions and biomechanics measurements for Turkish dentistry students, 2) to evaluate the differences between males and females and between the right and left hand, and 3) to compare these data with similar data for other populations (Thai, Indian, Malaysian, British, Jordanian, Nigerian, Mexican, Bangladesh, and Vietnamese). The present study was undertaken to generate hand anthropometric and biomechanics data of 92 male and 73 female students studying at dentistry faculty. Sixty‐seven anthropometric and 26 biomechanics measurements were taken in both hands. The means, standard deviations, and percentile values were tabulated and compared with other populations. The results suggest that the Turkish female fingers are thinner than those of other females except Indians, and that the Turkish male fingers are wider than those of the other males. Furthermore, the results also suggest that the Turkish female strength in handgripping is greater than that of other females except British females, and the Turkish male handgrip strength is greater than that of other males except Americans. This study provides insights about Turkish hand dimensions and biomechanics; it can be a basis for future studies and the design of dental tools meant for the Turkish market. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 06, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20401   open full text
• Mobilizing company members' full innovative potential.
  Eva Velasco, Ibon Zamanillo, Teresa Garcia Del Valle.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. June 06, 2012
  Most of the literature on innovation management highlights the fundamental role played by people in the innovation process and the need to fully develop the creative and innovative potential of organizations' members. This article offers the result of extensive research carried out among some of the most innovative companies in the Basque Country, a highly innovative region located in the north of Spain. It draws interesting conclusions about how these innovative companies combine strong leadership, human resource practices, and an organizational culture that enhances innovation capabilities among the company's employees. More specifically, it answers questions such as the following: Are human resources policies, leadership, and innovation culture implemented equally in Basque innovative companies? Do companies make the same effort in deploying these elements or routines and practices related to them? Can we see a pattern in the use of these elements among innovative firms? © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  June 06, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20341   open full text
• Fun and accurate static balance training to enhance fall prevention ability of aged adults: A preliminary study.
  Chung‐Liang Lai, Shiuan‐Yu Tseng, Chien‐Hua Huang, Chun Pei, Wei‐Min Chi, Liang‐Ching Hsu, Tien‐Lung Sun.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 16, 2012
  Fall prevention is critical for aged adults as falling down has been cited as the number one cause of accidental death in aged adults. Static balance training is an effective method of increasing the balancing capacity in aged adults and reducing their fall risk. This article discusses a method that combines virtual reality (VR) technology with motion‐capture devices for aged adults to practice static balance training in a fun and accurate environment. The aged adults wore motion‐capture devices to interactively manipulate a three‐dimensional (3D) human model (HM) in a virtual environment to follow a 3D posture model (PM). The proposed method was implemented using commercial, off‐the‐shelf 3D tools. A preliminary usability study was conducted, and the results show that the parameters of PM design will affect the aged adult's posture control performance. Our method has several advantages over the currently existing approaches. First, by adjusting the PM parameters, different posture control programs could be designed to support customized static balance training. Second, collision detections between the HM and PM could be used to accurately monitor the posture control process and to interactively provide feedback to the trainee. Third, posture control quality could be quantitatively evaluated by analyzing the collision data between the HM and PM. The proposed method could be used to develop a fun, accurate, and customized static balancing capacity training environment for aged adults. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 16, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20345   open full text
• Ergonomic techniques for a mobile e‐invoice system: Operational requirements of an information management system.
  Chin‐Jui Chang, Huai‐Chien Kuo, Chen‐Yuan Chen, Tsung‐Hao Chen, Pei‐Yin Chung.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 14, 2012
  The newly developed marketing channel of electronic commerce (EC) is different from traditional channels and has been promoted by the government for a period of time. In EC, integrated information is not only provided to the enterprises involved but the procedures needed for trade are fewer, promoting environmentally friendly practices. It has, however, caused great variation in the business environment. The e‐invoice plays a vital role in keeping track of cash and business information, and its implementation will help to convert the whole supply chain to electronic form and lower overall operational costs. At present, e‐invoices are only used in certain situations such as for online shopping, for electronic purchases by suppliers, in value‐added networks, and so on. They are not applied in daily life or used by the public. However, a mobile e‐invoice system can be designed to connect the e‐invoice to the Web for the ordinary user. In this era of the mobile interactive Internet use, where individual computers interact with one another, this will help in the application of many kinds of network and real‐life services. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 14, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20340   open full text
• Overview of Human Factors and Ergonomics in the OR, with an Emphasis on Minimally Invasive Surgeries.
  Bethany R. Lowndes, M. Susan Hallbeck.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 14, 2012
  Operating rooms (OR) are where medical teams work to improve the health of a patient. However, because of the complexity of the procedures, errors and unsafe situations are likely to occur. These complications can lead to harm to the patient or medical professionals. Human factors and ergonomic professionals have been working to improve these unsafe conditions in the OR for over a century. However, with advances in technology, increased surgical complexity, as well as an increase in medical team members in the OR, there are still numerous improvements yet to be accomplished. Minimally invasive surgeries require an even more advanced approach to prevent errors due to technology, fatigue, and miscommunication. Human factors and ergonomic techniques provide the ability to greatly improve conditions for patients and surgeons alike. It is imperative that human factors and ergonomics continue to grow and facilitate technological advancements in healthcare. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 14, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20383   open full text
• Mediating effect between supportive culture and job satisfaction in administrative services at higher education institutions.
  Dian‐Yan Liou, Chia‐Ching Tu, Shu‐Hsuan Chang.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 11, 2012
  The purpose of this article is to examine halo effect and organizational commitment in relation to employees' job satisfaction and organizational supportive culture at universities in Taiwan. The study used a questionnaire to collect data from 210 female faculty members of Taiwanese universities. The conceptual model was tested mediating the effect of structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation. This study not only found the mediating role of halo effect and organizational commitment between supportive culture and job satisfaction, but also proved that a supportive culture in universities is directly and positively related to job satisfaction and that emotional and identification‐oriented organizational commitment may affect job satisfaction in a positive way among female faculty members. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 11, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20502   open full text
• Career abandonment intentions among software workers.
  Ricardo Colomo‐Palacios, Cristina Casado‐Lumbreras, Sanjay Misra, Pedro Soto‐Acosta.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 09, 2012
  Within the software development industry, human resources have been recognized as one of the most decisive and scarce resources. Today, the retention of skilled IT (information technology) personnel is a major issue for employers and recruiters as well, since IT career abandonment is a common practice and means not only the loss of personnel, knowledge, and skills, but also the loss of business opportunities. This article seeks to discover the main motivations young practitioners abandon the software career. To achieve this objective, two studies were conducted. The first study was qualitative (performed through semistructured interviews) and intended to discover the main variables affecting software career abandonment. The second study was quantitative, consisting of a Web‐based survey developed from the output of the first study and administered to a sample of 148 IT practitioners. Results show that work‐related, psychological, and emotional variable are the most relevant group of variables explaining IT career abandonment. More specifically, the three most important variables that motivate employees to abandon the career are effort–reward imbalance, perceived workload, and emotional exhaustion. In contrast, variables such as politics and infighting, uncool work, and insufficient resources influence to a lesser extent the decision to leave the career. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 09, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20509   open full text
• Comparison of three‐dimensional korean male anthropometric data with modeling data generated by digital human models.
