Case Study
Workplace design for an electronics technician in printed circuit board production

The small medium-sized company manufactures printed circuit boards for control and regulation technology, stirrers for laboratories and scanning devices and sensors for these. The company intends to terminate the employment of an employee with a severe disability and has therefore called in the integration or inclusion office.

The man has an arm and hand impairment on the right after a private accident. His grasping range is limited and he can only handle loads and objects with one hand. The GdB (degree of disability) is 60.

The man is a trained electronics technician for devices and systems and works in the field of printed circuit board production at the company.

The electronics technician can only perform the various activities on the equipment and at the workbench for PCB production and the final functional test with one hand. For some work steps, the electronics technician needs the support of his colleagues due to his disability, which is not economically reasonable for the company in the long term. For this reason, the following assistive products were purchased and modified:

• a vice with ball-and-socket joint for clamping and holding the circuit boards during soldering and screwing,
• gripping pliers and cross tweezers for clamping and holding soldering parts and wires during soldering,
• a soldering station or a soldering station with automatic solder feed for one-handed soldering (where the solder already contains the required flux),
• an electric screwdriver with automatic screw feed or a feed screwdriver for one-handed screwing,
• a stand with a spring balancer for suspending the feed screwdriver to reduce the holding work during handling, and
• a different arrangement of the controls of the existing ladder board tester for one-handed use.

The existing customizable work chair and height-adjustable workbench, in conjunction with the purchased assistive products for one-handed work performance, allow for independent, economical work that is suitable for disabled people.

The work design suitable for disabled people was supported by the integration or inclusion office and enables the employee to continue working economically. Advice was provided by the Technical Advisory Service of the Integration and Inclusion Office.