Marko Djapan | University of Kragujevac (original) (raw)

Papers by Marko Djapan

Background: Industrial Revolution 4.0 is on the verge to deploy collaborative robots, or cobots, ... more Background: Industrial Revolution 4.0 is on the verge to deploy collaborative robots, or cobots, in industrial assembly tasks. These innovative machines have the potential to increase efficiency and productivity in assembly workstation. Objective: The object of this study is an observational analysis of productivity of a manual assembly task in which participants perform activities in a standard and collaborative scenario with the robot. Method: The paper proposes an experimental design of an assembly task in a laboratory environment in which participants accomplish the task working with and without the robot. Furthermore, the study highlights the equipment involved for the design of the workstation. Observational methods like questionnaire and a checklist are adopted for the purpose of the study to evaluate the efficiency of the task in both scenarios and the level of satisfaction of the operator after performing the activity with the robot. Results: A higher level of operator' satisfaction and productivity, in terms of components assembled correctly, is shown from the analysis in the collaborative activity with the robot. Conclusion: The results highlight promising benefit in terms of ergonomics and productivity with application of cobots in workcell. Application: The Mitsubishi cobot MELFA ASSISTA is deployed for the collaborative task.

Proceeding of the 33rd European Safety and Reliability Conference

Human-robot Collaboration (HRC) is a relevant research field dealing with socio-technical and eco... more Human-robot Collaboration (HRC) is a relevant research field dealing with socio-technical and economic issues to consider in manufacturing industries. A Human-robot team, where the partners are human and robot, committed to reach a common goal through a collaboration, is the highest grade of interaction according to the different modes of integration of the robot in the manufacturing workplaces. In this regard, collaborative robots, or cobots, have enthusiastically found application in manufacturing assembly activities. However, the implementation of the cobot in the manufacturing workplace might be challenging as it requires a changeover of the environment, and it might be critically decided according to the task defined. Despite these drawbacks, the benefits highlighted by previous research works seem positively impact on the physical and mental health of the operator working alongside these machines. This research paper shows the impact of cobots on operators and the surrounding work environment from a neuroergonomic point of view. The article proposes a comparative analysis in a laboratory workstation set up for manufacturing assembly tasks, in which the operator accomplish an assembly task with and without the robot assistance. The presence of the robot is the element of comparison in the experimental design of the assembly task. The paper presents a comparative evaluation of the mental workload of the operator performing the task with and without the machine. The collection and analysis of physiological data, through electroencephalogram (EEG) devices, extend the possibility to set an ergonomic evaluation of the cognitive state of the operator during the HRC application.

Proceeding of the 33rd European Safety and Reliability Conference

The use of electroencephalography (EEG) to assess mental workload (MWL) has been the subject of m... more The use of electroencephalography (EEG) to assess mental workload (MWL) has been the subject of many studies. Also, there have been many efforts to achieve task-independent MWL estimation, with the most recent being in the field of machine learning (ML). However, the estimation still remains highly dependent on the specific task used for ML model training. Furthermore, there is a shortage of research that is focused on developing an estimator that would function for multiple different tasks within a specific task domain. The creation of the dataset described in this work is a step towards developing task-independent ML estimator within the scope of visual cognition. An experiment meant for the ML model training is designed to collect EEG signals for different levels of MWL during manual assembly that involves assembly instructions to be visually processed by operators. It includes idle state of an operator, as well as two different complexity levels of the visual instructions. EEG data is collected using wireless EEG-recording cap that can be easily incorporated in everyday assembly line environments.

19th International Scientific Conference on Industrial Systems

At traditional assembly workstations product inspection is performed manually by operators and th... more At traditional assembly workstations product inspection is performed manually by operators and that takes a lot of time and represents a production bottleneck. Also, due to the appearance of mental fatigue, a drop in concentration in some situations, it is almost impossible for workers to notice the appearance of defects and irregularities. Therefore, in modern assembly systems, the implementation of advanced quality control through quality inspection, visually detect the quality of a product and recognition of irregularities has a crucial role. The main aim of this study is to research the possibility of involving neural networks for defects’ detection of parts in the production process. The research includes using images of two classes (part with defect and well done part) and training the neural network with convolution layer for automatic classification produced part. The success of applied algorithms using this methodology in automatic detection of defects and non-conformity an...

