Over the years, as more is learned about ergonomics, equipment used to manufacture tires and engineered products has become safer to operate. To further advance that effort, Goodyear's long-standing partnership with Sandia National Laboratories now includes joint efforts in the rapidly emerging field of Human Factors Engineering. HFE considers not just the interface between the machine and the body, but the interface with the mind. A basic principle of HFE is that the most efficient path and motion sequence, and not necessarily the fastest, is generally the safest as fewer movements translate into a lower incident probability.

For more than ten years Goodyear has partnered with Humantech, the world's foremost authority on ergonomics. To reduce unnecessary injuries and maintain the health and safety of all associates, Goodyear uses a six-step Ergonomic Problem Solving Process that includes identifying and prioritizing jobs, analyzing jobs, developing solutions, implementing solutions, follow up and evaluation, documentation and communication.

Collecting data through photographs, video and other documentation, Goodyear and Humantech developed site-specific materials to use during subsequent Risk and Performance Improvement Deployment (RAPID) events, activities designed to make swift, measurable and relevant improvements to the ergonomic conditions. Lessons learned from ergonomic solutions are shared to facilitate implementation and avoid repeating learning curves.

In 2005, Goodyear established the company's first Ergonomic Centers of Excellence (ECOE) at facilities in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East with the goal to raise both safety and productivity performance by implementing ergonomic improvements. ECOE sites were established in Buffalo, N.Y., Gadsden, Ala., St. Marys, Ohio, Amiens, France, and Izmit, Turkey. As an ECOE site, each facility could address immediately business-critical issues and identify human and financial savings by eliminating processes that generate waste, while providing an environment for testing improvement ideas that can be validated and replicated across all Goodyear plants. mind, body and machine Human Factors Engineering.