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As cognitive tasks have displaced physical tasks in today's manufacturing industry, this sector can demand high levels of mental workload from workers. In certain situations, there is a high cognitive load, which affects operators reducing their attention to the task and causing them mental fatigue and distractions, resulting in errors that generate economic costs or even injuries to workers. This literature review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding the use of mental workload in the manufacturing sector. The methodology consisted of conducting a search in four databases. In the search, a combination of keywords was used, classifying each journal according to the mental workload evaluation means, the type of evaluation, and the area of application. Articles not focusing on the manufacturing area were discarded. Of the total of 3839 articles found, 12 have been selected. Regarding the methods used for mental load assessment, the analytic techniques were found to be the most frequently used.

Usability is the characteristic of a software product of being effective and efficient and producing satisfaction for users and traditionally is assessed through questionnaires but most of them are only available in English. A software usability assessment questionnaire (SUAQ) is proposed in two languages: Spanish and English. The methodology comprises four stages: 1) questionnaire development, 2) administration, 3) statistical validation, and 4) sample size determination. Twenty items were evaluated in terms of clarity, consistency, and relevancy. Then, the SUAQ was administered to 95 respondents. Overall, reliability values were acceptable in Spanish and English version, respectively. The factor analysis was feasible since the KMO index, and the Bartlett sphericity test was statistically significant. Both versions of SUAQ were tested to determine their validity. The findings show that the proposed methodology is an effective usability assessment instrument and thus an effective software improvement tool from a bilingual approach.

This chapter presents a knowledge management and Ergonomics implementation in manufacturing systems, through the development and validation of a critical success factors questionnaire. The instrument developed measures the frequency of inclusion of critical success factors for the implementation of Ergonomics and its benefits, validated in the manufacturing industry. The frequency is based on a five-point Likert scale. So far, no instrument able to measure such factors has been found in the literature. The questionnaire comprises 73 questions presented in four main stages: planning, process startup stage, work improvement cycle and long-term development. In addition, it contains a section of benefits regarding health and safety, operational and quality of life at work. The instrument was validated through a pilot test involving 140 participants from seven companies in the manufacturing sector of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México, through the use of an intentional selective method.

New environmental tendencies have been incorporated into supply chains, and suppliers are playing an important role. However, the main problem when selecting a green supplier is determining the attributes that contribute to a green supply chain. Moreover, a lot of companies ignore the benefits gained from green suppliers on economic performance and marketing. Therefore, this chapter reports a structural equation model with three latent variables (Green attributes of suppliers, Marketing benefits, and Manufacturing processes benefits) and three hypotheses are proposed with relationship among them. The model is validated with information from 253 questionnaires administered to Mexican maquiladoras and evaluated using partial least squares. Findings demonstrate that maquiladoras that consider Green attributes in supplier selection process are gaining marketing and economic benefits, contributing to a green supply chain, and improving the corporate image as socially responsible organizations.

The purpose of this chapter is to present the relationship between the external service provider named Third Party Logistics 3PL and the performance of the logistics process in Mexican manufacturing companies, in order to ascertain the contribution of the aspects considered, allowing companies' suggested improvement actions. Through a field research in Ciudad Juarez and making use of an instrument about 3PL, authors considered four variables: transport, transport management, information technologies, and warehouse. To find the causal model with the relationships between the variables, authors used structural equations modelling. That also identified the relevant aspects in 3PL providers companies' manufacturing and collaboration activities realized in the practice. The results indicate that mainly the information technologies and the transport management have a greater influence on the performance of the logistics process in this type of company.

This chapter presents a literature review about the vendor-managed inventory as well as the methods which improve management, to discover, describe, and analyze methodologies that have been used to support the process of the VMI integration and coordination in the supply chain. Authors focus generally on the advantages that are offered by the VMI to achieve cooperation in a vendor-customer relationship. Results reveal that there is a diversity in the methodologies that were implemented, which perhaps relies on the game theory as a recent methodology that was included to achieve long-term relationships between vendor and customer, because currently supply chains are operating in dynamic environments that require greater efforts of integration among all participants or members.

Advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT) acquisition by maquiladoras (foreign-owned manufacturing companies) is a tendency that allows these companies to maximize their commercial benefits. However, it remains unclear how the AMT implementation impacts on their performance. In addition, this research studies 383 responses to a questionnaire about the AMT implementation in the Mexican maquiladora industry and reports an analysis with four latent variables associating obtained benefits after the AMT implementation—human resources, flexibility, production process, and commercial benefits—where their relationships are evaluated through six hypotheses using a structural equation model (SEM). Finally, the outcomes demonstrated that AMT benefits for human resources have a direct effect on flexibility, production process, and commercial benefits. However, the direct effect from human resources benefits, knowledge, and experience on commercial benefits are acquired through indirect effects, using flexibility and production process as mediator variables.

This chapter presents a knowledge management perspective to propose a pair of structural models to determine the relationship between burnout syndrome (BS) and body mass index (BMI) among high and middle managers of Mexican maquiladoras. In developing countries like Mexico there are opportunities to expand burnout study on diversity of contexts and occupations. The Maslach burnout general inventory questionnaire (MB-GI) was used, and sociodemographic data were collected as well as the weight and size of respondents. Instrument shows an acceptable reliability index. Structural equation models are used to determine relationship among variables. From a sample of 361 people, using segmentations of BMI, two segments are distinguished: normal weight and overweight. Model using normal weight participants shows more explanatory qualities about the relationship among burnout dimensions than the one using overweight participants. One can conclude that more factors and variables are needed to explain overweight Mexican managers.