  Seungwoo Hong, Eui S. Jung, Sungjoon Park.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 09, 2012
  The purpose of this study was first to extract the anthropometric data of typical Korean male adults, based on the three‐dimensional anthropometric data measured through the Size Korea project. The data were then analyzed to identify the differences in the anthropometric characteristics between typical Koreans and 3D Korean mannequinmannequins generated by digital human models. Revision equations were then suggested to improve the inaccuracy of digital human models. Typical Korean adults subject to the 3D body scan data were selected by factor analysis with respect to the 5th, 50th, and 95th percentiles. Comparisons of anthropometric differences included the differences of the height and length variables in the vertical direction and the breadth, depth, and circumference variables in the horizontal direction. These comparisons demonstrated the differences in the anthropometric characteristics between typical Koreans and Korean mannequins based on differences in body shape and proportions between Korean and Western populations. Typical Koreans have shorter legs and longer torso than those of such mannequins generated from their own modeling algorithms, and the body shape of Koreans is more of an inverted triangular shape compared to the models. Although 3D digital human models are required to be modified to appropriately reflect the Asian body shape, modification of the modeling algoritms is not available to the public. The revision equations that convert the Korean modeling data of RAMSIS and Human in CATIA into typical Korean anthropometric data were instead suggested by regression analysis. It is expected that the proposed revision equations will help the designer evaluate design alternatives and improve the suitability of ergonomic evaluation for Korean customers. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 09, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20511   open full text
• The Relationships among Internal Marketing, Job Satisfaction, Relationship Marketing, Customer Orientation, and Organizational Performance: An Empirical Study of TFT‐LCD Companies in Taiwan.
  Wann‐Yih Wu, Chia‐Chun Tsai, Chen‐Su Fu.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 08, 2012
  The thin film technology liquid‐crystal displays (TFT‐LCD) industry has become one of the main industries in Taiwan. In this research, we take Taiwanese TFT‐LCD industrial companies as the research objects and try to identify the interrelationships among internal marketing, job satisfaction, relationship marketing, customer orientation, and organizational performance. Although these companies are classified as part of the manufacturing industry, it is suggested that their service components could be the focus of greater attention to enhance the success of their business operations. Analytical results indicate that internal marketing, job satisfaction, and customer orientation have significant influences on relationship marketing as well as the organizational performance of TFT‐LCD manufacturing companies. Therefore, Taiwan TFT‐LCD manufacturing companies need to implement relationship marketing continuously, increase employee job satisfaction, and inspire employees to become more customer oriented in order to increase productivity. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 08, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20329   open full text
• Effects of driver and secondary task characteristics on lane change test performance.
  David Rodrick, Vivek Bhise, Vaithianathan Jothi.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 08, 2012
  The main objective of this study was to examine the sensitivity of the Lane Change Test (LCT) as proposed by International Organization of Standardization by evaluating LCT performance between primary and dual‐task conditions in simulated driving conditions. The study involved four different secondary tasks that involved tracking, visual search, memory, and data entry, each under two different difficulty levels. The primary task involved a series of lane changes on a three‐lane straight roadway where the actual lane change trajectory was compared with a normative model of the trajectory. Thus, the lane change performance was measured by the mean deviation of the actual driving trajectory from the normative trajectory. Twenty‐four participants within three age groups (25–34, 35–45, and >55 years) and equally distributed between male and female took part in the study. Thus, the study also investigated the effect of age and gender on driving performance. The results showed that secondary tasks that require visual attention and psychomotor coordination deteriorated driving performance the most, whereas tasks that required memory scanning and utilization of the auditory modality least affected driving performance. The study also found differences in LCT performances with respect to three different age categories and gender. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 08, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20342   open full text
• Multi‐Criteria Usability Evaluation of Electronic Devices in a Fuzzy Environment.
  Kumru Didem Atalay, Ergün Eraslan.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 08, 2012
  The user‐oriented design is the most important competition issue in today's market. In recent years, user‐oriented design (i.e., usability) has become expected, particularly in electronic devices. Usability considers high user satisfaction in conjunction with user performance. Usability of electronic products is essential for high customer satisfaction as well as product life cycles in companies. Therefore, MP3 players were selected among the electronic products. Designing usable MP3 players is extremely important for users who have close interaction with them. In this study, MP3 players of different types and sizes were selected and their usability evaluated. The usability criteria used in the MP3 players' evaluation were divided into two major categories: performance and emotional expectations. The alternatives were ranked with fuzzy multi‐criteria decision‐making methods, namely, Fuzzy TOPSIS (FTOPSIS), Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP), and Fuzzy Axiomatic Design Theory (FADT), and the results were compared. Although the same decision matrices and data obtained from semantic differential experiment were used for all fuzzy multi‐criteria decision‐making methods, it is shown that different rankings were obtained. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 08, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20385   open full text
• Cognitive Engineering of Automated Assembly Processes.
  Marcel Ph. Mayer, Barbara Odenthal, Marco Faber, Carsten Winkelholz, Christopher M. Schlick.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 08, 2012
  A cognitive control unit (CCU) for automated assembly systems aims to simulate human information processing at a rule‐based level of cognitive control. Focusing on the subtask of monitoring, a cognitive engineering approach for the design of the procedural knowledge base of the CCU is presented and a human‐centered simulation model of assembly processes on the basis of the cognitive architecture SOAR is introduced. The overall objective is to design and develop the system to conform to operators' expectations. To identify human assembly strategies to be included in the CCU, an empirical study with n = 16 participants was conducted and validated by an independent investigation with n = 25 persons. Furthermore, simulation models incorporating certain subsets of production rules were developed and evaluated regarding their goodness of prediction of human assembly behavior. The results show that the rule sets have a significant effect on the predictive power. The highest prediction accuracy was obtained with all identified assembly rules integrated. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 08, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20390   open full text
• A return on investment assessment model for a mobile user interface project at the predevelopment stage.
  Min‐Jeong Kim, Jonghun Park.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 07, 2012
  We present a new approach for assessing the business performance of a mobile user interface (UI) project at its predevelopment stage. Traditionally, the performance measurement of a mobile UI is made from the perspective of usability. Yet, as the number of mobile phone users is rapidly increasing, and, given that stakeholders are beginning to realize the importance of the UI, there is a growing demand to measure its business performance quantitatively as well as qualitatively. This article presents a model that can facilitate Return on Investment (ROI) estimations pertaining to the development of a mobile UI before the service with the new UI is launched. We base our method on stated preference data for the purpose of applying a conjoint analysis. Subsequently, we evaluate the viability of the proposed model quantitatively by comparing the estimated ROI at the predevelopment stage with the actual sales revenue achieved after the launch of the service. The proposed model was successfully applied to real‐world mobile UI design projects at Korea Telecom. Its benefits are demonstrated here through a case study. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 07, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20368   open full text
• The evaluation of double‐layer clothing in a semiconductor manufacturing environment.
