Abstract—Handle on the container used in industry has an
important role to reduce injuries while doing the activity
manual materials handling (MMH). handle design in most
industries in Indonesia is usually located on top or no handle.
Therefore, this study is conducted to determine the handle
position on the box. The method used is the design of
experiment (DOE) based on psychophysical and physiological
criteria for male workers. A psychophysical criterion refers to
the borg scale for rating perceived exertion (RPE), whereas the
physiological criterion refers to the heart rate. RPE and heart
rate is a dependent variable, while the independent variables
used were four box sizes, nine handling positions, and three
handle positions on the box. Ten subjects from industrial
workers performed 27 combinations for one day during four
day. The results of this study indicate that a significant factor
influencing psychophysical criteria are 3 main effects, while the
physiological criteria just 2 main effects, handle position and
box size; based on psychophysical criteria, the handle position
on top has a higher RPE values than other positions; and based
on physiological criteria, the handle position on top produces a
higher heart rate than the other positions.
Index Terms—Design of experiment, handle position, manual
material handling, physiological, psychophysical.
Boy Nurtjahyo Muchamad, Maya Arlini Puspasari, and Erlinda Muslim
are with the Department of Industrial Engineering Universitas Indonesia,
Indonesia (e-mail: boymoch@eng.ui.ac.id, maya.arlini@yahoo.com,
erlinda@eng.ui.ac.id).
Aisyah Iadha Nuraini is with NTUST, Indonesia (e-mail:
aisyah.iadha.n@gmail.com).
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Cite: Boy Nurtjahyo Muchamad, Maya Arlini Puspasari, Erlinda Muslim, and Aisyah Iadha Nuraini, "Determining Handle Position for Boxes Based on
Psychophysical and Physiological Studies on Male
Workers," International Journal of Engineering and Technology vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 534-538, 2014.