International Journal for Quality Research, Feb 28, 2023

Lean allows to simplify and speed up the process while reducing or eliminating waste. This makes ... more Lean allows to simplify and speed up the process while reducing or eliminating waste. This makes Lean concept very useful in solving a problem which is presented here. This paper presents the technique of the Lean concept, opposite to the tradicional approach allows the early market entry of products. The research was conducted in the real company environment, to reduce or eliminate the small stop time loss using the single minute exchange of dies (SMED). The SMED technique which has been only widely used to improve changeover loss has been proven to be an effective approach to also tackle the small stops. This type of the loss wich has been regarded as one of the most difficult losses to be reduced among all the six big the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) losses. The application of SMED technique in a labeling industry (Trim Ltd Company) completely eliminated the small stop time loss. The OEE is measured before and after the improvements.

Book of Extended Abstracts for the 32nd European Safety and Reliability Conference

Sensors

Non-ergonomic execution of repetitive physical tasks represents a major cause of work-related mus... more Non-ergonomic execution of repetitive physical tasks represents a major cause of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD). This study was focused on the pushing and pulling (P&P) of an industrial handcart (which is a generic physical task present across many industries), with the aim to investigate the dependence of P&P execution on the operators’ psychological status and the presence of pain syndromes of the upper limbs and spine. The developed acquisition system integrated two three-axis force sensors (placed on the left and right arm) and six electromyography (EMG) electrodes (placed on the chest, back, and hand flexor muscles). The conducted experiment involved two groups of participants (with and without increased psychological scores and pain syndromes). Ten force parameters (for both left and right side), one EMG parameter (for three different muscles, both left and right side), and two time-domain parameters were extracted from the acquired signals. Data analysis showed...

Machines

The disruptive deployment of collaborative robots, named cobots, in Industry 5.0 has brought atte... more The disruptive deployment of collaborative robots, named cobots, in Industry 5.0 has brought attention to the safety and ergonomic aspects of industrial human–robot interaction (HRI) tasks. In particular, the study of the operator’s mental workload in HRI activities has been the research object of a new branch of ergonomics, called neuroergonomics, to improve the operator’s wellbeing and the efficiency of the system. This study shows the development of a combinative assessment for the evaluation of mental workload in a comparative analysis of two assembly task scenarios, without and with robot interaction. The evaluation of mental workload is achieved through a combination of subjective (NASA TLX) and real-time objective measurements. This latter measurement is found using an innovative electroencephalogram (EEG) device and the characterization of the cognitive workload through the brainwave power ratio β/α, defined after the pre-processing phase of EEG data. Finally, observational ...

Scientific Reports, Sep 29, 2022

The compliance of industrial personal protective equipment (PPE) still represents a challenging p... more The compliance of industrial personal protective equipment (PPE) still represents a challenging problem considering size of industrial halls and number of employees that operate within them. Since there is a high variability of PPE types/designs that could be used for protecting various body parts and physiological functions, this study was focused on assessing the use of computer vision algorithms to automate the compliance of head-mounted PPE. As a solution, we propose a pipeline that couples the head ROI estimation with the PPE detection. Compared to alternative approaches, it excludes false positive cases while it largely speeds up data collection and labeling. A comprehensive dataset was created by merging public datasets PictorPPE and Roboflow with author's collected images, containing twelve different types of PPE was used for the development and assessment of three deep learning architectures (Faster R-CNN, MobileNetV2-SSD and YOLOv5)-which in literature were studied only separately. The obtained results indicated that various deep learning architectures reached different performances for the compliance of various PPE types-while the YOLOv5 slightly outperformed considered alternatives (precision 0.920 ± 0.147, and recall 0.611 ± 0.287). It is concluded that further studies on the topic should invest more effort into assessing various deep learning architectures in order to objectively find the optimal ones for the compliance of a particular PPE type. Considering the present technological and data privacy barriers, the proposed solution may be applicable for the PPE compliance at certain checkpoints where employees can confirm their identity. The ongoing technological progress has significantly increased reliability of industrial equipment-which has left human factors as the leading cause of workplace accidents. Reports from the US alone indicate that injury costs were estimated to 161B,whileanaverageannualcostwas161B, while an average annual cost was 161B,whileanaverageannualcostwas1100 per worker (i.e. a factory of 1000 workers has an annual cost of $1.1 M due to injuries and accidents) 1. Occupational safety and health (OSH) is an interdisciplinary scientific field that aims in creating a workplace environment that ensures employees well-being, safety and health at work 2. Together with employee education, the frontline OSH measure for preventing workplace injuries is the use of personal protective equipment (PPE); which is also regulated with the corresponding standards and guidelines for each sector of industry. However, the practice has shown that the misuse of PPE represents a serious issue for both companies, healthcare systems budgets (i.e., 360B dollars annually to the US alone 3), and employees that are facing consequences of occurred injuries. Finally, the reports show that large portions of recorded injuries could be prevented through the proper use of PPE 4 , which affordability nowadays do not represent an obstacle for ensuring workplace safety. Safety managers in most companies have limited capacities for timely and objective observation of large manufacturing halls and hundreds of employees or visitors that circulate within workplaces. As an alternative, there is a tendency and growing need for the computerized tools that could assist safety managers by indicating violations from prescribed protection measures. First papers on this topic were focused on using sensors that were placed on the equipment itself 5 , or development of the conceptual framework of smart PPE compliance 6. In the following paragraph, we will review recent studies on the topic of application of computer vision (CV) techniques for enabling contactless PPE compliance of head-mounted PPEs. Related studies. Chen and Demachi proposed a solution that uses OpenPose for the detection of body landmark points and YOLOv3 for PPE detection, while the PPE compliance was done by analyzing the geometric relationships of individual's keypoints and detected PPE 8. Balakreshnan et al., proposed a software architec