  Te‐Hung Chen, Chih‐Long Lin, Mao‐Jiun J. Wang.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 07, 2012
  This study aims to investigate the influence of double‐layer clothing in a semiconductor manufacturing clean‐room environment. Twenty subjects including ten males and ten females participated in this study. Each subject completed four treatment combinations with four different inner pieces of clothing (i.e., 100% cotton, 70% cotton + 30% polyester, 65% polyester + 35% cotton, 100% polyester). The dependent measures included moisture absorption, skin temperature, and subjective responses in three body regions. The results indicate that wearing 100% polyester inner clothing caused a significant increase in inner microclimate relative humidity (RH; p < .01). Wearing 100% cotton inner clothing caused a significant increase in both inner microclimate RH (p < .01) and the inner clothing's moisture absorption. This was due to cotton fiber tends to trap more water molecules and allow less water vapor to pass through as compared to other types of fiber. Furthermore, wearing the blended fiber inner clothing caused lower RH in the inner and outer clothing microclimate (p < .05). Moreover, wearing 65% polyester + 35% cotton inner clothing had higher subjective comfort than did wearing 70% cotton + 30% polyester. In summary, the moisture absorption and water vapor transport characteristics of the inner clothing are the major factors affecting the comfort of wearing double‐layer clothing. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 07, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20369   open full text
• Indoor human wayfinding performance using vertical and horizontal signage in virtual reality.
  Elisângela Vilar, Francisco Rebelo, Paulo Noriega.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 07, 2012
  Disorientation has many costs. It may lead to physical fatigue, stress, and frustration and can also jeopardize people's safety. Designing wayfinding aids to fit people's needs can facilitate their environmental knowledge acquisition and, therefore, improve their wayfinding performance. The scope of this article is human wayfinding in unfamiliar buildings, considering only individual pedestrian movement in an immersive virtual environment. The purpose is to investigate the use of external information at a higher level of awareness (e.g., signage) as a wayfinding aid, as well as the use of immersive virtual reality (VR) to study indoor wayfinding. Fifty‐four volunteers accomplished a wayfinding task (i.e., finding a room from the building's entrance) within a virtual building, employing two types of signage systems (i.e., vertical and horizontal conditions). A neutral condition (no signage) was also considered as a control condition to be used as a baseline. Aside from the success of the wayfinding task (getting to the destination), other performance metrics (distance traveled, time spent, number of pauses, and average speed) were analyzed and compared. Although the differences found are not statistically significant, findings suggest that participants assigned to the horizontal condition traveled smaller distances, spent less time, made fewer pauses, and moved at higher average speed than those assigned to vertical and neutral conditions. Gender‐related differences were found statistically significant only in the average speed variable (females were faster than males). © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 07, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20503   open full text
• Examining the effects of conformal terrain features in advanced head‐up displays on flight performance and pilot situation awareness.
  Sang‐Hwan Kim, David B. Kaber.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 04, 2012
  Synthetic vision systems (SVS) render terrain features for pilots through cockpit displays using a GPS database and three‐dimensional graphical models. Enhanced vision systems (EVS) present infrared imagery of terrain using a forward‐looking sensor in the nose of an aircraft. The ultimate goal of SVS and EVS technologies is to support pilots in achieving safety under low‐visibility and night conditions comparable to clear, day conditions. This study assessed pilot performance and situation awareness (SA) effects of SVS and EVS imagery in an advanced head‐up display (HUD) during a simulated landing approach under instrument meteorological conditions. Videos of the landing with various HUD configurations were presented to eight pilots with a superimposed tracking task. The independent variables included four HUD feature configurations (baseline [no terrain imagery], SVS, EVS, and a combination of SVS and EVS), two visibility conditions, and four legs of the flight. Results indicated that SVS increased overall SA but degraded flight path control performance because of visual confusion with other display features. EVS increased flight path control accuracy but decreased system (aircraft) awareness because of visual distractions. The combination of SVS and EVS generated offsetting effects. Display configurations did not affect pilot spatial awareness. Flight performance was not different among phases of the approach, but levels and types of pilot SA did vary from leg to leg. These results are applicable to development of adaptive HUD features to support pilot performance. They support the use of multidimensional measures of SA for insight on pilot information processing with advanced aviation displays. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 04, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20501   open full text
• Neural network and classification approach in identifying customer behavior in the banking sector: A case study of an international bank.
  Francisca Nonyelum Ogwueleka, Sanjay Misra, Ricardo Colomo‐Palacios, Luis Fernandez.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 04, 2012
  The customer relationship focus for banks is in development of main competencies and strategies of building strong profitable customer relationships through considering and managing the customer impression, influence on the culture of the bank, satisfactory treatment, and assessment of valued relationship building. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are used after data segmentation and classification, where the designed model register records into two class sets, that is, the training and testing sets. ANN predicts new customer behavior from previously observed customer behavior after executing the process of learning from existing data. This article proposes an ANN model, which is developed using a six‐step procedure. The back‐propagation algorithm is used to train the ANN by adjusting its weights to minimize the difference between the current ANN output and the desired output. An evaluation process is conducted to determine whether the ANN has learned how to perform. The training process is halted periodically, and its performance is tested until an acceptable result is obtained. The principles underlying detection software are grounded in classical statistical decision theory. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 04, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20398   open full text
• Difficulties in quantifying financial losses that could be reduced by ergonomic solutions.
  Marcelo Pereira Da Silva, Fernando Gonçalves Amaral, Henrique Mandagara, Bernardo Henrique Leso.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 04, 2012
  There is currently a significant amount of discussion regarding new ways to insert ergonomics into the business community through adding financial benefits; however, analysis must be performed to justify this type of investment. Occupational problems that could be reduced by ergonomics solutions can be expressed as financial losses. Although the impact and importance of these losses are high, the difficulties in their quantification prevent adequate cost‐benefit analysis. This article aims to document evidence of the difficulties encountered when quantifying the financial losses that are caused by problems that could be reduced by ergonomic solutions. In this study, we performed a literature review concerning the financial costs related to occupational problems from the perspective of ergonomics. The results indicate that losses that occur mainly concern the productivity of the working process or the workers. The chief barriers documented in the scientific literature are the information cost, the multifactorial nature of the problem, the absence of information, and the methods of measurement. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 04, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20393   open full text
• ISO 9001 and the quality of working life: An empirical study in a peripheral service industry to the standard's home market.
