"Ergo Cup" competition highlights PPG EHS successes

Rich Pagnotta (front right), manager, ergonomics and EHS training, global safety and health, presents the first-place PPG Ergo Cup to Mike Morgan, Huntsville plant manager, and ergonomics team members (from left): Mike Hill, Erick Yarbrough, Kay Carlton, Tyler Tibbs, Pam Tinsley, Tim Clutts, Tom Fickling (team leader), Jeff Kirby, Stacia Sullivan, Mark Hoffpauir, Rodney Mitchell, Chini Panjeti and Frank Riopka.

February 16, 2006 - Carpal tunnel syndrome, back aches and strained muscles are just a few problems caused when work processes are not “ergonomically correct,” or suited to natural body movements. Because these problems can lead to serious injuries, PPG’s environment, health and safety team created the “PPG Ergo Cup” competition in 2005 to recognize companywide excellence in ergonomics.

A panel scored the 17 projects submitted for the first PPG competition according to criteria adapted from the Institute of Industrial Engineers’ U.S. Ergo Cup competition. Each solution must:

• be a newly created device;
   
• be created or significantly improved through study and experimentation;
   
• be simple and straightforward;
   
• provide an attractive return on investment;
   
• significantly reduce or eliminate ergonomic risk; and
   
• be the result of problem-solving conducted by in-house PPG production, maintenance or engineering staff (at least 75 percent of the total problem-solving effort must be done in-house).

The Huntsville project (shown at left being used by Huntsville ergonomic team member Stacia Sullivan) is now a finalist in the Institute of Industrial Engineers’ 2006 Ergo Cup competition along with projects from Boeing, Honda, Harley Davidson, Dell and others. Winners will be announced at the Applied Ergonomics Conference next month in Orlando, Florida, USA.

 Winners that earned trophies recognizing ergonomic achievement were:

• First place: Huntsville, Ala., aerospace, inspection cradle – an entry was submitted for an aircraft glass inspection device that eliminates lifting and awkward postures and allows for complete rotation of a part, enabling a single inspector to meet quality requirements and perform a task that previously required two inspectors.

• Second place: Shelby, N.C., fiber glass, direct mobile creel truck – an entry was submitted for a cart that eliminates multiple handling of fiber glass packages.
   
• Third place: Glendale, Calif., aerospace – SEMCO, semi-automatic cartridge stuffing machine – an entry was submitted for a machine that eliminates upper extremity force associated with parts assembly.

“Congratulations to all PPG Ergo Cup winners and entrants on their achievements in 2005,” said Reg Norton, global director, corporate environment, health and safety. “We look forward to rewarding more PPG projects in the coming years and to reaping the reward of having safer, more ergonomically healthy workplaces throughout our company because of this valuable work.”