Industrial process and scope
Manufacturing a tyre involves operations before and after building its carcass. Depending on the plant, rubber compounds, textile and steel reinforcements, tread and other components are prepared, then assembled, cured and inspected. Automation and product dimensions change the tasks. An assessment should not assume that a passenger-tyre line and a large-tyre line present identical demands.
This article concerns manufacturing, rather than wheel fitting, workshop inflation or repair of used tyres. Those activities have their own hazards and cannot replace observation of industrial production. The first step is to identify the stages actually present and everyone involved, including supply, quality control, cleaning and maintenance personnel. Ergonomics considers relationships between people, materials, equipment and organisation; it is not limited to choosing a correct posture in front of an already installed machine. The scope should also distinguish ordinary production from interventions requiring separate authorisation and isolation.
Mixing and raw material supply
Compound preparation requires analysis of how materials arrive, are presented and are dosed. Bags, containers, bales and rubber pieces can differ in grip and handling behaviour. Nominal weight alone does not describe separating an adhering piece, supporting a container or reaching a loading point. Observe starting and destination heights, frequency, space and method without prescribing a formulation or mixer operating sequence.
Priority should be given to examining closed or assisted transfers and material presentation compatible with the process. Reducing the contents of each container may lower one effort while multiplying handling events, so compare the complete cycle. Design must be coordinated with dust control, chemical exposure control and cleaning. An aid that improves posture but interferes with extraction or containment is not a completed solution. Workers should not use bodily effort to compensate for defective feeding equipment or a blockage requiring a technical intervention. These events need recording separately from planned production.
Components, reels and changeovers
Component preparation and feeding may involve reels, spools, strips and reinforced materials. Review their transport, orientation, placement and removal, not just movement during steady production. A reel fitted infrequently can still require high force or a particularly awkward posture; low frequency does not remove the need for assessment. Resistance to rotation and space for positioning the available handling aid also matter.
Changeovers should be designed into the line. Define handling-equipment access, waiting positions and tooling storage so that time pressure does not encourage improvised lifting. Any device must suit actual dimensions, masses and operating conditions and be maintained according to instructions. Assessment should distinguish moving material from setting or intervening in machinery: safeguards and isolation arrangements must not be altered to obtain a shorter reach. The improvement also needs to work when removing the used component, including its different shape or remaining material and the destination to which it must be taken.
Building the tyre carcass
Tyre building brings components together on equipment that varies between manufacturers and products. The uncured carcass is often called a green tyre; this describes its manufacturing state, not an environmental certification. Ergonomic analysis examines material presentation, reach, any manual pressure, wrist movements and removal of the piece. It should not copy a generic assembly sequence as an operating instruction.
Feeder and control positions can determine turning and walking demands. Improvements should involve the people using the workstation and those responsible for machinery safety. Bringing a component closer must not provide access to hazardous movement or interfere with a protective device. Where operations combine automatic and manual tasks, identify each mode and its exposure. An apparent pause while the machine operates should not be counted as recovery without checking what the worker actually does during that interval, including preparation for the next piece or attention to another machine.
Curing, finishing and inspection
At curing, review manual tasks associated with loading, unloading, changeovers and product removal without using an ergonomic recommendation to alter pressures or temperatures. Heat and process equipment require coordination of access, safeguards and maintenance. A comfortable tool does not eliminate thermal or mechanical hazards or stored energy. The assessment must identify which tasks belong to production and which require authorised intervention.
At finishing and inspection, consider how the piece is presented and rotated, which areas need to be seen and how long the posture is maintained. Lighting should support inspection without unnecessary leaning or close approaches. Rotation and positioning supports should be tried with different sizes so that quality control does not depend on supporting the tyre with the body. Special testing operations retain their own safeguards; this article does not describe inflation, radiography or equipment-opening procedures. Ancillary handling around those activities nevertheless remains part of the ergonomic inventory.
Internal flow and handling aids
Products may move through trolleys, conveyors, supports and intermediate storage. Each transfer should have a purpose and avoid duplicate handling. A circular shape does not make rolling a tyre a universal solution: dimensions, movement control, stability, route and other people affect risk. Examine systems designed for the product without improvised gripping arrangements or pieces capable of moving uncontrolled.