International Journal for Quality Research

Robotics is very prevalent today in various fields and industries. Although there are many guidel... more Robotics is very prevalent today in various fields and industries. Although there are many guidelines for its successful implementation, many companies have problems with it. This paper aims to give an overview of case studies that deal with the implementation of robotics and, accordingly, to deal with its future sustainability and enable companies to decide on process automatisation easier. The literature search included a term search: Autonomous robots, Lean manufacturing, and Industry 4.0 (and its technologies). Some cases are presented and accordingly, a method for deciding on implementing and integrating robots in one company is given.

Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health, 2016

Sustainability, 2021

Sustainable development and project stakeholder management indicate a business practice where an ... more Sustainable development and project stakeholder management indicate a business practice where an organization strives to fulfil the demands of the important stakeholders for the project’s success. If one company relies on subassembly parts from its supplier, then it might be considered that it has high interest for enhancing the business continuity of the supplier. This issue has become more complex during 2020 due to turbulent business conditions where the problem of the safety and health of workers during daily work has become one of main reasons for business vulnerability. Besides the above-mentioned, project stakeholders may have different demands. The implementation of the management actions that lead to the fulfilment of stakeholder demands (SDs), such as addressing ongoing issues, are almost always limited by the available budget. The contribution of this research is providing the input for determining the actions which should address the most important SDs. Those activities ...

Frontiers in Neurorobotics

The industry increasingly insists on academic cooperation to solve the identified problems such a... more The industry increasingly insists on academic cooperation to solve the identified problems such as workers' performance, wellbeing, job satisfaction, and injuries. It causes an unsafe and unpleasant working environment that directly impacts the quality of the product, workers' productivity, and effectiveness. This study aimed to give a specialized solution for tests and explore possible solutions to the given problem in neuroergonomics and human–robot interaction. The designed modular and adaptive laboratory model of the industrial assembly workstation represents the laboratory infrastructure for conducting advanced research in the field of ergonomics, neuroergonomics, and human–robot interaction. It meets the operator's anatomical, anthropometric, physiological, and biomechanical characteristics. Comparing standard, ergonomic, guided, and collaborative work will be possible based on workstation construction and integrated elements. These possibilities allow the industry...

International Journal for Quality Research, 2013

In this paper, Kaikaku method is presented. The essence of this method is introduction, principle... more In this paper, Kaikaku method is presented. The essence of this method is introduction, principles and ways of implementation in the real systems. The main point how Kaikaku method influences on quality. It is presented on the practical example (furniture industry), one way how to implement Kaikaku method and how influence on quality improvement of production process.

