So far, it was unclear to what extent working in deep cold-storage depots has an influence on female order-pickers body core temperature and skin surface temperature considering different age groups. Physiological effects of order-picking in a chill room (+3°C) and cold store (-24°C) were examined on 30 female subjects (Ss), classified in two age groups (20-to 35year-olds and 40-to 65-year-olds). The body core temperature was taken every 15 min at the tympanum and the skin surface temperature was recorded continuously at seven different positions. Working in the chill room induced a decrease of the body core temperature up to 0.5K in comparison to the value at the outset for both age groups which could be compensated by all Ss during the breaks. Working in the cold store caused a decline up to 1.1K for the younger Ss and 1.3K for the older Ss. A complete warming-up during the breaks was often not possible. Regarding the skin surface temperature, working in the chill room can be considered as unproblematic, whereas significantly lower temperatures at nose, fingers and toes, associated with substantial negative subjective sensations, were recorded while working in the cold store.

The sales figures of chilled and frozen food have been rising steadily over the years. Naturally, this has also led to an increase in the number of jobs related to these goods. While these workplaces are becoming more and more important there are, nevertheless, only a few investigations into the effects of working in deep cold on humans. Order-picking in a cold environment represents a high workload. Especially working at -24°C with wearing heavy cold protective clothing leads to explicitly higher strain. Since performance decreases with age, varying physical strain between younger and older employees can hypothetically be expected. In order to quantify the physiological responses to working in the cold, 15 subjects of two female age groups, each, (20-to 35-year-olds and 40-to 65-year-olds) were asked to carry out whole working day tasks in a chill room (+3°) and in a cold store (-24°C). Simultaneously, heart rate and other physiological relevant parameters were measured.

Kurzfassung Unternehmen stehen im Wettbewerb stets vor der Herausforderung, ihre bestehenden Produktionsprozesse optimieren zu müssen. Hierbei fällt das Augenmerk zumeist nur auf das gesamte Produktionssystem. Oft werden dabei allerdings die Subsysteme und deren Detailinformationen übersehen. Aus systemtheoretischer Sicht sind es aber gerade die Details, die Hinweise für eine nachhaltige Optimierung der bestehenden Prozesse geben, da ein Gesamtsystem durch wesentlich mehr Faktoren definiert wird, als die Summe seiner Einzelteile. Die funktional orientierte Modellierungsmethode GraFem beschreibt in diesem Hinblick die Produktionsprozesse auf grober, aber auch auf – und das ist der große Mehrwert – beliebig detaillierter Struktur mit Hilfe so genannter Elementarfunktionen. Jeder Produktionsschritt wird entsprechend seiner Funktion anhand von definierten Blockschaltbildern visualisiert. Die dabei möglichen Darstellungen decken Schwachstellen in den Wertschöpfungsketten auf und geben Hinweise für wirksame Optimierungsmaßnahmen. Darüber hinaus können verschiedene Fertigungskonzepte, beispielsweise mit differenzierten Automatisierungsgraden, modelliert werden.