Research A Day in the Life: Volkswagen Puebla

In order to find out in detail about the ergonomic problems that workers suffer from on a daily basis, we visited the Volkwagen factory in Mexico.

We found that people working in factories, manufacturing plants and distribution centers suffer from muscle disorders. They have to bend constantly and also suffer from back and joint problems. These are repetitive movements that cause fatigue and mental exhaustion as well as long term damage.

Function Options

Insight: Active Sitting.

Active sitting occurs when seating allows or encourages the seated occupant to be active even whilst seated. Also referred to as dynamic sitting, the concept is that flexibility and movement while sitting can be beneficial to the human body and make some seated tasks easier to perform.

In order to prove the sketched proposals, we built simple prototypes that were tested by around 10 people.

Through this tests we determined the following factors:

Height

Size

Form

Comfortability

The percentils of the people went from 95 to 5.

The aesthetic analysis was based in the aesthetics of Volkswagen’s cars and corporate design.

The result of the research, analysis, observation and testing processes was the design of two auxiliary chairs. A low chair to work at a height of less than 50 cm and a high chair to help prevent fatigue in the lower limbs when the worker performs tasks that take place in a fixed standing position.

The base of the chair has an angle of 18º with respect to the floor, along the entire circumference of the base. This angle is used by the user to tilt the chair in any direction he needs.

Sequence of Use

It is especially helpful for mounting the front bumpers.