  Iñaki Heras‐Saizarbitoria, Ernesto Cilleruelo, Erlantz Allur.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 02, 2012
  In recent years, the implementation of quality management systems based on ISO 9001 has clearly gone beyond the traditional industrial and service subsectors. It has started to have a growing influence on some peripheral subsectors to the standard home market, such as those of health and social services. In this article, the influence of the main global management meta‐standard is analyzed from a macroergonomic perspective in one of the aforementioned sectors. Based on an empirical exploratory study carried out in two Spanish organizations belonging to the subsector of residential care homes for elderly persons, the influence of the adoption of the standard is analyzed, focusing on the quality of working life of the direct attention employees. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 02, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20392   open full text
• Acoustic Risk Management.
  Juraj Sinay, Michaela Balážiková.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 02, 2012
  Modern civilization moves ahead with strong economical growth. Using a large number of new technologies and new machines in working procedures brings a proportional growth of noise and vibration. Noise and vibration have become an essential part of active safety measures because they are endangering the health of the employee as well as the public. Preventive solutions are ensured in new legislation and standards too. They facilitate high levels of unification of safety requirements for machines as well as the working environment from the acoustics point of view. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 02, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20376   open full text
• Analysis of frequency, intensity, and interference of discomfort in computerized numeric control machine operations.
  Krishnamoorthy Muthukumar, Krishnasamy Sankaranarayanasamy, Anindya Kumar Ganguli.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 02, 2012
  The introduction of Computerized Numeric Control (CNC) technology in manufacturing industries revolutionized the production process a few decades back. There are some health and safety problems associated with these machine operations, however. The main objectives of the present work is to study the health and safety issues associated with the CNC machines with respect to control and display, specifically to determine the frequency, intensity of discomfort, and its interference in operating different CNC machines as reported by the workers operating them. The postural discomfort associated with CNC machines was studied, and the frequency, intensity of discomfort, and interference of the level of discomfort with the participants' ability to work were recorded and analyzed. The study revealed that 20.5% of the operators reported discomfort 1 or 2 times, 25.4% experienced discomfort 3 to 4 times in a week, 37.7% had discomfort daily, and 16.4% reported discomfort several times a day. Discomfort was reported in all the body parts involved (lower back, neck, upper back, shoulder, and leg), but the highest discomfort scores were associated with the shoulder and arm region. Workers reporting discomfort several times a day also reported high mean discomfort scores. The study established that the frequency and intensity of the discomfort in all body parts is related to the position of the control panel and display. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 02, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20357   open full text
• The effect of mixed American–Chinese group composition on computer‐mediated group decision making.
  Hui Li, Pei‐Luen Patrick Rau, Gavriel Salvendy.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 01, 2012
  The objective of this study was to investigate the influences of cultural diversity and group composition on computer‐mediated group decision making for mixed American–Chinese groups. Seventy‐five Chinese and fifty Americans participated in a laboratory experiment. Twenty‐five five‐person groups were formed. Each group performed four preference decision‐making tasks with different levels of impact and complexity. Group‐level measurements of group outcomes and individual‐level measurements of group processes were collected. The results indicated that cultural diversity had both positive and negative effects on group decision making. Culturally heterogeneous groups made better decisions than did culturally homogeneous groups, but took longer to make decisions. Moreover, in terms of improvement of the quality of decisions, groups with a balanced representation from each culture outperformed unbalanced groups. Meanwhile, participants in the balanced groups had greater sensitivity to leader emergence and perceived less conflict. The results of this study also revealed the effects of self‐construal and self‐efficacy in communication on group performance. Implications for intercultural management were provided. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 01, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20391   open full text
• Push/Pull Risk Factors at Workstations: A Case‐Control Study of Mexican Industrial Workers.
  Lilia R. Prado‐León.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. May 01, 2012
  The objective of this study was to quantify and assess whether push/pull tasks in the workplace are risk factors for lower back pain etiology. A case‐control study was conducted of 231 industrial workers 18–55 years old who were insured by the Mexican Social Security Institute (MSSI) in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area of Jalisco, Mexico. Exposure was evaluated via a questionnaire. Multivariate analysis using conditional logistic regression showed risks for push/pull tasks (odds ratio = 5.7, 95% confidence interval, 1.4–23.1) adjusted for lifting, carrying, and driving work. The fraction attributable to push/pull tasks was 0.58, suggesting that the risk of developing lumbar spondyloarthrosis might be reduced by 58% with ergonomic redesign for pushing and pulling tasks at workstations. Additional research is needed to confirm this relationship and will ideally incorporate a greater number of subjects to assure detailed analyses of exposure categories and facilitate new comparisons with the results of the present study. © 2012Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  May 01, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20380   open full text
• The “purification” for multiagent textile production manufacturing and management system and its optimization design.
  Jingfeng Shao, Sheng Liu, Jinfu Wang, Yonggang Li, Haiping Liu.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. April 27, 2012
  To solve the backward status of the textile enterprise, which included the inefficiency of management work, the complexity of business process, and the isolation of business data, first, through using multiagent technology, a production manufacturing and management system structure model based on multiagents was proposed, the rationality of the model was introduced, and the existed production planning was optimized. Then, a flexible collaboration management platform was formed, which was for production manufacturing and management. Meanwhile, the correlation degree among production data was analyzed, and the influencing factors affecting the accuracy of production data was introduced via brittleness theory and fuzz C means clustering algorithm (FCM). Third, a coupling relationship model for analyzing influencing factor, and a dynamic quality performance model based on brittleness theory was designed, respectively. As proved in practice, the multiagent system has strengthened the interactivity of both the user and the system, met the requirements of production manufacturing and management, ensured the correctness of business data, achieved the heterogeneous integration of production data, and promoted the information development of the textile industry. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  April 27, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20504   open full text
• Patient safety and reprocessing: A usability test of the endoscope reprocessing procedure.
  Jonathan D. Jolly, Emily A. Hildebrand, Russell J. Branaghan, T. B. Garland, Dana Epstein, Judith Babcock‐Parziale, Victoria Brown.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. April 24, 2012
  When endoscopes are reprocessed correctly, endoscopy is a safe procedure. Recent incidents of insufficient reprocessing, however, have resulted in public concern. Results of a usability test of the reprocessing procedure identified that none of 24 users, naïve to the procedure, could reprocess endoscopes correctly, nor could they correctly complete any of the component tasks in the procedure. Five of the 76 subtasks were identified as particularly critical. These were 1) brushing the instrument channel, 2) attaching the channel plug and injection tube, 3) identifying leaks, 4) blowing water out of the endoscope's internal channels during high‐level disinfection, and 5) aspirating solution through the endoscope to remove debris loosened by brushing. Additionally, three themes were identified as causes of the majority of problems: 1) lack of visibility, 2) high memory demands, and 3) insufficient user feedback. Design recommendations for these problems are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  April 24, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20386   open full text
• A comparative study of head‐mounted and table‐mounted augmented vision systems for assembly error detection.
