During this year's Production Technology Day at the ASSAR Industrial Innovation Arena, the prize for the year's best thesis in production technology was awarded. The prize went to Elena Ramírez De Arellano Gómez. In her thesis, Elena came up with practical ergonomic solutions that reduce the risk of work-related injuries when assembling electrical cable trunks.
Elena Ramírez De Arellano Gómez comes from Malaga in Spain and is an exchange student of Integrated Product Development at the University of Skövde. The title of Elena's thesis is "Enhancing worker well-being in electric vehicle manual assembly operations through ergonomic solutions and Industry 5.0 integration".
During the Production Technology Day at ASSAR on May 30th, the prize for the year's best thesis in production technology was awarded. Diplomas and flowers were handed out by Vice-Chancellor Muriel Hugosson and from IDC West Sweden AB came a prize sum of SEK 10,000.
From the stage, the Vice-Chancellor read out the justification:
"Based on the principle of balancing automation and human abilities, the student has worked to achieve a more efficient and operator-friendly production process. Based on a thorough ergonomic analysis, measurement of forces and analysis of working postures, the thesis provides valuable insights and practical solutions to reduce the risk of work-related injuries and at the same time improve the overall productivity in manual assembly of electrical cable trunks."
From the left: Leif Pehrsson, CEO of IDC West Sweden AB, Johan Ekblad from Lidköping Energi, student Elena Ramírez De Arellano Gómez and Vice-Chancellor Muriel Hugosson, University of Skövde.
Redesigned clip reduce wear and tear damage
In her thesis, Elena has analysed the manual process where cable trunks are mounted on bumpers, and found improvement potentials regarding ergonomics and efficiency.
“It takes a lot of force to install the clips that hold the cables in place, and the assembler cannot see when the clips have been installed correctly. This means that the assembler is currently using more force than necessary during the work”, says Elena.
Elena has redesigned the clips so that a small green indicator shows when they are fitted correctly. This saves both time and reduces the risk of wear and tear damage.
Elena, how does it feel to receive this award?
“It feels amazing, I was very nervous about presenting my thesis on stage in English, but it feels very nice to be noticed in this way.”
What are you doing after completing your studies? Are you staying in Skövde?
“No, I will return to Spain to finish my studies, but then we'll see, maybe I'll come back.”
What will you do with the prize money?
“I will save them!”
Student exhibition with wide range
During the Production Technology Day, the University's engineering students also displayed a thesis exhibition. Here is a selection from the exhibition:
Alice Kihlbom and Madelene Siljehult had designed a laptop support for flexible work environments together with SA Möbler in Tibro.
Pablo Nieto Pareja showcased products created using large-scale 3D printing with robots, such as wine racks, for example.
Caroline Wibjörk and Emma Persson had done a redesign of Daps for a pedestrian crossing in collaboration with the company PrismaTibro.
Master students Dan Lönn, Manfred Persson and José Maria Cid demonstrated how to verify qualities in laser welding using light signals.
Master students from the program Intelligent Automation at the University of Skövde demonstrated how assembly and disassembly can be looped, together with a digital twin.