Simulation of human-oriented production processes aimed at providing higher worker satisfaction

Human-oriented production systems that maximize human abilities are being recognized anew for their effectiveness. In this paper, we propose a simulation model for a U-shaped production line, a typical human-oriented production system. The model consists of some “worker agents” and conventional simulation logic. The agents include logic as to which human factors (such as communications among workers and operation speed variation according to the surrounding work conditions) are introduced. In several simulation experiments, we verified that the proposed model provides an approach to both higher productivity and higher worker satisfaction