For trolleys and mobile aids, review wheels, handles, brakes, gradients and manoeuvring space. Starting force may differ from the effort required during travel; observe actual loading rather than an empty device. HSE notes limitations of RAPP for some surfaces and small wheels. Maintenance needs to preserve availability: frequent failure can cause an informal return to manual handling. Purchasing should cover workstation access, product compatibility and safe fault management. The assessment must also include the destination, because reducing effort during travel does not guarantee safe unloading or presentation at the next operation.
Selecting methods and representing the shift
Record tasks, product sizes, cycles, forces, postures, timing and variability. Observation includes steady production, start-up, changeovers, replenishment and actual contingencies without recreating an unsafe intervention. Workers can describe short or infrequent operations that a visit misses. Differences between shifts and formats help prevent a favourable assessment of one product being applied to all products.
MAC supports lifting and carrying assessment, ART addresses repetitive upper-limb work and RAPP covers pushing and pulling. Posture assessment needs frequency and duration as well as configuration. Results should not be added as if they formed one unit or converted into diagnoses. Explain which exposure each tool covers and what remains unrepresented. Sensor or video information requires technical interpretation, adequate recording quality and respect for privacy. The purpose is to select verifiable measures, not rank workers by output or physical endurance. Retain the conditions under which observations were made so that later comparisons are meaningful.
Organisation, participation and health
Pace, staffing and recovery influence exposure. Rotation can help if relevant demands change; moving between jobs with the same grip or reach does not guarantee recovery. Design should consider absence cover and production peaks so that additional handling does not become invisible. Training must match the actual equipment and defect-reporting procedures.
Participation brings together production, maintenance, prevention specialists and workstation users. Persistent discomfort needs attention through appropriate occupational health channels and review of working conditions without assuming a diagnosis merely because someone works in the industry. Individual adjustments require competent judgement and confidentiality. Ergonomics also does not replace assessment of chemicals, fumes, noise or heat. A complete intervention coordinates these disciplines and checks that improved posture does not increase exposure by moving the worker closer to a source or altering a protective barrier. The measure needs to remain usable across shifts and be supported by the resources required to maintain it.
Example of improvement at final inspection
Hypothetical example: a final inspection station receives several tyre sizes and requires leaning to see a particular area. The team examines presentation, lighting and rotation before attributing the problem to individual technique. It proposes an adjustable support compatible with the product and changes input and output positions to reduce unnecessary transfers.
The trial records reach, posture, positioning effort and visibility, including loading the support and removing rejected items. Entrapment and stability are also reviewed. If the arrangement works for the small size but not the large one, its limits are defined and the remaining problem corrected before general introduction. This is not presented as a real case or a demonstrated reduction in injuries. It illustrates how decisions should rely on observed conditions, user acceptance and subsequent confirmation that the method remains in use during normal production, including the product mix and staffing arrangements for which it was selected.
Documentation, indicators and applicable framework
Assessment records should identify the stage, product, method, exposure, limitations, measures and responsibilities. Suggested indicators include manual transfers avoided, changeovers assessed, handling aids operational, faults causing manual handling and actions closed after verification. Purchasing an aid is different from demonstrating that it is used and reduces the intended demand. Production output and product rejection figures cannot replace exposure indicators.
In Spain, the prevention framework and applicable provisions on loads, equipment and agents apply; HSE and NIOSH guidance provides contextual technical references. Historical process descriptions do not establish current prevalence or legal limits for noise, weight or force. A change in compound, size, equipment, pace or method requires checking whether the assessment still represents the job. Health data require confidentiality and collective outcomes need contextual interpretation. Introducing an improvement does not justify promising the complete absence of injury. Follow-up should establish whether the intended exposure reduction persists and whether any new task has emerged.
Frequently asked questions
Does this article cover workshop wheel changes?
No. It covers industrial tyre manufacturing, from materials and components to curing and inspection.
Does green tyre mean sustainable?
In this context it means an uncured carcass, not environmental certification.
Does automation remove all physical workload?
Not necessarily. Replenishment, changeovers, rejected-item removal and maintenance can retain important manual tasks.
Can safeguards be removed to improve reach?
No. Ergonomic changes must preserve machinery safety and be technically validated without creating access to hazardous movement.
