Assistive devices for manual materials handling in warehouses: a systematic literature review

Abstract

This paper evaluates how technical assistive devices for manual materials handling were analysed in the literature in a warehousing context. Works that discuss the economic and/or human factors impact of assistive devices on the warehousing system or the people employed therein were identified in a systematic literature review. Building on a conceptual framework proposed in this paper, our evaluation of the literature shows which types of assistive devices were analysed in the past, and from which perspective these devices were examined. Some works studied the devices exclusively from an operator well-being or an efficiency perspective, while several works analysed the devices’ performance in terms of both dimensions. Several works contained in our literature sample highlighted trade-offs between both ergonomic and economic measures and, within the first category, between alternative ergonomic indicators, which shows that assistive devices have to be evaluated carefully in light of their intended application. The paper further identifies research gaps and emphasises the need to understand the interactions between human- and system-related variables that can be supported by assistive devices in designing effective manual materials handling systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Warehousing
• manual materials handling
• ergonomics
• human factors
• technical equipment
• supportive device

Acknowledgements

This work is a substantially revised and extended version of the paper ‘The use of assistive devices for manual materials handling in warehouses: a systematic literature review’ presented at the 24th International Symposium on Logistics 2019. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable and construvtive feedback on an earlier version of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christoph H. Glock

Christoph H. Glock is a Full Professor and the Head of the Institute of Production and Supply Chain Management at Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. His research interests include inventory management, supply chain management, warehousing, sustainable production, and human factors in logistics and inventory systems.

Eric H. Grosse

Eric H. Grosse is a Junior Professor and the Head of the Chair of Business Management and Digital Transformation in Operations Management at Saarland University, Germany. He is also Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Production and Supply Chain Management at Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. His research interests include warehouse optimisation as well as sustainability and digitalisation in production and logistics.

W. Patrick Neumann

W. Patrick Neumann is a Full Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering of Ryerson University, Canada. Current research, conducted at the Human Factors Engineering Lab, focuses on the design of work systems that are both effective and sustainable from human and technical perspectives. He is a Design Scientist and certified human factors professional (Eur. Erg.).

Andrew Feldman

Andrew Feldman graduated at the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering of Ryerson University, Canada. His interests include operations management and human factors engineering.