  Barbara Odenthal, Marcel Ph. Mayer, Wolfgang Kabuß, Christopher M. Schlick.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. April 24, 2012
  Within the Cluster of Excellence “Integrative Production Technology for High‐Wage Countries,” a research project has been initiated to study self‐optimizing assembly cells and to design innovative ergonomic human–machine interfaces of the cell's numerical control. An experimental assembly cell was designed in which two robots carry out a certain repertoire of coordinated pick‐and‐place operations with small workpieces. To support the human operator while monitoring the operations and intervening in the case of assembly errors, an Augmented Vision System (AVS) has been designed and developed. The study described in this article deals with the ergonomic presentation of assembly information by the AVS to support the human operator in detecting assembly errors in small workpieces. Two laboratory experiments were carried out to compare two visual display types and to investigate different variations of presenting assembly information. Forty‐eight subjects participated in the experiments. The statistical analysis shows that the use of a head‐mounted display instead of a common table‐mounted display for the AVS increases the accuracy of assembly error detection significantly (α = 0.05). In contrast, a trend toward a longer detection time was found. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  April 24, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20364   open full text
• Mitigating Product Hazards via User Warnings Alone: When/Why “Warnings‐Only” Approaches Are Likely to Fail.
  David R. Lenorovitz, Edward W. Karnes, S. David Leonard.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. April 24, 2012
  Some products may involve hazards in their use. Manufacturers are obligated to evaluate such hazards and to abate them according to a hierarchy of hazard control approaches, namely, 1) to design them out, 2) to shield users from their effects, or 3) to adequately warn users of their danger(s). Warnings are last in this hierarchy because they provide a lesser guarantee of success. Additionally, warnings developed for this purpose may be inadequate because of a variety of factors, including the warning's clarity/understandability, its high cost of compliance, the need for responses beyond the users' capabilities, the need for unavailable or difficult‐to‐use protective equipment, or asking users to perform actions contrary to previously learned or innately reactive behaviors. This article describes problems with three types of vehicles that contained known hazards—where the manufacturer relied solely on product warnings to mitigate that hazard, and, in turn, provided warnings that were inadequate for one or more of these reasons. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  April 24, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20379   open full text
• Association of risk factors with musculoskeletal disorders among male commercial bus drivers in Malaysia.
  Shamsul Bahri M. Tamrin, Kazuhito Yokoyama, Nasaruddin Aziz, Setsuo Maeda.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. April 24, 2012
  A national study in Malaysia was conducted with the main objective being to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and the association between risk factors and MSDs among Malaysian bus drivers. Cross‐sectional data were collected from 1,181 male commercial bus drivers in Malaysia using questionnaires to determine demographic, working characteristics and a translated Nordic questionnaire to determine MSD complaints. A Human Vibration Meter was used to measure whole body vibration (WBV) exposure, and postural analysis was used to evaluate awkward working posture. To assess psychological factors, the validated Profile of Mood States (POMS) was used. The overall prevalence of MSD was 81.8% and, by body parts, low back pain was reported to be the highest complaint of lifetime MSD (58.5%) compared to other body parts. The levels of WBV acceleration magnitude A(8) exceed the European Union Directive (0.54 m/s2 root‐mean‐square [r.m.s.] acceleration), and only 1.2% of the bus drivers adopt more than 40% of awkward postures while driving. Logistic regression analysis, controlling for age, income, education level, and work activities, revealed that factors such as lack of seat adjustability, uncomfortable seat, seat's material, seat contour and design, WBV exposure, smoking, frequency of daily trips, duration of daily driving, prolonged sitting, working part time, and psychological factors (namely, feeling stress, feeling worried, feeling fatigued) were important risk factors of MSDs among Malaysian bus drivers. As a conclusion, bus drivers are exposed to a combination of risk factors that may lead to an increased risk of developing MSDs. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  April 24, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20387   open full text
• Integrating refined kano model, quality function deployment, and grey relational analysis to improve service quality of nursing homes.
  Tsu‐Ming Yeh, Shun‐Hsing Chen.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. April 06, 2012
  Because of the aging trend in Taiwan, long‐term care plays an important role in the medical system. Finding ways to ensure medical and service quality in long‐term care facilities requires immediate attention. This study discusses service quality in nursing homes and the factors that affect service quality in Taiwan in a way that benefits the management of these organizations. Using a refined Kano model analysis, 12 high value‐added qualities, 4 low value‐added qualities, 1 critical quality, 6 required qualities, 1 potential quality, and 2 care‐free qualities were found. Furthermore, using a combination of quality function deployment and Grey relational analysis (GRA), it was found that medical service standards of the nursing homes require improvement. Items such as “educational training,'' “professional capability,” “degree of understanding patients,” “communication skills,” and “crisis management ability” were provided by an equal‐weight GRA. The improvement sequence was “educational training,” “professional capability,” “communication skills,” “understanding of patients,” and “crisis management ability” in an equal‐weight quantified GRA. The research results can provide nursing homes with an improvement sequence for service design and operational management. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  April 06, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20358   open full text
• An Integrated Model for Customer Relationship Management: An Analysis and Empirical Study.
  Lai‐Yu Cheng, Ching‐Chow Yang, Hui‐Ming Teng.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. April 04, 2012
  Ensuring customer satisfaction and maintaining long‐term relationships with customers have become essential for survival among competitive service industries. The present study addresses this need by proposing a conceptually integrated four‐phase model that incorporates elements of customer relationship management (CRM) and customer satisfaction (represented by the extended American Customer Satisfaction Index model). Then, this study formulates structural equation modeling to test various research hypotheses related to the effect of the CRM initiative. An empirical study of 143 leading Taiwanese service firms distributed among seven service industries was conducted. The implementation levels of various constructs, input (customer knowledge), service provision (customer interactions), output quality, perceived quality, perceived value, perception of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, purchasing intention, and profits of CRM are assessed in a range of service industries by means of a questionnaire survey and in‐depth interviews. The results of the empirical study reveal statistically significant influences among various constructs of the CRM integrated model. These results also represent a useful reference for managers of service organizations that could be used to improve the profitability and implementation level of CRM. The present study represents an important investigation in the development of an integrated CRM implementation system for service industries. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  April 04, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20343   open full text
• Development and testing of a new computerized link analysis system.
  Y. Zhao, S. Hignett, N. J. Mansfield.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. April 04, 2012
  Link analysis (LA) is a popular ergonomic tool for studying and improving the layout of workspaces. It uses a data (event) recording method to input interactions of human behavior with their environment. The traditional “pen and paper'' method of LA is cumbersome, time consuming, and gives limited outputs. To address these limitations, the computerized link analysis (CLA) system was developed and tested in laboratory and real‐world environments. CLA offers an integrated task analysis tool, including traditional LA functions (layout, event recording) with more detail for operator activities, time‐motion functions, and multioperator data recording. As well as the conventional LA results (link diagrams and link tables), there are additional outputs for time‐event lists (start/end time, duration, chronology, additional notes, importance, and operator ID), and processed link diagrams with the link direction and frequency. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  April 04, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20400   open full text
• An Integrated Model of the Toyota Production System with Total Quality Management and People Factors.
