Frictions and Frustrations in Creative-Informatory Work with Computer Aided Design -- CAD-Systems -- Congress I: Work with Terminals: HEALTH ASPECTS: WORKLOAD, STRESS AND STRAIN AND IRREGULAR WORKING HOURS, Causes and Measures of Stress

The effects of computer aided design work on the design process are analysed by field experiments. The study focuses on the influence of 3 different design tasks (standard tasks) and 11 CAD-systems (2D and 3D), taking into account the performance and strain measurements of 43 subjects (15 design engineers, 8 technicians, 17 draughtsmen, 3 trainees). The 3 standard tasks differ in performance measurements, especially in time spent on task, quantity of generated elements, not in the quality of the solution. The kind of CAD-system influences the time spent on task as well as the design performance, with significant differences of up to 100%. The same tendency can be diagnosed in a comparison of 2D and 3D systems. During the use of different functions of the CAD-system, strain effects are identified by cross-correlation with continuously measured physiological parameters, even with CAD-functions which should reduce stresses of routine work. Deficits and complications in the handling of CAD-systems increase with the complexity of the system and thus cause an antinome effect on performance and strain of its operators: creativity is reduced by frictions and frustrations in system handling even if operators are highly trained.