2021 International Conference on Electrical, Computer and Energy Technologies (ICECET), 2021

For over decade, automotive industry originated lean concept has been successfully implemented in... more For over decade, automotive industry originated lean concept has been successfully implemented in healthcare systems as a management method and philosophy with main focus on elimination of all types of wastes and looses in all tasks and processes so that time, materials, resources and medical procedures could be realized as effectively as it is possible. As main result lean concept implementation ensured to healthcare organizations to focus on their main core function and dedicate more time and efforts to patients without additional costs for them or healthcare system. However, lean implementation in healthcare could be much more difficult than in standard industrial environment and there are significant number of examples of lean in healthcare projects that failed to gain any measurable results and sustainable benefits from it. This paper presents review of some of the most successful implementations of lean tools and principles in healthcare organizations.

In present stage of development, hydraulic systems are often used solution in power transmission ... more In present stage of development, hydraulic systems are often used solution in power transmission production and control processes. In order to carry out laboratory investigations of phenomena which characterize the processes of contamination in hydraulic systems, special form of tribometer is developed, which allows simulation of different real conditions in hydraulic and other similar systems that use lubrication oils, as well as monitoring of a defined group of diagnostic parameters. Some examples of an obtained investigation results are also presented in this paper.

Safety Science, 2019

Nowadays industries have initiative to reduce a number of production injuries and accidents down ... more Nowadays industries have initiative to reduce a number of production injuries and accidents down to zero. This goal could be achieved only through the proactive identification of accident precursors-such as unsafe conditions (UC) and unsafe acts (UA), whose control could prevent occurrence of accidents. At the same time, smartphones (and mobile applications) are taking dominance over PCs, making mobile devices major interface for human interaction with the web. In this term, application of mobile devices in OSH remains to be more exploited and accepted. Takin into account these trends, the present study aims to propose a novel cloud-based mobile framework for the management of UC/UA reports. Compared to previous studies, we considered the recent trends of mobile, cloud and Safety 4.0 in more details-ending up with the solution that is the combo of JavaScript technologies. Additionally, we provided a publically available use case named the SafE-Tag. Particularly, the SafE-Tag was implemented using the React Native for mobile application, Node.js for webservices and Mongo.db NoSQL cloud database. Beside elaborated computational efficiency, these technologies were found as the most optimal in terms of the cost/complexity to develop and/or adapt in an arbitrary SME. It is concluded that the proposed framework brings benefits for both employees and employers through: (1) intuitive and user friendly identification of key safety performance indicators; (2) digitalization and improvement of safety reporting systems; (3) improvement of safety culture; (4) better understanding and measurement of worker's contribution to safety; and (5) making the technology affordable. 1.1. Occupational safety and health management The topic of safety management could be considered from various perspectives (Hollnagel, 2014). In this study, the focus is on the

Safety Science, 2018

The article deals with an innovative methodology for risk assessment concerning human, organizati... more The article deals with an innovative methodology for risk assessment concerning human, organizational and technical/technological (HOT) factors, based on fuzzy set theory. The aim of this paper is to propose userfriendly prognostic risk assessment tool (PgRA) by obtaining reliable results and supporting further decisions of the safety managers. The HOT factors are introduced with associated sub-factors. The user-friendly interface developed in Matlab environment provides multiple opportunities for further improvement. The settings presented in this article are strictly applied for, but not limited to manufacturing sector. Flexibility of the PgRA tool allows adjustments and customize model regarding the group of the companies. With introduction of fuzzy set theory in the risk assessment process, level of subjectivity is reduced to the minimum. Practical applications: Possibilities of the practical application are modeled to assist in decrease of identified risks during daily work. This is a useful visual management tool, helpful to all safety managers in planning workplace improvements. The safety managers are in position to predict risk level before the real measures are taken. They are able to show the possible realistic results and risk trend behaviour to their supervisor/director, without spending any financial resources.

Tehnicki Vjesnik, Dec 21, 2014

Original scientific paper This paper studies the compliance of the fixture-workpiece system. Work... more Original scientific paper This paper studies the compliance of the fixture-workpiece system. Workpiece clamping case with two types of clamping elements is considered. The first type of clamping element is standard, with flat top, while the second one is specially designed, with round cutting insert. Analyzed was the case of workpiece clamping using small forces, whereby the deformations in the workpiece/clamping element interface are predominantly on the order of magnitude of roughness height. A comparative analysis of dynamic behaviour of both types of clamping elements is also presented. In comparison with its standard counterpart, the specially designed clamping element with round cutting insert has superior clamping performance regarding both tangential load capacity and compliance.

