STTR Phase I: CompatibilityTek: A Tool for Reduction of Health Care Costs in Manufacturing Firms

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project addresses the rising health care costs (HCC) among manufacturing firms. The technical objective is to demonstrate the feasibility of developing a smart product capable of generating an integrated/customized/smart algorithm-identified improvement actions designed to decrease HCC, and, translating improvement actions into interventions with the consent of worker/management teams. Improvement action is a suggested change in the characteristics of work environment (e.g.: time pressure) without specifying how changes are made. Intervention is a workplace solution which specifies how changes are being implemented. The product will provide guidelines for detailed substantial and incremental workplace solutions for safety/health protection and promotion, workforce education and training that are unique to each manufacturing firm and integrated as part of daily business activities. The success of the product will be tested in a multi-method design in four small manufacturers. The success of this project represents a low-cost innovative product for reducing HCC and improving work productivity/quality. It will also help to change the current view of manufacturing performance- safety/health paradox by increasing work productivity/quality while reducing HCC. The proposed technology embedded in a six-sigma methodology has the potential to be a standalone business strategy capable of improving organizational performance (e.g., quality, productivity, and safety). Although the proposed technology targets the manufacturing sector, this project may be applicable to other sectors such as transportation, construction, and health care.