  Ching‐Chow Yang, King‐Jang Yang.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. March 30, 2012
  The Toyota production system (TPS), or lean production, has been associated with many benefits for manufacturing firms that implement the system. However, to implement the TPS successfully, it is necessary to integrate the so‐called “hard side” of the system (that is, the technical aspects of material handling) with the “soft side” of the program (that is, the aspects associated with human factors). The present study makes a contribution to such a holistic view of the TPS by proposing an integrated model that consists of the technical aspects of the TPS, together with elements associated with total quality management (TQM), human resources management (HRM), and certain identified “people factors.” The study then uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to test this holistic model using data obtained from a questionnaire survey of 153 Taiwanese manufacturing firms. The empirical study confirms the appropriateness of the causal model, which is evaluated by several goodness‐of‐fit methods. The study confirms the proposition that the inclusion of the “people factors” together with TQM and HRM significantly improves the realization of benefits associated with the TPS practices of “just‐in‐time” (JIT) and “autonomation.” The conclusion is that such an integrated model provides a much more effective “lean system” and has the potential to produce significantly enhanced benefits for firms that implement it. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  March 30, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20335   open full text
• Effect of Celebrity Endorsements on Consumer Purchase Intentions: Advertising Effect and Advertising Appeal as Mediators.
  Jau‐Shyong Wang, Yen‐Fen Cheng, Yi‐Ling Chu.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. March 30, 2012
  Advertising has become the most efficient way for companies to transmit product information to consumers. Words and images are often used to display the product and thus attract the attention of consumers. Of all types of endorsement, celebrity endorsement is the marketing method most frequently used by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs use celebrity endorsement to increase consumer purchasing motivation. Not only can celebrity endorsements attract consumers to purchase products, but the appeal of statements by celebrities can also affect consumer product image. Different appeal methods result in different advertising effects. This study used the case of advertising spokespersons for cell phones with general consumers as subjects. A total of 202 valid samples obtained through the questionnaire survey and used partial least squares regression analysis. The results showed that celebrity endorsements, advertising appeal, and advertising effect significantly and positively affect consumer purchase intentions. Moreover, advertising appeal and advertising effect exert a partial mediating effect on the relationship between celebrity endorsement and purchase intention. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  March 30, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20336   open full text
• Assessment of resource scheduling changes on flight training effectiveness using discrete event simulation.
  Dahai Liu, Melissa A. Findlay.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. March 30, 2012
  This study presented a resource scheduling model of the Flight Training Department at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University's Daytona Beach Campus built using Discrete Event Simulation, to assess the effect of changes in the resources available to students in Flight Training Device (FTD) course modules on Flight Training effectiveness. Historical data from the Flight Training Department was used to build and validate the model. Results showed that, on average, students who had more resources available to them during FTD modules completed the training program 1 day earlier than those in the current system. As well, Cessna 172 and PA44 Aircraft average daily utilization increased whereas Cessna 172 S and PA44 FTD average daily utilization decreased. These results are discussed and conclusions are given at the end of this paper. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  March 30, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20292   open full text
• Improving SEM inspection performance in semiconductor manufacturing industry.
  Chih‐Long Lin, Fu‐Sheng Chen, Li‐Jen Twu, Mao‐Jiun J. Wang.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. March 20, 2012
  Scanning electron microscope (SEM) station is one of the major quality control tasks in wafer manufacturing process. During the process of examining defects on a screen for a certain period of time, SEM inspectors frequently complain about visual fatigue problems. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of wafer‐coating condition (noncoating treatment and gold‐coating treatment) and liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor size (14‐inch and 19‐inch monitor) from the aspects of objective visual fatigue measures (NPA and CFF), subjective eye fatigue rating, and inspection performance. Twelve SEM inspectors participated in this experiment. The results indicated that the treatment of gold‐coating wafer showed significant difference on reducing objective visual fatigue in NPA and CFF change. Using a 19‐inch LCD monitor also demonstrated the effect on reducing eye fatigue as well as improving inspection performance. The improvement of using a gold‐coating treatment wafer and a 19‐inch LCD monitor to reduce SEM inspectors' visual fatigue and to increase inspection performance is thus recommended. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  March 20, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20360   open full text
• The nature of expertise in scheduling: The case of timetabling.
  Jean‐Michel Hoc, Clément Guerin, Nasser Mebarki.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. March 20, 2012
  This study aims to gain greater insight into scheduling expertise by comparing the work of experts and novices when designing a university timetable. We assumed that the scheduling activity would take place within two dual spaces: the constraints space (CS) and the objects space (OS). Constraints are defined in the strictest sense as relations between variables that cannot be represented in the solution (timetable), whereas objects are constraint satisfactions that can be thus represented. The study shows that experts were more likely than novices to use external representations as activity support. They satisfied many constraints with partially defined objects. On the contrary, novices devoted a long time to managing constraints in their heads before defining only fully specified objects (concrete objects). The objects space could be a suitable activity support for experts. Novices, on the other hand, could benefit from support in managing constraints and translating constraints into objects. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  March 20, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20359   open full text
• Lean production – an evaluation of the possibilities for an employee supportive lean practice.
  Peter Hasle.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. January 04, 2012
  Lean is a contested concept. It has been praised for empowering employees, and it has been criticized for intensifying work and impairing the health and well‐being of employees. This article is reviewing the literature on the relations between lean and employees, and suggests ways for the development of an employee‐supportive lean practice. There is good evidence of lean's adverse consequences for low‐skilled employees in the auto industry and other assembly type manufacturing work, but there are also examples of more positive outcomes. It is important to emphasize that, not only lean thinking, but also the context and implementation of lean have consequences for employee outcomes. Research is still needed to demonstrate it in real life, but this analysis of lean thinking, context, and implementation suggests possibilities for developing a lean practice that is genuinely employee‐supportive. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  January 04, 2012   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20350   open full text
• Assessing software quality using the markov decision processes.
  Omer Korkmaz, Ibrahim Akman, Sofiya Ostrovska.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. December 21, 2011
  Quality of software is one of the most critical concerns in software system development, and many products fail to meet the quality objectives when constructed initially. Software quality is highly affected by the development process's actual dynamics. This article proposes the use of the Markov decision process (MDP) for the assessment of software quality because MDP is a useful technique to abstract the model of dynamics of the development process and to test its impact on quality. Additionally, the MDP modeling of the dynamics leads to early prediction of the quality, from the design phases all the way through the different stages of development. The proposed approach is based on the stochastic nature of the software development process, including project architecture, construction strategy of Software Quality Assurance system, its qualification actions, and team assignment strategy. It accepts these factors as inputs, generating a relative quality degree as an output. The proposed approach has been demonstrated for the design phase with a case study taken from the literature. The results prove its robustness and capability to identify appropriate policies in terms of quality, cost, and time. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  December 21, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20355   open full text
• The effect of LED lighting on color discrimination and preference of elderly people.