Background: Industrial Revolution 4.0 is on the verge to deploy collaborative robots, or cobots, ... more Background: Industrial Revolution 4.0 is on the verge to deploy collaborative robots, or cobots, in industrial assembly tasks. These innovative machines have the potential to increase efficiency and productivity in assembly workstation. Objective: The object of this study is an observational analysis of productivity of a manual assembly task in which participants perform activities in a standard and collaborative scenario with the robot. Method: The paper proposes an experimental design of an assembly task in a laboratory environment in which participants accomplish the task working with and without the robot. Furthermore, the study highlights the equipment involved for the design of the workstation. Observational methods like questionnaire and a checklist are adopted for the purpose of the study to evaluate the efficiency of the task in both scenarios and the level of satisfaction of the operator after performing the activity with the robot. Results: A higher level of operator' satisfaction and productivity, in terms of components assembled correctly, is shown from the analysis in the collaborative activity with the robot. Conclusion: The results highlight promising benefit in terms of ergonomics and productivity with application of cobots in workcell. Application: The Mitsubishi cobot MELFA ASSISTA is deployed for the collaborative task.

Proceeding of the 33rd European Safety and Reliability Conference

Human-robot Collaboration (HRC) is a relevant research field dealing with socio-technical and eco... more Human-robot Collaboration (HRC) is a relevant research field dealing with socio-technical and economic issues to consider in manufacturing industries. A Human-robot team, where the partners are human and robot, committed to reach a common goal through a collaboration, is the highest grade of interaction according to the different modes of integration of the robot in the manufacturing workplaces. In this regard, collaborative robots, or cobots, have enthusiastically found application in manufacturing assembly activities. However, the implementation of the cobot in the manufacturing workplace might be challenging as it requires a changeover of the environment, and it might be critically decided according to the task defined. Despite these drawbacks, the benefits highlighted by previous research works seem positively impact on the physical and mental health of the operator working alongside these machines. This research paper shows the impact of cobots on operators and the surrounding work environment from a neuroergonomic point of view. The article proposes a comparative analysis in a laboratory workstation set up for manufacturing assembly tasks, in which the operator accomplish an assembly task with and without the robot assistance. The presence of the robot is the element of comparison in the experimental design of the assembly task. The paper presents a comparative evaluation of the mental workload of the operator performing the task with and without the machine. The collection and analysis of physiological data, through electroencephalogram (EEG) devices, extend the possibility to set an ergonomic evaluation of the cognitive state of the operator during the HRC application.

Proceeding of the 33rd European Safety and Reliability Conference

The use of electroencephalography (EEG) to assess mental workload (MWL) has been the subject of m... more The use of electroencephalography (EEG) to assess mental workload (MWL) has been the subject of many studies. Also, there have been many efforts to achieve task-independent MWL estimation, with the most recent being in the field of machine learning (ML). However, the estimation still remains highly dependent on the specific task used for ML model training. Furthermore, there is a shortage of research that is focused on developing an estimator that would function for multiple different tasks within a specific task domain. The creation of the dataset described in this work is a step towards developing task-independent ML estimator within the scope of visual cognition. An experiment meant for the ML model training is designed to collect EEG signals for different levels of MWL during manual assembly that involves assembly instructions to be visually processed by operators. It includes idle state of an operator, as well as two different complexity levels of the visual instructions. EEG data is collected using wireless EEG-recording cap that can be easily incorporated in everyday assembly line environments.

19th International Scientific Conference on Industrial Systems

At traditional assembly workstations product inspection is performed manually by operators and th... more At traditional assembly workstations product inspection is performed manually by operators and that takes a lot of time and represents a production bottleneck. Also, due to the appearance of mental fatigue, a drop in concentration in some situations, it is almost impossible for workers to notice the appearance of defects and irregularities. Therefore, in modern assembly systems, the implementation of advanced quality control through quality inspection, visually detect the quality of a product and recognition of irregularities has a crucial role. The main aim of this study is to research the possibility of involving neural networks for defects’ detection of parts in the production process. The research includes using images of two classes (part with defect and well done part) and training the neural network with convolution layer for automatic classification produced part. The success of applied algorithms using this methodology in automatic detection of defects and non-conformity an...

