This paper evaluates how technical assistive devices for manual materials handling were analysed in the literature in a warehousing context. Works that discuss the economic and/or human factors impact of assistive devices on the warehousing system or the people employed therein were identified in a systematic literature review. Building on a conceptual framework proposed in this paper, our evaluation of the literature shows which types of assistive devices were analysed in the past, and from which perspective these devices were examined. Some works studied the devices exclusively from an operator well-being or an efficiency perspective, while several works analysed the devices’ performance in terms of both dimensions. Several works contained in our literature sample highlighted trade-offs between both ergonomic and economic measures and, within the first category, between alternative ergonomic indicators, which shows that assistive devices have to be evaluated carefully in light of their intended application. The paper further identifies research gaps and emphasises the need to understand the interactions between human- and system-related variables that can be supported by assistive devices in designing effective manual materials handling systems.

本文评估了文献中如何在仓储环境中分析用于手动材料处理的技术辅助设备。在系统的文献综述中确定了讨论辅助设备对仓储系统或其中雇员的经济和/或人为因素影响的作品。基于本文提出的概念框架，我们对文献的评估显示了过去分析了哪些类型的辅助设备，以及从哪个角度检查了这些设备。一些作品专门从操作员福祉或效率的角度研究了设备，而一些作品则从两个维度分析了设备的性能。我们的文献样本中包含的一些作品强调了人体工程学和经济措施之间的权衡，以及，在第一类中，在替代的人体工程学指标之间，这表明必须根据其预期应用仔细评估辅助设备。该论文进一步确定了研究差距，并强调需要了解人类和系统相关变量之间的相互作用，这些变量可以在设计有效的手动材料处理系统时得到辅助设备的支持。