Analysis of age-differentiated capability data for the development of ergonomic design approaches in production

This article discusses the age-differentiated development of the physical capabilities of production employees against the background of demographic change. In addition to a description of the current scientific debate on this topic it also presents new research from the automotive industry. Unlike previous studies, this work focuses on employees with disabilities or special needs who no longer possess certain individual abilities. It is based on a statistical analysis of 1233 capability profiles of employees with disabilities or special needs from different production areas at a German automotive company. The results of the research show significant age-dependencies for 25 out of a total of 32 analyzed capability characteristics of disabled employees. Compared to employees with full capacity, the number of significant capacity differences becomes markedly greater for employees with disabilities or special needs as their age increases. In addition, age dependencies were identified for workers with impaired abilities in all categories of workplace requirements analyzed. When comparing the capabilities of employees with disabilities or special needs with the requirements of production workplaces, it is possible to identify potential, partly age-dependent bottlenecks relating to the deployment of staffin accordance with their abilities, for two capability characteristics.