International Journal for Quality Research, Feb 28, 2023

Lean allows to simplify and speed up the process while reducing or eliminating waste. This makes ... more Lean allows to simplify and speed up the process while reducing or eliminating waste. This makes Lean concept very useful in solving a problem which is presented here. This paper presents the technique of the Lean concept, opposite to the tradicional approach allows the early market entry of products. The research was conducted in the real company environment, to reduce or eliminate the small stop time loss using the single minute exchange of dies (SMED). The SMED technique which has been only widely used to improve changeover loss has been proven to be an effective approach to also tackle the small stops. This type of the loss wich has been regarded as one of the most difficult losses to be reduced among all the six big the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) losses. The application of SMED technique in a labeling industry (Trim Ltd Company) completely eliminated the small stop time loss. The OEE is measured before and after the improvements.

Book of Extended Abstracts for the 32nd European Safety and Reliability Conference

Sensors

Non-ergonomic execution of repetitive physical tasks represents a major cause of work-related mus... more Non-ergonomic execution of repetitive physical tasks represents a major cause of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD). This study was focused on the pushing and pulling (P&P) of an industrial handcart (which is a generic physical task present across many industries), with the aim to investigate the dependence of P&P execution on the operators’ psychological status and the presence of pain syndromes of the upper limbs and spine. The developed acquisition system integrated two three-axis force sensors (placed on the left and right arm) and six electromyography (EMG) electrodes (placed on the chest, back, and hand flexor muscles). The conducted experiment involved two groups of participants (with and without increased psychological scores and pain syndromes). Ten force parameters (for both left and right side), one EMG parameter (for three different muscles, both left and right side), and two time-domain parameters were extracted from the acquired signals. Data analysis showed...

Machines

The disruptive deployment of collaborative robots, named cobots, in Industry 5.0 has brought atte... more The disruptive deployment of collaborative robots, named cobots, in Industry 5.0 has brought attention to the safety and ergonomic aspects of industrial human–robot interaction (HRI) tasks. In particular, the study of the operator’s mental workload in HRI activities has been the research object of a new branch of ergonomics, called neuroergonomics, to improve the operator’s wellbeing and the efficiency of the system. This study shows the development of a combinative assessment for the evaluation of mental workload in a comparative analysis of two assembly task scenarios, without and with robot interaction. The evaluation of mental workload is achieved through a combination of subjective (NASA TLX) and real-time objective measurements. This latter measurement is found using an innovative electroencephalogram (EEG) device and the characterization of the cognitive workload through the brainwave power ratio β/α, defined after the pre-processing phase of EEG data. Finally, observational ...

Scientific Reports, Sep 29, 2022

The compliance of industrial personal protective equipment (PPE) still represents a challenging p... more The compliance of industrial personal protective equipment (PPE) still represents a challenging problem considering size of industrial halls and number of employees that operate within them. Since there is a high variability of PPE types/designs that could be used for protecting various body parts and physiological functions, this study was focused on assessing the use of computer vision algorithms to automate the compliance of head-mounted PPE. As a solution, we propose a pipeline that couples the head ROI estimation with the PPE detection. Compared to alternative approaches, it excludes false positive cases while it largely speeds up data collection and labeling. A comprehensive dataset was created by merging public datasets PictorPPE and Roboflow with author's collected images, containing twelve different types of PPE was used for the development and assessment of three deep learning architectures (Faster R-CNN, MobileNetV2-SSD and YOLOv5)-which in literature were studied only separately. The obtained results indicated that various deep learning architectures reached different performances for the compliance of various PPE types-while the YOLOv5 slightly outperformed considered alternatives (precision 0.920 ± 0.147, and recall 0.611 ± 0.287). It is concluded that further studies on the topic should invest more effort into assessing various deep learning architectures in order to objectively find the optimal ones for the compliance of a particular PPE type. Considering the present technological and data privacy barriers, the proposed solution may be applicable for the PPE compliance at certain checkpoints where employees can confirm their identity. The ongoing technological progress has significantly increased reliability of industrial equipment-which has left human factors as the leading cause of workplace accidents. Reports from the US alone indicate that injury costs were estimated to 161B,whileanaverageannualcostwas161B, while an average annual cost was 161B,whileanaverageannualcostwas1100 per worker (i.e. a factory of 1000 workers has an annual cost of $1.1 M due to injuries and accidents) 1. Occupational safety and health (OSH) is an interdisciplinary scientific field that aims in creating a workplace environment that ensures employees well-being, safety and health at work 2. Together with employee education, the frontline OSH measure for preventing workplace injuries is the use of personal protective equipment (PPE); which is also regulated with the corresponding standards and guidelines for each sector of industry. However, the practice has shown that the misuse of PPE represents a serious issue for both companies, healthcare systems budgets (i.e., 360B dollars annually to the US alone 3), and employees that are facing consequences of occurred injuries. Finally, the reports show that large portions of recorded injuries could be prevented through the proper use of PPE 4 , which affordability nowadays do not represent an obstacle for ensuring workplace safety. Safety managers in most companies have limited capacities for timely and objective observation of large manufacturing halls and hundreds of employees or visitors that circulate within workplaces. As an alternative, there is a tendency and growing need for the computerized tools that could assist safety managers by indicating violations from prescribed protection measures. First papers on this topic were focused on using sensors that were placed on the equipment itself 5 , or development of the conceptual framework of smart PPE compliance 6. In the following paragraph, we will review recent studies on the topic of application of computer vision (CV) techniques for enabling contactless PPE compliance of head-mounted PPEs. Related studies. Chen and Demachi proposed a solution that uses OpenPose for the detection of body landmark points and YOLOv3 for PPE detection, while the PPE compliance was done by analyzing the geometric relationships of individual's keypoints and detected PPE 8. Balakreshnan et al., proposed a software architec

