Int. J. Res. Ind. Eng. Vol. 7, No.

2 (2018) 224–234

International Journal of Research in Industrial

Engineering
www.riejournal.com

Office Chair Design: A Systematic Approach of Ergonomic

Design Based on the Anthropometric Measurement of
Bangladeshi People

L. Noshin, H. Sen Gupta, Md. G. Kibria

Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Khulna

University of Engineering and Technology, Khulna, Bangladesh.

ABSTRACT
The world of ergonomic evaluation considerate the human biomechanics and anthropometric
measurement an integral part of product design and development work. In this paper, we have given
an attempt to design an ergonomically fitted office chair suitable for Bangladeshi people. In this
paper, the anthropometric data analysis has been done in order to determine the necessary dimensions
suitable for the office chair. Lastly, an ergonomically fitted office chair is designed based on this
anthropometric data analysis. The concept of the paper is to focus on the dimensional changes that
the Bangladeshi people need for their comfort in the ergonomic office chair. The structural difference
in different regions makes us inspired to think about the office chair ergonomics for Bangladeshi
people. In short, this paper reflects the entire process of designing an ergonomic office chair suitable
for them.
Keywords: Office chair, Ergonomics, Human factor, Anthropometry.
Article history: Received: 24 February 2018 Revised: 03 May 2018 Accepted: 09 June 2018

1. Introduction

In the era of industrialization, technology has unlocked an enormous way of advancement in

product design and development. Product developers are challanged everyday to satisfy the need
of customers for the coordination of functions, aesthetic look, ergonomics, cost, manufacturing
and marketing. Ergonomics refer to the process of designing or modifying workplace, product
or service suitable for human comfort level. Consideration of ergonomics has added a new

 Corresponding author
E-mail address: [email protected]
DOI: 10.22105/riej.2018.128451.1040
 225 Office chair design: A systematic approach of ergonomic design …

dimension in the field of product design and development. There is the combination of
phychology, engineering, anthropometry, biomechanics and many other fields. The prime
concern of ergonomics is to provide the human safety and increase productivity. In order to get
an ergonomic design, the anthropomrtric investigation is necessary to identify the currect
measurement of human body parts. Anthropometric investigation is a process of measuring the
physical dimensions and mass properties of human body. The characteristics of the human body
parts varies from region to region. According to a study of National Health and Nutrition
Examination Surveys (NHANES) in USA, the average height over 20 years of female is 161.8
cm and is 175.7 cm for male [1], whereas the average height of Bangladeshi midrange female is
150.6 cm and is 167.64 cm for male [2]. For this reason, the anthropometric data varies from
each region. A study on anthropometric data shows that the European American has larger lower
limbs than the Asian American but smaller than the African American [3]. So, considering this
user diversity, arises a question in structural design and comfort level for different types of
people. A lot of researches have been done in western world as well as Asian countries for
ergonomically fitted office chair. The research work of O Ismaila et al. [4] showed an
anthropometric analysis for furniture design in respect to Abeokuta, South-Western Nigeria. The
same study is done by Taifa and Desai but regarding to India [5]. The difference between the O
Ismaila et al. and Taifa and Desai research works is the variation in anthropometric data analysis.
The anthropometric data analysis is so important that the lots of countries work on it only for
data evaluation purpose. The study of athropometric measurement among Malaysian adults is an
example of it [6]. A comparison of anthropometric characteristics among the countries of China,
Japan, Korea, and Tiwan is also seen from the survey of Lin et al. [7].

The idea of “Ergonomic Office Chair for Bangladeshi people” comes from the viewpoint of these
research works. In this paper, we want develop an ergonomic office chair suitable for
Bangladeshi people. For this purpose, the need of office chair for Bangladeshi people is being
identified first. After getting a clear concept of people’s need, the anthropometric data analysis
has been done. Finally, the correct measurement for ergonomic office chair has been determined.
The paper narrates the reflection of the required design and the dimension of the Bangladeshi
people.

