Sunrise Medical was awarded the Ergo Cup at the 9th Applied Ergonomics Conference in Buena Vista, Fla., for its Ergo Assembly Station, used to manufacture its high-end Quickie® Rhythm and Groove wheelchairs.
The award is presented by the Institute of Industrial Engineers and sponsored by The Ergonomics Center of North Carolina.
“During assembly, workers had been required to push each wheelchair to successive stations,” said Allen Taylor, vice president, North American Operations. “As a result, assemblers were experiencing a high rate of back, head, arm and wrist injuries due to the awkward positioning of their extremities. Quality defects also were higher than anticipated.”
Sunrise solved the problem with the creation of a highly maneuverable assembly station with a built-in power source. The assembly station enables wheelchairs to articulate 360 degrees with up to 10 inches of height adjustment. This modular fixture docks and undocks at the start and finish of the assembly process line.
The station has improved the recordable injury incidence rate by 26 percent, whit the lost-time incidence rate has improved by 68 percent over internal targets, according to Taylor.
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