Proposal of a model to explain the cognitive process of employee, the occurrence of stress and cognitive ergonomics intervention in a total lean environment

The recent feedback about the implementation of LEAN confirms a gap between the “real work” and “prescribed work” and a negative impact of LEAN on employees in terms of stress. Stress due to intrinsic characteristics of LEAN was emphasized by several authors as very present in a LEAN environment. These results allow considering, in practice, actions or ergonomic interventions concerning, as appropriate, assistance to the design of new devices facilitating the functioning of the LEAN system while preserving employee health and safety. The ergonomic intervention in a LEAN environment aims to reduce employee constraints in order to decrease the resulting stress. In this article, we will first introduce the LEAN as an object of research in ergonomics. Then we focus on stressors related to Lean and which challenge cognitive ergonomics. This latter is expected to generate knowledge to reduce cognitive constraints on the employee. We also present models concerning the cognitive behavior of the employee in working environment, and we propose a model to explain the cognitive process, the occurrence of stress and cognitive ergonomics intervention in LEAN environment. Finally, we present the methodology to experiment our model in the context of the company.