  Wenting Cheng, Jiaqi Ju, Yaojie Sun, Yandan Lin.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. December 12, 2011
  The purpose of this study is to find out the effects of light‐emitting diode (LED) lighting on elderly people's color discrimination and preference, to improve the lighting environment for elderly people. In this study, experiments were conducted under LED lighting with two different spectra (with color‐correlated temperature [CCT] of 2800K and 6000K), and three different illuminance levels (30lx; 100lx; 1000lx). Six elderly observers (aged 55–65 years) participated in the experiments and were exposed to each lighting condition to finish one trial of a color discrimination test (Farnsworth–Munsell 100‐Hue Test) and a 7‐scale, 6‐item preference evaluation test. We conclude that elderly people perform better in color discrimination with higher CCT of LED light sources, which compensate for their decreased lens transmission at short wavelength. Their performance also increases with higher illuminance (30lx‐1000lx) of LED lighting. Meanwhile, they prefer higher illuminance, which makes them find the lighting environment more comfortable, brighter, and better for reading; but for CCT, although they feel a higher CCT is better for reading, they still have different tastes regarding CCT of light sources. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  December 12, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20333   open full text
• The influence of elderly vision degradation on subjective rating of floor slipperiness.
  Yao‐Wen Hsu.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. December 12, 2011
  This study investigated the influence of elderly vision degradation on subjective rating of floor slipperiness and the correlation between the subjective ratings and objective measures. Slips and falls are common causes of injures and fatalities in the elderly population. Many slips and falls may be attributed to environmental risks and misjudgment of floor slipperiness by vision degradation. Environmental risks are generally caused by a slippery floor. The coefficient of friction (COF) is one of the most commonly used indices to assess floor slipperiness. The measurements conducted in this study acquired the COF on four floors under three surface conditions (dry, sand‐covered, and wet). The results showed that the dry condition has the highest COF and the wet condition has the lowest. Thirty elderly persons and thirty younger persons were recruited for vision screening. The vision degradation in elders was significant, with most elders having eye diseases. The subjective ratings of floor slipperiness were recorded for these subjects. Although both age groups had a similar rating trend with the COF measures, the correlation between rating and COF for younger persons was significantly stronger than that for elders. The results also showed that the smooth floor and the sand‐covered condition both cause lower correlation coefficients between rating and COF for elders. The results could be used to reduce slip and fall accidents by elderly persons. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  December 12, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20334   open full text
• Coordination and task interdependence during schedule adaptation.
  Cees de Snoo, Wout van Wezel.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. December 12, 2011
  This article discusses the influence of organizational and behavioral variables on coordination between planners during plan adaptation. Fast communication and mutual alignment are necessary to maintain schedule feasibility in a situation with several schedulers. Therefore, coordination modes are required that facilitate communication and joint problem solving. Moreover, building on interdependence theory, we hypothesize that the schedulers' perceptions of task interdependence influence rescheduling performance. Experimental results indicate that a group decision‐making coordination mode enforcing cooperation outperforms a distributed decision‐making coordination mode involving emergent alignment. The level of perceived task interdependence explains this better performance. Therefore, perceptions of task interdependence are put forward as an important behavioral factor influencing rescheduling performance, with several important implications for theory and practice. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  December 12, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20363   open full text
• JD‐C Model to Explain Burnout in Frontline Workers: The Useful Contribution of Emotional Demands.
  Filipa Castanheira, Maria José Chambel.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. December 05, 2011
  Using the Job Demands‐Control (JD‐C) model as the theoretical framework, this study investigated the relationships among burnout, job demands, and autonomy. With a sample of 802 employees from a Portuguese bank, we demonstrated the importance of taking into account emotional job demands when studying the burnout of service providers. Thereby, the unique explanatory power of each emotional demand on burnout was tested with regression analysis, after controlling for the original demands and autonomy variables from the JD‐C model along with demographic variables. The results confirmed the relevance of the study model in explaining burnout and indicated that emotional dissonance was associated with employee burnout, beyond quantitative demands and autonomy. As expected, hierarchical regression analysis provided evidence for the main effects of quantitative demands, emotional dissonance, and autonomy on burnout. These findings have several implications for designing jobs involving interactions with clients. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  December 05, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20326   open full text
• A cognitive model for meetings in the software development process.
  Sanjay Misra, Ibrahim Akman.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. November 11, 2011
  Meetings are at the heart of the software development process (SDP) and can be of different types. The present article first proposes an abstract cognitive model for meetings, which represents how different types of meetings are affected by cognitive activities at different stages within the SDP. Second, and based on the analysis of meetings at different stages of SDP, it proposes the removal of such meetings from some of the stages within the program by using a cognitive evaluation model for meetings and their replacement, instead, with information and communication technology tools and techniques by means of a cognitive evaluation model. The abstract cognitive model and the evaluation model are validated empirically through experimentation, carried out through a detailed analysis of a target group composed of information technology professionals. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  November 11, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20344   open full text
• An experimental study to evaluate the effect of ambient temperature during manual lifting and design of optimal task parameters.
  Ravindra Pratap Singh, Ajay Batish, T. P. Singh, Anirban Bhattacharya.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. October 21, 2011
  In the present study, the effect of lifting task parameters on the heart rate and oxygen uptake of workers during manual lifting tasks in different ambient conditions was evaluated. The experiments conducted in two different temperature conditions showed a significantly higher oxygen uptake and heart rate in colder conditions as compared to warmer conditions. Three other factors, namely, load, lifting frequency, and vertical distance were found to significant affect the responses. Various combinations of significant factors were used to calculate oxygen uptake and heart rate. These were then compared with the safe limits as per the maximum aerobic capacity of workers. Based on these comparisons, the safe combinations were identified that can be used to design lifting tasks in varied ambient conditions. The study further concluded that lifting tasks performed in winter should have different relaxation or fatigue allowances built into the cycle time of the task to compensate for higher exertion. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  October 21, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20353   open full text
• Complexity Questionnaires of Visual Displays: A Validation Study of Two Information Complexity Questionnaires of Visual Displays.
