ERGONOMICS

May 25, 2010 10:42 AM 1
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ERGONOMICS

Ergonomics helps older workers at BMW
A recent experiment at a BMW car plant in Germany suggests an ageing workforce is not necessarily a problem. The BMW powertrain plant in Dingolfing, southern Bavaria, faced an increase in worker age from 39 in 2007 to 47 in 2017, risking a productivity decline. Two department managers and the workers’ council came up with a combination of ergonomics, work-time rules and health and nutrition education.


Christoph Loch and Fabian Sting report that a test production line was set up staffed by workers with an average age of 47. The workers participated in workshops in their own (unpaid) time and came up with 70 load-easing changes: from a wooden floor that dampened pounding and allowed easier turning, to cushioned shoes, tilted screens with bigger lettering, height-adjustable workbenches, tools with lower gripping force, and leather chair cushions instead of plastic. A work rotation was introduced in the middle of the shift.

These changes were cheap to install and reduced fatigue. Logistics and maintenance personnel helped by making adjustments quickly within normal working hours and an ergonomist gave advice. After one year, the line was as productive as lines with people 10 years younger (while delivering perfect quality throughout), at a cost of €40,000. BMW has incorporated the practices in its production system.


According to Lock, it is a glimpse of what might be possible. Organisations can unlock innovation by helping people figure it out for themselves. Source: Sunday Times, 14 February, 2010. tinyurl.com/yeu5my4





Think tank: just the job to help the older hands stay in work
Christoph Loch and Fabian Sting

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We are all worried about our ageing society but the “crisis” is self-inflicted: clinging to a fixed retirement age of 65 when people on average live 10 years longer than a generation ago means everyone is working for a smaller fraction of his or her life. This luxury is affordable only in growing populations. Companies often don’t like the idea of employing older people, but a recent experiment at a BMW car plant in Germany suggests an ageing workforce is not necessarily a problem.

Older workers are more expensive — true — they call in sick more often and find it harder to do physically demanding work. Yet pushing them out may well result in a loss to business in terms of experience, maturity, patience, loyalty and the willingness of older workers to take on responsibility. Losing decades of experience is expensive and, in many cases, qualified replacements are hard to find.

Does retaining older workers automatically mean a fall in productivity — and, if so, is there anything that can be done about it? This is what Nikolaus Bauer, the manager of the BMW powertrain plant in Dingolfing, southern Bavaria, asked himself in 2007 when he looked at his workforce demographics: by 2017, the average age of workers in his factory would be up from 39 to 47, risking a productivity decline. No one knew how to stop this happening.

Bauer asked two department managers to think about the problem. With the help of the workers’ council, they came up with a combination of ergonomics, work-time rules and health and nutrition education. It was an untested formula and they had little idea of what results to expect.

A test production line was set up staffed by workers with an average age of 47. Line foremen and workers were recruited with difficulty, because no one wanted to work on a “pensioners’ line” with an easy load but no respect. But once they had decided to give it a go, many parties in the organisation pitched in. First, they piggy-backed on a health information day organised by the firm and had the workers self-diagnose their health. This motivated them to engage in redesigning their workplace.

The workers participated in workshops in their own (unpaid) time and came up with 70 load-easing changes: from a wooden floor that dampened pounding and allowed easier turning, to cushioned shoes, tilted screens with bigger lettering, height-adjustable workbenches, tools with lower gripping force — and even some adapted barber’s chairs at which it would be possible to work sitting down. The original plastic cushions of the chairs were promptly changed to leather once the workers pointed out that the plastic caused sweating and chafing.

These changes were cheap to install and reduced fatigue. “People from neighbouring lines laughed, but after only one day it became clear that it helped — your knees were not aching,” said one worker, praising the wooden floor. Logistics and maintenance personnel helped by making adjustments quickly within normal working hours and an ergonomist gave advice.

A work rotation was introduced in the middle of the shift. “I hated the idea at first because you don’t trust the other guy to finish the work as well as you’ve started it,” says one worker, “but we all changed our minds, it makes the work more interesting and easier.”

The older workers even learnt to stretch during breaks, helped by a physiotherapist. This caused a lot of resistance at first — the other lines sneered at the old guys with a wooden floor who did funny movements. Stretching became regular only when the foremen led by example every day. But then they experienced the benefits and the other lines became curious, then interested and then also wanted some of the changes.

After one year the line was as productive as lines with people 10 years younger (while delivering perfect quality throughout), at a cost of €40,000 (£34,768). BMW has incorporated the practices in its production system.

And the moral? The old can be as productive as the young, with some workplace adjustments. We don’t know how to make this work everywhere, but organisations can unlock innovation by helping people figure it out for themselves — many are motivated and they don’t want to be thrown on the scrap heap.

The BMW line does not yet give us the ultimate answer — what works for its 50-year-olds may not work for those of 60 elsewhere — but it is a glimpse of what might be possible. And giving older people the opportunity to show how they can use their experience will make all the difference to business in the future.

Christoph Loch is professor of technology management and Fabian Sting is a post-doctoral fellow at Insead. A longer version of this article appears in the March edition of Harvard Business Review