International Journal for Quality Research

Robotics is very prevalent today in various fields and industries. Although there are many guidel... more Robotics is very prevalent today in various fields and industries. Although there are many guidelines for its successful implementation, many companies have problems with it. This paper aims to give an overview of case studies that deal with the implementation of robotics and, accordingly, to deal with its future sustainability and enable companies to decide on process automatisation easier. The literature search included a term search: Autonomous robots, Lean manufacturing, and Industry 4.0 (and its technologies). Some cases are presented and accordingly, a method for deciding on implementing and integrating robots in one company is given.

Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health, 2016

Sustainability, 2021

Sustainable development and project stakeholder management indicate a business practice where an ... more Sustainable development and project stakeholder management indicate a business practice where an organization strives to fulfil the demands of the important stakeholders for the project’s success. If one company relies on subassembly parts from its supplier, then it might be considered that it has high interest for enhancing the business continuity of the supplier. This issue has become more complex during 2020 due to turbulent business conditions where the problem of the safety and health of workers during daily work has become one of main reasons for business vulnerability. Besides the above-mentioned, project stakeholders may have different demands. The implementation of the management actions that lead to the fulfilment of stakeholder demands (SDs), such as addressing ongoing issues, are almost always limited by the available budget. The contribution of this research is providing the input for determining the actions which should address the most important SDs. Those activities ...

Frontiers in Neurorobotics

The industry increasingly insists on academic cooperation to solve the identified problems such a... more The industry increasingly insists on academic cooperation to solve the identified problems such as workers' performance, wellbeing, job satisfaction, and injuries. It causes an unsafe and unpleasant working environment that directly impacts the quality of the product, workers' productivity, and effectiveness. This study aimed to give a specialized solution for tests and explore possible solutions to the given problem in neuroergonomics and human–robot interaction. The designed modular and adaptive laboratory model of the industrial assembly workstation represents the laboratory infrastructure for conducting advanced research in the field of ergonomics, neuroergonomics, and human–robot interaction. It meets the operator's anatomical, anthropometric, physiological, and biomechanical characteristics. Comparing standard, ergonomic, guided, and collaborative work will be possible based on workstation construction and integrated elements. These possibilities allow the industry...

International Journal for Quality Research, 2013

In this paper, Kaikaku method is presented. The essence of this method is introduction, principle... more In this paper, Kaikaku method is presented. The essence of this method is introduction, principles and ways of implementation in the real systems. The main point how Kaikaku method influences on quality. It is presented on the practical example (furniture industry), one way how to implement Kaikaku method and how influence on quality improvement of production process.

