Toyota Australia has used a ‘virtual person’ to help reduce the physical loads on assembly workers building the new Camry at its Altona manufacturing plant in Melbourne.
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The so-called Ergo Man was used as part of an innovative 3D virtual assembly operation that digitally replicated the entire assembly production process before the new Camry’s design was signed off.
Ergo Man uses sophisticated computer software to reduce the risk of injuries by assessing human movements for each part of the body for any given assembly task.
Ergo Man also allows engineers to gauge the ability to assemble the car by people of a range of sizes, weights and strengths.
Virtual assembly of the new Camry first took place in Japan in February 2004 – more than a year before the first prototype car was built.
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By GlobalDataFor the first time, this process involved representatives from each key line at Altona’s assembly plant, as well as Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) officers.
Virtual assembly of the new Camry was conducted months before a single component was made, allowing the designers to incorporate numerous minor changes before finalising the production drawings.
“Previously, our production people would have become involved only after the design was finalised,” said Paul Golding, who is in charge of assembly trials at Altona.
“There was always some fine-tuning needed for production in Australia and that often required changes to the plant or the design of components.
“Now we pick things up on the computer during the virtual assembly, which has resulted in more efficient assembly of the new Camry.”
Ergo Man is operated using Dassault Systèmes’ DELMIA software in conjunction with the CATIA system used to design and develop the Camry.
Engineers were also able to optimise the assembly operation position of a worker’s body through design changes, thereby reducing potential OH&S issues before production commences.
“As part of The Toyota Way philosophy, we are constantly looking to improve the welfare of our team members as well as the quality of our vehicles,” said Golding.
“Using virtual technology like Ergo Man will undoubtedly help to reduce the number of aches, sprains and strains in the assembly process.”
