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Through an internal ergonomics audit of all current jobs in the Wegmans Food Markets Bakery located on Brooks Ave., the bread packaging job in their Parbake Mezzanine has currently been identified as less than ideal. This group was tasked with finding a way to mitigate the risk of ergonomic injury associated with the Parbake packaging process. From the Wegmans audit three body motions identified with the job causing the elevated risk of injury, and the areas of the body affected by these motions are outlined and also can be seen in the image below.

1) Some products require a large hand grip (rear operator performing task in image on right) to transfer product from the conveyor to the box, increasing the ergonomic strain placed upon the hands.

2) Empty boxes are placed perpendicular to the conveyor, requiring a repeated 90 degree body rotation (rear operator rotating in image on left) to transfer product from the conveyor to the box. This repeated twisting motion increases the ergonomic strain placed upon the lower back.

3) Empty boxes are retrieved from a location above the average person's shoulders (front operator reaching for box in left image), and the repeated raising of the arms to this height increases the ergonomic strain placed upon the shoulders and upper back.

Project Name

Par-bake Mezzanine

Project Number

P12711

Project Family

Process Improvement

Start Term

2011-1

End Term

2011-2

Faculty Guide

John Kaemmerlen, jxkpdm@rit.edu

Primary Customer

Mike Least

Sponsor (financial support)

Wegman's Food Markets, Inc.

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Planning & Execution

Systems Design

Detailed Design

Project Review

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Planning & Execution

Build, Test, Document

Project Review

Final Presentation

Technical Paper

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