Humans play a critical role in most modern manufacturing systems and there is now a growing understanding that better consideration of human issues can greatly improve efficiency and safety. 

To cope with the complex dynamics of internal and external systems, manufacturing organisations often need to make changes that involve and/or affect its personnel. For this reason businesses are increasingly seeking ergonomics/human factors research and guidance to improve their understanding of how best to incorporate human behaviour and performance into system design and operations. 

We provide the expertise needed by individual organisations to address human-centred issues, providing scientific research and cutting-edge technologies to address a wide variety of industrial needs. We understand the need for confidential and unobtrusive approaches and are experienced in carrying out in-depth work without causing any disruption to personnel and production activities.

We are equipped to conduct any human-centred research or consultancy for industry. We offer expert services that make direct improvements to working practices and process. We also specialise in the human aspects of advanced automation in two key research streams:

  • Human-robot collaboration - studying the behaviour of humans in autonomous industrial systems and optimising adoption and integration of new technology.

  • Human skills capture - decomposing manual production tasks to understand not only the physical activities but the ‘tacit’ cognitive skills that are used and evaluating what can and should be transferred to automation.

We have predominantly worked with high value aerospace manufacturers such as Rolls-Royce and Airbus but this is not a limited focus. We also work with smaller organisations and in other industry sectors on any human-related aspect of operations.

Working with us

We offer expert research and consultancy to guide organisations who wish to address any human-related aspect of their operations. Our experience in designing personalised approaches means we are able to develop the most suitable solutions for individual businesses to meet their specific needs.

Organisations approach us for an initial assessment from which we can discuss and outline the most advantageous options. We can provide research and consultancy for diagnostics and guidance, educational and training programmes, and the development of remedial/process change interventions (including programmes including workforce participation).

Our facilities

We are well-equipped to conduct a wide-range of objective and subjective data collection and analysis techniques in controlled laboratory conditions as well as out in real and operational industrial settings.

In the laboratory, we simulate real industrial environments with a range of industrial robots, safety systems, jigs and structures. The laboratory also possesses ergonomic computer aided design simulation capabilities to conduct investigations that might not be suitable on a real shop floor or with real people.

However, we also possess mobile data collection equipment that can be taken out for real-world environmental and behavioural analysis, including state-of-the-art eye tracking and non-optical motion capture systems which can also be linked directly into real-time computer simulation.