2021 International Conference on Electrical, Computer and Energy Technologies (ICECET), 2021

For over decade, automotive industry originated lean concept has been successfully implemented in... more For over decade, automotive industry originated lean concept has been successfully implemented in healthcare systems as a management method and philosophy with main focus on elimination of all types of wastes and looses in all tasks and processes so that time, materials, resources and medical procedures could be realized as effectively as it is possible. As main result lean concept implementation ensured to healthcare organizations to focus on their main core function and dedicate more time and efforts to patients without additional costs for them or healthcare system. However, lean implementation in healthcare could be much more difficult than in standard industrial environment and there are significant number of examples of lean in healthcare projects that failed to gain any measurable results and sustainable benefits from it. This paper presents review of some of the most successful implementations of lean tools and principles in healthcare organizations.

In present stage of development, hydraulic systems are often used solution in power transmission ... more In present stage of development, hydraulic systems are often used solution in power transmission production and control processes. In order to carry out laboratory investigations of phenomena which characterize the processes of contamination in hydraulic systems, special form of tribometer is developed, which allows simulation of different real conditions in hydraulic and other similar systems that use lubrication oils, as well as monitoring of a defined group of diagnostic parameters. Some examples of an obtained investigation results are also presented in this paper.

Safety Science, 2019

Nowadays industries have initiative to reduce a number of production injuries and accidents down ... more Nowadays industries have initiative to reduce a number of production injuries and accidents down to zero. This goal could be achieved only through the proactive identification of accident precursors-such as unsafe conditions (UC) and unsafe acts (UA), whose control could prevent occurrence of accidents. At the same time, smartphones (and mobile applications) are taking dominance over PCs, making mobile devices major interface for human interaction with the web. In this term, application of mobile devices in OSH remains to be more exploited and accepted. Takin into account these trends, the present study aims to propose a novel cloud-based mobile framework for the management of UC/UA reports. Compared to previous studies, we considered the recent trends of mobile, cloud and Safety 4.0 in more details-ending up with the solution that is the combo of JavaScript technologies. Additionally, we provided a publically available use case named the SafE-Tag. Particularly, the SafE-Tag was implemented using the React Native for mobile application, Node.js for webservices and Mongo.db NoSQL cloud database. Beside elaborated computational efficiency, these technologies were found as the most optimal in terms of the cost/complexity to develop and/or adapt in an arbitrary SME. It is concluded that the proposed framework brings benefits for both employees and employers through: (1) intuitive and user friendly identification of key safety performance indicators; (2) digitalization and improvement of safety reporting systems; (3) improvement of safety culture; (4) better understanding and measurement of worker's contribution to safety; and (5) making the technology affordable. 1.1. Occupational safety and health management The topic of safety management could be considered from various perspectives (Hollnagel, 2014). In this study, the focus is on the

Safety Science, 2018

The article deals with an innovative methodology for risk assessment concerning human, organizati... more The article deals with an innovative methodology for risk assessment concerning human, organizational and technical/technological (HOT) factors, based on fuzzy set theory. The aim of this paper is to propose userfriendly prognostic risk assessment tool (PgRA) by obtaining reliable results and supporting further decisions of the safety managers. The HOT factors are introduced with associated sub-factors. The user-friendly interface developed in Matlab environment provides multiple opportunities for further improvement. The settings presented in this article are strictly applied for, but not limited to manufacturing sector. Flexibility of the PgRA tool allows adjustments and customize model regarding the group of the companies. With introduction of fuzzy set theory in the risk assessment process, level of subjectivity is reduced to the minimum. Practical applications: Possibilities of the practical application are modeled to assist in decrease of identified risks during daily work. This is a useful visual management tool, helpful to all safety managers in planning workplace improvements. The safety managers are in position to predict risk level before the real measures are taken. They are able to show the possible realistic results and risk trend behaviour to their supervisor/director, without spending any financial resources.

Tehnicki Vjesnik, Dec 21, 2014

Original scientific paper This paper studies the compliance of the fixture-workpiece system. Work... more Original scientific paper This paper studies the compliance of the fixture-workpiece system. Workpiece clamping case with two types of clamping elements is considered. The first type of clamping element is standard, with flat top, while the second one is specially designed, with round cutting insert. Analyzed was the case of workpiece clamping using small forces, whereby the deformations in the workpiece/clamping element interface are predominantly on the order of magnitude of roughness height. A comparative analysis of dynamic behaviour of both types of clamping elements is also presented. In comparison with its standard counterpart, the specially designed clamping element with round cutting insert has superior clamping performance regarding both tangential load capacity and compliance.