{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]],"date-time":"2026-04-01T00:56:55Z","timestamp":1775005015255,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,27]],"date-time":"2020-04-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1587945600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Applied Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) are one of the main occupational health problems. The best strategy to prevent them lies on ergonomic interventions. The variety of industrial processes and environments, however, makes it difficult to define an all-purpose framework to guide these ergonomic interventions. This undefinition is exacerbated by recurrent introduction of new technologies, e.g., collaborative robots. In this paper, we propose a framework to guide ergonomics and human factors practitioners through all stages of assessment and redesign of workstations. This framework was applied in a case study at an assembly workstation of a large furniture enterprise. Direct observation of work activity and questionnaires were applied to characterize the workstations, the process, and the workers\u2019 profiles and perceptions. An ergonomic multi-method approach, based on well-known and validated methods (such as the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment), was applied to identify the most critical risk factors. We concluded that this approach supports the process redesign and tasks\u2019 allocation of the future workstation. From these conclusions, we distill a list of requirements for the creation of a collaborative robot cell, specifying which tasks are performed by whom, as well as the scheduling of the human-robot collaboration (HRC).<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/app10093048","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,28]],"date-time":"2020-04-28T05:05:32Z","timestamp":1588050332000},"page":"3048","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":59,"title":["Towards an Ergonomic Assessment Framework for Industrial Assembly Workstations\u2014A Case Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1138-1534","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana","family":"Colim","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"DTx Colab, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7699-553X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carlos","family":"Faria","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DTx Colab, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1991-9418","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana Cristina","family":"Braga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ALGORITMI Centre, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Nuno","family":"Sousa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ALGORITMI Centre, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Lu\u00eds","family":"Rocha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DTx Colab, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0874-8593","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paula","family":"Carneiro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ALGORITMI Centre, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9348-8038","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"N\u00e9lson","family":"Costa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ALGORITMI Centre, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9421-9123","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pedro","family":"Arezes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ALGORITMI Centre, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Schneider, E., Irastorza, X., and Copsey, S. 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