International Journal of Industrial Engineering, 1(2), 1994, 103-108PRODUCTIVITY AND HEALTH ISSUES INTHE AUTOMATION OF T-SHIRT TURNINGAndris Freivalds and Myung Hwan YunCenter for Cumulative Trauma Disorders ResearchDepartment of Industrial and Management Systems EngineeringThe Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity Park, PA 16802, USAA t-shirt folding operation, subject to a high rate of cumulative trauma disorders, was videotaped and analyzed using MTM-2. Based on the frequency of extreme wrist deviations during the turning phase, a foot-controlled suction device was built toautomate the actual turning (inversion) process. A trained operator using the automated turner maintained a standard performance of 12 t-shirts per minute, equivalent to the current performance within the manual turning phase. The remaining inspection and folding elements were left as manual operations. Both tasks could be integrated into the current production line without an increase in the workforce. Thus, productivity need not be compromised in implementing ergonomic solutions in the workplace.Significance: Any ergonomic redesign of a workplace or job must also consider the resulting effects on productivity. This case study shows how the elimination of critical motions leading to cumulative trauma disorders through properly designed automation can be implemented at minimal cost to productivity.Keywords: Productivity, automation, cumulative trauma disorders, garment industry, t-shirt turning (Received 15 February 1994; Accepted 29 April 1994)1. INTRODUCTIONCumulative trauma disorders and musculoskeletal injuries are common among workers in the garment industry (Vihma et al. 1982; Punnett et al. 1985; Punnett et al. 1987; Sokas et al. 1989; Vinet et al. 1989; Blåder et al. 1991; Vezina et al. 1992). Complicating factors include monotonous and repetitive tasks, high use of pinch grips rather than power grips, static work postures, and, very typically, piecework incentives with lack of rotation (Vinet et al. 1989; Blåder et al. 1991). In this case study, a Pennsylvania t-shirt manufacturer had incurred 12 Worker's Compensation claims relating to cumulative trauma disorders out of a total of 28 workers associated with t-shirt folding. Folding is the last step in the manufacture of T-shirts and is one of the few that does not involve sewing operations. Sewing, typically, has been the job primarily associated with cumulative trauma disorders (Vihma et al. 1982; Punnett et al. 1985; Punnett et al. 1987; Sokas et al. 1989; Vinet et al.1989; Blåder et al. 1991; Vezina et al. 1992). The basic t-shirt manufacturing process involves the automatic cutting of clothin a 'cookie-cutting' fashion, hemming of the bottom, hemming of sleeves, setting of shoulders, collar assembly, labeling, attachment of sleeves and, finally, folding. Because of the hems and attachments, the t-shirt is worked upon inside out, i.e. ISSN 1072-4761 ©INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING103the t-shirt needs to be inverted, termed 'turning', as part of the folding operation to place the unsightly seems on the inside. In addition, the folder also does a final inspection of the t-shirt, eliminating those with defects in sewing or the basic material. The manufacturer was especially concerned about the medical costs involved but also included two other constraints on redesigning this job: 1) the productivity was to remain essentially the same and 2) workers could not rotate due to a rate incentive program tied to job classifications. Thus, the problem was to address the health concerns through redesign of the job/workplace without decreasing productivity. ISSN 1072-4761 ©INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING1042. ANALYSIS OF FOLDING OPERATIONThe current folding operation was videotaped and then analyzed using a variety of techniques. The basic process (shown in Table 1) includes: picking up a t-shirt, inserting the arms into the body, grasping the sleeves, pulling the arms out and, in doing so, inverting the shirt, then inspecting both sides of the shirt, and folding for packaging. A more detailed analysis canbe done using MTM-2 (Niebel, 1988). Table 1. Flow Process Chart for Folding Operation.Symbol Process descriptionGet t-shirt from sleeve set operatorFTurn t-shirt (invert)GInspect front sideFTurn t-shirt overGInspect back sideFFold t-shirtPut folded t-shirt into pile Methods-Time-Measurement (MTM-1) was developed as a procedure to analyze manual operations or methods into basic motions required to perform it. Each motion is assigned a time pre-determined by the nature of the motion and the conditions under which it was made (Maynard et al. 1948). Thus, a standard time can be determined for a new task or procedure without having actually to develop the specific workplace or job. MTM-2 is a less refined version of MTM-1 developed by the International MTM Directorate for work areas where the required detail and effort to analyze the job are not necessary or not justified economically (Niebel, 1988). The MTM-2 analysis of the folding operation (shown in Table 2) yields a total of 360 TMUs (time measurement units). With one TMU equal to .0006 min, the standard time for folding operation is approximately .216 min (= 360 TMUs x .0006 min/TMU). In reality, the minimum acceptable standard performance at the plant is 175 dozen t-shirt per shift, yielding practically a identical standard time of .214 min (= 450 minutes  175x12 t-shirts). Typically, most operators fold about 200 dozen per shift achieving a 115% performance level, while some operators will fold up to 275 dozen per shift achieving a 157% performance level. Thus, the company's incentive scheme is accomplishing the desired effect in increasing productivity. Unfortunately, this is also increases the stress due to repetitive motions and increases the likelihood for cumulative trauma disorders. A slow motion analysis of the wrist motions from the videotape indicates that for each cycle there are a total of 12 damaging wrist motions as defined by Putz-Anderson (1988): eight pinches and four extreme wrist deviations, the latter completely within the turning phase (starred in Table 2). This means that for standard performance at 175 dozen shirts folded per shift, the operator would be producing 25,200 damaging wrist motions per shift (= 175x12 cycles/shift x 12 motions/cycle). Higher performance operators, within the incentive range, could be