  Chen Ling, Miguel Lopez, Randa Shehab.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. October 20, 2011
  With the prevalent use of visual interfaces and the increasing demand to display more information, information complexity in human–computer interfaces becomes a major concern for designers. Complex interfaces may adversely affect the effectiveness, efficiency, and even the operational safety of a system. Previously, two questionnaires were developed by researchers at the Federal Aviation Administration to evaluate information complexity of air traffic control displays. This study adapted the questionnaires for commercial visual interfaces and validated them with two types of tasks on three travel websites. The questionnaire measures the information complexity of a visual display based on perceptual, cognitive, and action complexity in terms of three complexity factors: quantity, variety, and relation. The result demonstrates that the questionnaire that uses multiple items for measuring complexity construct has good reliability, validity, and sensitivity. Information complexity is also found to be negatively correlated with usability and positively correlated with mental workload. The contribution of the study includes validating the theoretical framework for the information complexity concept through the use of questionnaires and providing a practical tool for designers to measure information complexity of the visual display for iterative improvement. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  October 20, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20327   open full text
• Ergonomic Analysis of Head‐Mounted Night Vision Goggle Systems in Simulated Ground Operations.
  Hung‐Sheng Tai, Yung‐Hui Lee, Bor‐Shong Liu, Cheng‐Lang Kuo.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. October 20, 2011
  This study compared the mounting time and strain on the head‐neck while using an old model (forehead and cheek supported) and a new model (head harness supported) of head‐mounted night vision goggle systems in the postures of standing, sitting, and lying prone. The results showed that effectively reducing the mounting time was attributed to the ease and less time required for length adjustments of the head harness in the new model. The novel device received higher positive subjective ratings for convenience and comfort while wearing than did the old model. Although the weight of the new model was decreased to 0.794 kg and the length was reduced to 0.155 m, the loads on the head‐neck complex remained high. These findings suggest that a rifle should be fitted with the night vision goggle or handheld model to decrease neck‐shoulder workload if the prone position is the most frequent and important posture for soldiers. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  October 20, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20323   open full text
• Work Environment and the Bottom Line: Survey of Tools Relating Work Environment to Business Results.
  Linda Maria Rose, Ulf Erik Orrenius, Walther Patrick Neumann.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. October 20, 2011
  Insufficient knowledge of how the working environment (WE) impacts company performance leads to a poor basis for managerial decision making. The objective of this study was to survey and evaluate available tools relating WE to business results. Nine tools were identified and qualitatively evaluated using 11 criteria. The tools were clustered into three categories, ranging from analysis of WE risks as well as calculation of their economic impact to solely investment analysis. Shortcomings in the tools include insufficient attention to quality and productivity issues and insufficient guidance for users. Although further methodological development is indicated, researchers should also attend to the factors affecting tool uptake and application as well as the potential to integrate such analysis into companies' regular accounting systems. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  October 20, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20324   open full text
• Developing an integrated display of health data for aging in place.
  Yang Gong, Arpita Chandra.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. October 20, 2011
  The goal of aging in place is to allow seniors to remain in the environment of their choice with supportive services as needed, living independently in old age. TigerPlace, a retirement community of residents assisting aging in place, has been equipped with different types of sensors with the potential of monitoring, identifying, and predicting deteriorating health conditions. Currently, the seniors' medical records and telemedicine data are stored in separate systems. Date‐ and time‐stamped sensor data are stored in SQL databases and are not linked with the senior's personal health records. The systems related to health care data and daily activities are separately stored and do not communicate with each other. Using a human‐centered design and evaluation framework, we conducted user, task, function, and representation analyses, which provide an in‐depth description of user characteristics, preferences, systems functionality, basic tasks, and effective representations in such an information‐distributed setting. In this article, we report our investigation of such an aging in place setting and present our preliminary results of analyses on design requirements and a couple of human‐centered prototypes aiming at an integrated health data display. The project was proposed to design a holistic and comprehensive view of senior residents' health data that are currently available in disparate systems. The integrated health data display must be human‐centered and should inform senior residents and health care providers in a timely manner to support decision making. This design demonstrates our effort to prototype a human‐centered user interface for enhancing aging in place. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  October 20, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20346   open full text
• A truncated sum of processing‐times‐based learning model for a two‐machine flowshop scheduling problem.
  Kunjung Lai, Peng‐Hsiang Hsu, Ping‐Ho Ting, Chin‐Chia Wu.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. October 20, 2011
  Scheduling with learning effects has gained increasing attention in recent years. A well‐known learning model is called “sum‐of‐processing‐times‐based learning” in which the actual processing time of a job is a nonincreasing function of the jobs already processed. However, the actual processing time of a given job drops to zero precipitously when the normal job processing times are large. Moreover, the concept of learning process is relatively unexplored in a flowshop environment. Motivated by these observations, this article addresses a two‐machine flowshop problem with a truncated learning effect. The objective is to find an optimal schedule to minimize the total completion time. First, a branch‐and‐bound algorithm incorporating with a dominance property and four lower bounds is developed to derive the optimal solution. Then three simulated annealing algorithms are also proposed for near‐optimal solution. The experimental results indicated that the branch‐and‐bound algorithm can solve instances up to 18 jobs, and the proposed simulated annealing algorithm performs well in item of CPU time and error percentage. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  October 20, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20365   open full text
• Effect of Pilot and Air Traffic Control Experiences and Automation Management Strategies on Unmanned Aircraft Systems Mission Task Performance.
  Dahai Liu, Christopher Reynolds, Dennis Vincenzi, Shawn Doherty.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. October 11, 2011
  The demand for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) capabilities is rapidly increasing in the civilian sector. UAS operations, however, will not be carried out in the National Airspace System until safety concerns are alleviated. Among these concerns is determining the appropriate level of automation in conjunction with a suitable pilot who exhibits the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to safely operate these systems. This research examined two levels of automation: management by consent (MBC) and management by exception (MBE), in conjunction with pilot experiences while operating an unmanned aircraft simulator. The user experiences encompass three individual groups: pilots, air traffic controllers (ATC), and non‐pilot/non‐ATCs. Performance, workload, and situational awareness data were examined. Results show no significant differences among pilot experiences groups, automation strategies, or the interaction between these two. Limitations and design implications are discussed to help pave the way for future research. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  October 11, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20330   open full text
• Using ergonomic digital human modeling in evaluation of workplace design and prevention of work‐related musculoskeletal disorders aboard small fishing vessels.
  Enrique Álvarez‐Casado, Bing Zhang, Sonia Tello Sandoval, Mondelo Pedro.
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries. October 11, 2011
  This article seeks to present methods for preventing work‐related musculoskeletal disorders of Spanish fishermen and for redesigning the workplace aboard small fishing vessels. To achieve its objective, the research project was designed in four steps. First, the equipment and procedures for catching, handling, and storing fish were studied. Second, the work postures of all the fishermen were simulated and assessed by using an ergonomic digital human modeling system (ManneQuin Pro). Third, the work environment design aboard vessels was modified on the basis of acceptable simulated work postures to prevent repetitive movements, awkward working postures, and lower back biomechanical stresses. In the fourth step, ergonomic design parameters were provided to vessel designers. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  October 11, 2011   doi: 10.1002/hfm.20321   open full text