2. Literature Review

In the world of industrial evaluation, the choice and taste of people for product are changing
rapidly. As a result, hundreds of newer product are being introduced or being modified daily in
order to achieve customer satisfaction. Now a days, along with the structural revolution, the
human factor and ergonomics are the important consideration in product design. Human factor
refers to the nature of physical and physiological behavior of human under a particular working
condition, product or service. Today customers are more conscious than any time for choosing
the right product for them. So, in order to survive in this competitive world, the firms have to
focus on human comfort along with the structural improvement in design. Human factor and
 Noshin et al. / Int. J. Res. Ind. Eng 7(2) (2018) 224-234 226

ergonomics are complementary to structural design. The focus of human factor and ergonomics
is to design a product suitably. The ergonomic design of a chair has become an important concern
for the last 30 years [7]. With the industrial revolution, the employee’s productivity concern in
chair design increased more and more. Now a days, a lot of research works are going on
ergonomic office chair design in order to give employee the best facility in working condition.
More and more, the analysis for improving the present chair condition is performing everyday.
A study of Floyd and Roberts showed the basic anatomical and phychological priciples in chair
design [8]. Another work of Horton et al. [9] described that the angulation and back rest support
is equally important in chair design as it infuences the head and neck posture. Groenesteijn et al.
[10] showed the impact of chair characteristics like chair control, seat, back rest angle on human
behaviour, and posture depending on the task they perform. According to Coleman et al. [11] the
adjustable lumber support is more preferable for the users because of the difference in physical
characteristics. Some patents on ergonomic office chair design have achieved a worldwide
recognition. United States patent numbered 5015038, 5035466, and 4981326 are the symbol of
progress in sitting and backrest design, support, and adjusting mechanism [12, 13, and 14].
Besides, the US patent numbered 5711575, 5281001, 4765684, and US 6824219 B2 showed the
design of adjustable lumber support, arm support, retractable knee rest, and extending foot with
ergonomic office chair [15, 16, 17, and 18]. All these researches added a new dimension in
ergonomic office chair design.

The following paper is based on the ergonomic office chair design using anthropometric
measurement of Bangladeshi people. The structural characteristics of diferent people varies due
to the geographical variation. In western world, many of the research tasks have already done
based on the anthropometric measurements of their people. Being a developing country,
Bangladesh is still far behind from the research work like ergonomic office chair design. As a
result, the office chairs we often have used are not as comfortable as it should be. In order to
solve this problem, a simple attempt is taken to utilize the anthropometric measurements of
Bangladeshi people in order to design a ergonomic office chair.

3. Research Methodology

The entire research methodology can be divided into some portions which are described below.

3.1 Sample Selection

In order to continue our research work, the first task that is done is the sample selection. Based
on different office personnel and their working hours, we have surveyed almost 500 people.
Among them, 250 are male and remaining are female at the range of 22 to 45 nearly.
 227 Office chair design: A systematic approach of ergonomic design …

3.2 Anthropometric Measurement Instrument

Anthropometry is a process of measuring physical dimensions and mass properties of human

body. An anthropometric data helps us to find out the exact size and shape suitable for the office
chair design. Anthropometric data varies from person to person. So, it is a complicated process
to determine the exact size and shape of an ideal office chair. To take that measurement, mainly,
three instruments are used like measuring tape, stature measuring scale and scale ruler. All these
instruments are utilized to continue the survey of the 500 people.

3.3 Anthropometric Measured Position

To design an ergonomic office chair, it is important to take some specific anthropometric

measurement and seventeen measurements (see Figure 1) were taken in this case. The detail
description of those anthropometric measured position is represented in Table 1.

Figure 1. Anthropometric measured position.

 Noshin et al. / Int. J. Res. Ind. Eng 7(2) (2018) 224-234 228

Table 1. Anthropometric measured position.

Serial
Measurement Description
No.
1. Stature The vertical distance from the floor to the vertex
2. Sitting Height Vertical distance from the sitting surface to the vertex
3. Sitting Eye Height Vertical distance from the sitting surface to the inner corner of the eye
Sitting Shoulder
4. Vertical distance from the sitting surface to the acromion.
Height
5. Sitting Elbow height Vertical distance from the sitting surface to the underside of the elbow.
Vertical distance from the sitting surface to the highest point of the
6. Thigh clearance
thigh.
Horizontal distance from the back of the uncompressed buttocks to the
7. Buttock-Knee Length
front of the kneecap.
Buttock-Popliteal Horizontal distance from the back of the uncompressed buttocks to the
8.
Length back of the knee.
9. Knee Height Vertical distance from the floor to the upper surface of the knee.
Vertical distance from the floor to the popliteal angle at the inner
10. Popliteal height
surface of the knee.
11. Hip Breadth Maximum horizontal distance at the sitting position.
Shoulder-Elbow Distance from the acromion to underside of the elbow in a sitting
12.
Length position.
Elbow Fingertip Distance from the back of the elbow to the tip of the middle finger in a
13.
Length standard sitting position
14. Hand Length Distance from crease of the wrist to the tip of the middle finger

