5.1.3. Eyestrain
Output is the prime performance variable affecting incentive
targets of production workers. The production
volume for the two investigated semiconductor manufacturing
lines was approximately 32 million units
per week. Tedious jobs, less job autonomy, poor supervisor
support, and electronic performance monitoring
demonstrated significant associations with musculoskeletal
symptoms (which included eyestrain). In
addition, they increase with work stress or job strain
and may be mediated, in part, through excess muscle
tension (Bernard, Normand, & Bloch, 1993; Faucett
& Rempel, 1996; Sauter & Swanson, 1996). Figure 6
shows that the product-output volume of LPL was
1.5 times greater than that of CL but run with only
a quarter of the head count. This finding implies that
each worker in LPL produces six times more output
than each worker in CL. LPL workers required more
attention to monitor and control the processes as the
machines were running at an ultra high speed (e.g.,
FOL processes with 100,000 wires and 60,000 dies in
eight working hours).