People often play a central role in mechanical engineering - whether because they want to use ergonomic products or because they have to be considered as employees in a work system.

Ergonomics
The focus addresses how workplaces and human-machine interfaces can be designed to be user-friendly. This also includes the harm-free design of the working environment (e.g. noise, lighting). You will also gain an insight into labor management/legal issues (e.g. remuneration).

Work organization
The focus is on relevant personnel topics (e.g. personnel selection, employee management, job satisfaction) as well as selected areas of production management (e.g. production systems, lean management, planning of assembly lines).

Empirical methods
You will also learn empirical methods for data collection and statistical analysis. Laboratory units (e.g. eye tracking, physiological measurement of stress, CAD software for human modeling) are provided so that you can also apply the methods.

The specialization must be chosen if you are majoring in Production Engineering. In addition, the specialization can be chosen in the Master's degree in General Mechanical Engineering and in the specializations Energy and Environmental Engineering, Automotive Engineering and Product Development and Design. Regardless of your choice of specialization, you can of course write your Master's thesis at ifab.
If you specialize in Mechatronics and Microsystems Engineering, Theoretical Mechanical Engineering or Materials and Structures for High Performance Systems, you cannot choose this specialization and you cannot write your Master's thesis at ifab. Unfortunately, you cannot choose this specialization in your Bachelor's degree either. However, you are very welcome to write your Bachelor's thesis with us!

The table below provides an overview of the courses in the specialization. The core subjects AW I to III complement each other well; however, they do not have to be taken consecutively.

Please note...
AW-I/II can be taken in one semester: AW-I takes place weekly for four hours in the first half of the semester, while AW-II starts in the second half of the semester. In order to be able to carry out laboratory exercises, the number of participants in AW-III is limited.
You can also take AW-I as an elective subject in the Master's program; you can also take AW-II as an elective subject in Business/Law.

K Core subject
E Supplementary subject
E* Supplementary subject that can also be taken as a core subject