Despite the stereotype often promoted by the general media and politicians, automation has not replaced every manual task in manufacturing plants. Many thousands of U.S. workers lift heavy objects around their workstations all day, every day. Fortunately, an increasing number of their employers are ergonomically aware and providing them with state-of-the-art cranes, hoists, work positioners and assist devices that lessen the lift strain.
Automotive OEMs worldwide understand the importance of proper ergonomics, and how custom list-assists can achieve this goal. Nissan North America and Toyota Motor Manufacturing, for example, recently had equipment specialist Ergo Mechanical Industrial (EMI) develop lift assists for sunroof-module and hybrid-battery operations, respectively.