15. Hand Breadth Maximum breath across the palm of the hand

16. Foot Length Distance from the back of the heel to the longest toe.
Maximum horizontal breadth across the foot perpendicular to the long
17. Foot Breadth
axis

3.4 Anthropometric Data Analysis

The collected anthropometric data were analyzed with the help of Microsoft Excel and SPSS,
separately for male (see Table 2) and female (see Table 3). Mainly, the 5th percentile, 50th
percentile and 95th percentile were used to design the office chair.
 229 Office chair design: A systematic approach of ergonomic design …

Table 2. Statistical approach for the anthropometric measurement of male official personnel.
Min Max 5th 50th 95th
Measurement Name Mean SD
Value Value Percentile Percentile Percentile
167.17
Stature 151 180.5 156.85 166.25 180.02 7.59
5
Sitting Height 56 90 76 80 87.52 81.217 4.94
Sitting Eye Height 64 80 66.47 70.75 77.55 71.175 3.53
Sitting Shoulder
48.5 63 49.97 53 59 53.722 3.09
Height
Sitting Elbow height 16 27 16.95 21.25 26 21.233 2.7
Thigh clearance 10 18.5 10.97 13 16 13.292 1.84
Buttock-Knee
44.5 56 45.95 49 55 49.867 3
Length
Buttock-Popliteal
38 49 40.9 45 48.5 45.092 2.44
Length
Knee Height 45 57.5 46 50.5 55.52 50.908 3.32
Popliteal height 36 49 36.97 41 46.5 41.217 3.26
Hip Breadth 29 41 30.95 36 39 35.992 2.54
Shoulder-Elbow
29.5 38 30 33 36 32.917 2.32
Length
Elbow Fingertip
37.5 49 41.97 45 48 44.933 2.06
Length
Hand Length 15 20 15 16.5 18 16.525 0.95
Hand Breadth 10 14 11 12.5 14 12.492 0.94
Foot Length 16 27 22.97 25.5 27 25.15 1.62
Foot Breadth 9 12 10 11 11.52 10.724 0.64

4. Result and Discussion

By analyzing all the anthropometric measurements of male and female official personnel, the
final specification for the design of the ergonomic chair is proposed which can cover the
maximum number of male and female. Recommended specifications for the multi-featured
ergonomic office chair are given in Table 4. To make the chair fit ergonomically, anthropometric
measurements were taken to the official personnel to set the final dimensional specification for
the office chair. During taking the anthropometric measurement, a lot of problem were faced as
people were too much uncomfortable to help us. A lot of time was taken to analyze those data.
Microsoft Excel and SPSS are utilized to check the results. The anthropometric measurement of
male and female are analyzed separately to understand the variance. A lot of variation was found
from different perspective.
 Noshin et al. / Int. J. Res. Ind. Eng 7(2) (2018) 224-234 230

Table 3. Statistical approach for the anthropometric measurement of female official personnel.
Min Max 5th 50th 95th
Measurement Name Mean SD
Value Value Percentile Percentile Percentile
156.2 5.9323
Stature 139.7 170.18 149.479 156.21 163.8935
4 92
3.6443
Sitting Height 70 86 72 79 84.1 78.72
67
Sitting Eye Height 61 76 62.95 69.5 73 68.82 3.35
Sitting Shoulder
47 67 48 53 57.05 52.62 3.34
Height
Sitting Elbow
17 32 19 21.5 27.15 22.4 3.02
height
Thigh clearance 9 16 9.95 13 15.05 12.5 1.61
Buttock-Knee
41 64 48 54 63 54.35 4.79
Length
Buttock-Popliteal
41 56 42 47 54 47.97 3.69
Length
Knee Height 41 55 43.9 48 53.05 47.77 3.3
Popliteal height 37 53 37.95 41 45.05 41.4 2.8
Hip Breadth 34 52 42 46.5 47.05 47.2 4.41
Shoulder-Elbow
28 37 29 32.5 36 32.4 2.18
Length
Elbow Fingertip
31 49 38.9 42 47 42.3 2.82
Length
Hand Length 12 17 13 15 16.525 14.73 1.12
Hand Breadth 10 14 10 11 14 11.57 1.35
Foot Length 20 27 21 23 25.05 23.12 1.34
Foot Breadth 9 12 9 10 11 10.02 0.69

