Umania interviews lina bonapace, one among the best worldwide experts in human factor, who collaborates with umania’s team of experts in ergonomics. Lina Bonapace of Ergo Solutions represents, for the world of Ergonomics, a well-known researcher able to move in various fields of research and is considered one among the best experts in human factor; from tests in laboratory to tests with users, from the exploratory surveys in the context of use up to the study and design of new products.
For all these reasons Lina Bonapace is the privileged contact Umania delegates the development and management of tests and research for customers in North America. From a conversation between Lina and Umania it is born this interview which reports some reflections of the researcher that Umania wants to share to take stock of the situation concerning Ergonomics and its developments. And to go further.
Why is it important for a company to invest continuously in the product evolution? Products are constantly improved to keep pace with people’s changes, the way they live, how they live in continuously changing contexts. Products have been put on the market and are there to follow us and to be used as tools to improve our life. They must evolve with the passing of time, also because with the technological development, products can improve much more and so stopping a sector like research and development is dangerous for a company. A company which produces a product which remains fixed, makes it become a classic which will be appreciated only by some nostalgic. We live in an ever changing and evolving world, where also poorer countries are becoming examples in technological field. I’m referring, for example, to China which has enormously increased telecommunication and is preparing to be the protagonist of the future, as well as Africa which has some examples of excellence in the field of applied technology. So we are faced with many places, many ways to live, many people and different contexts and we cannot think of a product which suits whoever and wherever. Without the research and development of issues strictly concerning man we won’t be able to understand if the product we propose can answer actual real needs. Not to carry on research and development and to orient the production of products which can be satisfactory at the very historical moment when they are put on the market ends the chance to be competitive; it means to take a step back.
The period of crises we are living in however doesn’t encourage company investment, which often turn off the taps of the research department. It’s clear that carrying on research and investing is very difficult for many companies today, as they must make an attempt and go beyond their competitors. Innovation thus becomes an almost mandatory abridged item; we must sprint forth as far as project concepts are concerned, because it’s no longer enough to keep the pace. We need the courage to invest well and now, to get started on new ideas and projects to pull out and use when the company is able to invest more also in production. I’m talking about investing in ideas and in the planning phase because I believe it is the best solution to look at competitors, study them and move away to become leaders, even only in one sector.
When is it important the contribution of an expert in human factors? Our contribution, as well as that of design, operate at the level of strategy, to conceive products which are really desirable and contain some values that purchasers will recognize as theirs, products able to interpret the reality of life in its broadest meaning and not only bound to the moment of purchase or to the market. A company has to deal with world customers, many different and some products don’t suit everywhere as we said before, just think for example at some products which people don’t sell in China’s shop, but that Chinese themselves buy in European capitals when they are on holiday. So complexity and variability are components we have to deal with and for which technology can’t always be exhaustive, that’s why we need to turn to the so called “people oriented” disciplines.These disciplines consider man in its complexity and integrity, also including the stimuli which guide the customer’s choices while purchasing. Technology and marketing inquire into man in an incomplete way and start from different premises, very often far from man himself but, man seen by the side of human factor is investigated in a more complete way. We take into consideration how he lives, how he moves, his behaviors and all these components become concepts, ideas and traces which drive towards the innovation of a product in another way which is different to the technology driven one. World research centers, such as Nasa offer a cutting-edge technology and complex ideas which can later be accepted also in products of common use but, human driven disciplines have the great merit of finding what man does to improve his life and way of living, I’m referring for example to all research carried out for the disabled. To do research and development in a serious and fruitful way a company has to make both technology, marketing and the human factors expert cooperate during the planning and design phase.
So, is it your opinion that human factor has to intervene in the design phase and not in the verification or assessment ones? Absolutely yes, I think that design needs human factor and it should be included in project design, i.e. answer the question: how can I proceed with this project?
Too often, human factor has been relegated to mere measurements on the working conditions of workstations or on their safety, but we can go far beyond. If the designer draws the lines of the project and the marketing says its according to market logic, in the same brief, i.e. in design project there must be human factor too. Companies must have the courage to consider also this aspect and on our side we are fortunate to propose a discipline which is mature and timely.
What’s the value added for a company? It is wrongly believed that being a scientific discipline, born in the academic world it has long lead times and high costs. Instead human factor has several decades of field studies and its experts have years of experience and can be considered real stakeholders. Furthermore they work with acceptable cost and timeframe within the business process. A reasonable economic investment which leads to innovation is a big plus for a company. I must add that still too often we think to scientific as a lifeline where numbers are a guarantee, instead I prefer to speak of systematicity, of a reasoned approach on concrete bases because this is what we deal with: we have measuring instruments and we have the methodology to tackle the collection and subsequent reading of these data that deal with people’s lives and their evaluation. The only thing to do is to use all these skills: this is the invitation I can do to all the companies that still feel to hesitate of this discipline.
What advice can you give to a growing company like Umania? Umania has understood that they must ennoble themselves as experts without staying behind a desk.
That’s why it is interesting to follow its developments, because it does field tests, with people, with products, it always leads to innovation and research, and brings new important contributions, that represent a real improvement in terms of result for the end user, who, consequently generates business also for the company.
One piece of advice I can give, is to continue to believe that, creating many connections between experts and networking between different realities, is the right choice to face a market which is constantly evolving. As far as I’m concerned, among many ties I have, around the world, Umania is a positive strongly growing reality, for which I intend to be a privileged contact for exploratory investigations and user testing/ products for North America.
