When Ken Turzinski, president of TYRI Americas in Stevens Point, WI, returned from a local trade show a few years ago, he came back with a small, innocuous plastic product. Little did he know that the product would help his company become more lean and sustainable.

These eight ergonomic principles cover the most essential aspects of the layout and design of ergonomic workstations and flow rack systems. 

Founded in 1978, Pro-Line is the recognized leader in ergonomic workbench design. The company is credited with producing one of the first hand crank, height-adjustable tables in 1987: the model EL, still available today.

While assembly work has always been physically demanding, little is known about the overall consequences of cognitive loading on assemblers' performance, well-being, and the speed and quality of production. Cognitive under- or overloading can cause a lack of focus or distraction on one hand, or overwhelm on the other.

When it comes to assembling wire harnesses, humans still do it better than automation. That's why wire processing remains a largely manual process. However, it also poses a number of ergonomic issues and concerns, including the risk of back, finger, neck, shoulder and wrist injuries.