Material supply at the workstation determines cycle time, ergonomics, and quality. Two extra steps per cycle or 10 to 20 degrees more trunk flexion quickly add up to noticeable losses and strain. If you clarify reaches, grip heights, and replenishment logic early, you stabilize processes and protect the body.
With clear workstation design, you bring grasp points to favorable heights, reduce searching and walking, and secure supply without disruptions. Planning in VR helps you experience distances realistically, compare variants, and back decisions up with numbers.
Ergonomic grasp points ideally sit 70 to 120 cm above the floor, because the hand works there with little force and good control. Frequent one-handed grasps should be in the near range of about 30 to 45 cm in front of the body, while two-handed tasks work well at 55 to 65 cm. The further grasp points lie outside these zones, the more bending, turning, and correcting movements are needed, and time requirements and fatigue rise with them.
If you plan for the 5th to 95th percentile of the workforce, your workstation design becomes robust. Posture stays favorable when trunk flexion and trunk rotation each stay below 20 degrees if possible; avoid bending and turning at the same time. Standing suits changing reaches and higher forces, sitting suits precise, fine-motor tasks. For mixed tasks, a standing aid stabilizes posture.
Loads belong close to the body. Regular one-handed grasps under 3 kg and two-handed lifting under 10 kg are a practical framework. If the load increases, reduce frequency and distance or use aids. Lines of sight and grasping lines should not cross: what is inspected or read belongs in the field of view at a height of about 90 to 160 cm, and what is grasped frequently belongs in the middle grasping area.
DIN EN 1005 and ISO 11228 provide guidance on forces, loads, and handling. Screening methods such as RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) and REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) help assess postures quickly. In practice, you add time studies or analyses based on MTM (Methods-Time Measurement), separated into searching, grasping, and transporting.
An example: If you raise the grip edge of a small load carrier (KLT) from 30 to 90 cm, trunk flexion drops significantly, for example from 35 to 10 degrees. The grasping path gets 20 to 30 cm shorter, and each grasp is 0.1 to 0.2 seconds faster. Over a shift, that's a noticeable effect.
Small load carriers: KLTs are the basis of many stations. Standardized dimensions, stable grip edges, and versions with protection against electrostatic discharge (ESD) make planning and quality assurance easier. The grip opening matters: front edges beveled by about 10 to 20 degrees let the hand reach in neutrally. Containers that are too large lengthen search and grasp times because the hand has to reach deeper and further in.
Flow rack: An ergonomically placed flow rack secures the first-in-first-out (FIFO) principle and separates replenishment from picking. Place the picking level in the range of 70 to 120 cm and avoid heavy grasps above 120 cm. Throughput per lane has to match the variant mix, and clear slotting rules prevent frequent lane changes. For small, frequently used parts, bins remain practical as long as dividers prevent mixing and grip edges are ergonomically aligned.
Two-bin kanban: One container is in use, the second serves as a buffer. When the first runs empty, returning the empty container triggers replenishment. This means fewer missing parts.
Supermarket: It relieves the workstation, reduces search times, and stabilizes inventory.
Pick-by-light: With high grasp frequency and many variants, it often pays off, because search time per grasp drops noticeably. However, you need to plan for the technology and maintenance.
Supply carts: They bring material close to the assembly station and support fast changeovers during variant changes. Secure fixing, brakes, clear parking areas, and free routes matter more than maximum load.
The design determines how well these systems work:
Typical mistakes are grasp points that are too low or too high, grasps across the body's midline, unclear replenishment logic, a lack of FIFO discipline, and containers that are too large. All of them have a direct effect on cycle time and ergonomics.
A reliable plan starts with a sober as-is assessment. Measure the cycle time and the routes in meters per cycle, and count the grasps per cycle. Video or MTM analyses separate searching, grasping, and transporting and reveal correction grasps. Add a spaghetti diagram of the walking routes and document postures with RULA or REBA. From the findings, you derive target values, such as a grip height of 80 to 110 cm, a walking time under 5 seconds per cycle, 20 percent fewer grasps per cycle, or less inventory at the workstation.
Then you set up two to three clearly different variants, for example a flow rack replenished from behind versus a supply cart within direct reach. Compare the variants using metrics:
Route calculation example: A layout with a trolley comes to 6 m of walking per cycle, a variant with a flow rack to 2 m. The 4 m difference amounts to around 3.1 seconds per cycle at 1.3 m/s, a stable buffer at a 45-second cycle and a notable time gain over 400 cycles per shift.
Replenishment calculation example: The number of container changes also has to fit. At 1 unit per cycle, a 60-second cycle, and a 28,800-second shift, 480 units are produced per shift. If a KLT holds 40 units, that's 12 changes, and the replenishment route and safety stock have to reflect this.
Standards keep the decision stable in everyday operation. Document grasp points with dimensions, secure heights with scales or detents, and set clear rules for labels and FIFO. Regular audits check heights, labels, ESD chains, free routes, and replenishment discipline. Link metrics such as cycle time, grasps per cycle, walking time, route length, and load paths with quality metrics so that mispicks and search times become visible.
In VR, distances, postures, and reaches become immediately tangible. Halocline is the planning platform for production layouts and workstations. You position tables, racks, KLTs, and workpieces at 1:1 scale, with no training required and without CAD data; you'll find standard load carriers for material planning in the library. Grasping area avatars show the optimal and maximum grasping area and the working planes for the body height you set, calculated according to DIN 33402-2 and DIN EN ISO 14738. This lets you check whether grasp points are in the range of 70 to 120 cm. You measure distances with the measuring tool and assess postures directly at the virtual workstation.
If you run through the workflow in VR and record it, the spaghetti diagram shows the routes. If you assign weights to the parts, the ergonomics analysis based on the key indicator method assesses the object movements by weight, distance, lifting distance, and duration and marks problematic grasps. You create variants with changed heights, depths, and grasping angles as copies. Routes and turning circles become visible, and you spot collisions between carts, racks, and components early. You document the results with screenshots and dimensions and export the material list before any hardware is purchased.
Siemens in Karlsruhe shows how much time this saves: there, workstation design with Halocline became 4x faster.
The result is a calm, robust layout: grasp points at favorable heights, short routes, clear lines of sight and grasping lines, reliable replenishment logic, and standards that hold up in everyday operation. Weak points become visible early, iterations go faster, and changes get cheaper.
Want to check your material supply before you rebuild? Get started for free with Halocline Free and build your first workstation in 3D. For process analysis and the ergonomics check, get in touch and we'll show you the right scope.
