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- Ergonomic Risk Minimization in the Portuguese Wine Industry: A Task Scheduling Optimization Method Based on the Ant Colony Optimization AlgorithmPublication . Freitas, António A.; Lima, Tânia M.; Gaspar, Pedro DinisIn the wine industry, task planning is based on decision-making processes that are influenced by technical and organizational constraints as well as regulatory limitations. A characteristic constraint inherent to this sector concerns occupational risks, in which companies must reduce and mitigate work-related accidents, resulting in lower operating costs and a gain in human, financial, and material efficiency. This work proposes a task scheduling optimization model using a methodology based on the ant colony optimization approach to mitigate the ergonomic risks identified in general winery production processes by estimating the metabolic energy expenditure during the execution of tasks. The results show that the tasks were reorganized according to their degree of ergonomic risk, preserving an acceptable priority sequence of tasks with operational affinity and satisfactory efficiency from the point of view of the operationalization of processes, while the potential ergonomic risks are simultaneously minimized by the rotation and alternation of operative teams between those tasks with higher and lower values of metabolic energy required. We also verified that tasks with lower ergonomic-load requirements influence the reorganization of the task sequence by lowering the overall value of metabolic energy, which is reflected in the reduction of the ergonomic load.
- A Fuzzy Logic-Based Selection Approach to Select Suitable Industry 4.0 Tools for Ergonomic Risk Mitigation: Application to the Portuguese Wine SectorPublication . Freitas, António A.; Lima, Tânia M.; Gaspar, Pedro DinisIndustry 4.0 (I4.0) reveals a special relevance for the Portuguese industry as it represents a major opportunity to overcome the main competitive barriers. On the other hand, organizational expansion frequently leads to an increase in work-related accidents, resulting in needless increases in financial expenses. For this reason, the integration of I4.0 tools is a recommended way to gain benefits, including improvements both in productivity and occupational risk mitigation. This work proposes a fuzzy logic approach in a decision-making method for the selection of suitable I4.0 tools for minimizing ergonomic risks. The method is based on the results of an ergonomic risk assessment performed from the point of view of energy expenditure during task execution, which has already been characterized and studied by several authors. As a result, ergonomic risk assessment allows the estimation of ergonomic load related to productive process activities. The results obtained from the I4.0 tool selection method provided viable solutions both operationally and in terms of minimizing ergonomic risks, strongly suggesting the implementation of autonomous systems, namely automated integrated systems and autonomous robots, and also suggesting the incorporation of other I4.0 tools in tasks that require specific human intervention, such as cobots, exoskeletons, and lifting systems.