Using SPSS, the normal distribution test was also done to check the normality of anthropometric
measurement, and found four measurement parameters for female and five measurement
parameters for male, which only follow the normal distribution and that is because of the similar
nature of the data. The geographic region that we surveyed carry almost the same anthropometric
measurements for male and female. Due to these, the normal distribution test on SPSS shows the
negative result about the normal distribution of different data.

After all of those, the final chair was designed using Solidworks 2017. The front view of the chair
is illustrated in Figure 2 and the side view is represented in Figure 3 and Figure 4. As the office
chair is a multi-featured product with a lot of multidirectional movement, the huge amount of
time was required to complete the design. However, the research with ergonomics was very much
interesting as there were a lot of things to learn.
231 Office chair design: A systematic approach of ergonomic design …

Table 4. Recommended specification for the multi-featured ergonomic office chair.

Allowance Percentile

Observed Criteria
Anthropometric

Dimensions
Serial No.

Measure

Related
Feature

Type

5th Percentile
Dimensions

Percentile
(cm)

(cm)
95th
1 Adjustabl Popliteal Shoe 3 37.95 46.5 40.95- Female 5th Percentile
e Seat height Allow 49.5 + Shoe Allowance to
height ance Male 95th Percentile
+ Shoe Allowance
2 Depth of Buttock- None None 47 48.5 48.5 50th percentile of
Seat Popliteal Male
Surface Length
3 Seat Hip Move 7.62 30.95 47.0 54.67 95th Percentile of
Surface breadth ment 5 Female + Movement
Width Allow Allowance + Cloth
ance + Allowance
Cloth
Allow
ance

4 Backrest Hip Move 5 30.95 47.0 52.05 95th Percentile of

Width breadth ment 5 Female + Movement
Allow Allowance
ance

5 Adjustabl Sitting Cloth 2 48 59 50-61 4th Percentile of

e shoulder Allow Female + Cloth
Backrest height ance Allowance to 95th
Height Percentile of Male +
Cloth Allowance
6 Backrest None None None None Non 100 -115 From Literature
Angle e Degree Review
7 Adjustabl Sitting None None 16.95 26 16.95-26 5th Percentile of
e Armrest elbow Male to 95th
Height height Percentile Male
8 Armrest Elbow None None 27 30 30 95th Percentile of
Length Fingertip Male
Length -
Hand
Length
9 Knee rest Buttock- None None 48 55 55 95th Percentile of
Length Knee Male
Length
 Noshin et al. / Int. J. Res. Ind. Eng 7(2) (2018) 224-234 232

Head Rest

Adjustable Back Rest

Multi-Adjustable Arm
Rest

Notebook Holder

Figure 2. Designed chair in 3D front view [Designed by Solidworks 2017 x64 Edition].

Head Rest

Adjustable Back Rest

Multi-Adjustable Arm Rest

Lumber Support

Figure 3. Design chair in 3D side view [designed by solidworks 2017 x64 edition].

Lumber Support

Seat Surface
Knee Rest

Figure 4. Design chair with different features in 3D side view [designed by solidworks 2017 x64 edition and
rendered by luxion keyshot pro v5.0.86 [32-64bit].
 233 Office chair design: A systematic approach of ergonomic design …

5. Conclusion

In most of the country, anthropometric measurement is a great concern for ergonomic design.
Numerous research is regularly done to improve the ergonomic design in order to satisfy the
customer want. The paper showed a clear effort to develop an ergonomic office chair on the
perspective of Bangladeshi people. The anthropometric measurement of Bangladeshi people was
taken and the actual dimensions for ergonomic office chair were determined. The prime motto
of the chair is “one size fits for all”. In the country like Bangladesh it is a huge step to measure
the anthropometric data for population as it needs a huge expenditure. Finally, the paper also
recommends to carry out this type of task in our country so that people of our country be more
conscious of ergonomically designed furniture.

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