Preserving Cultural Heritage Through Ergonomic Innovation: Productivity Improvement Among Traditional Songket Weavers in Indonesia

Abstract

Traditional Songket weaving is an important component of Indonesia’s intangible cultural heritage and creative economy. However, its sustainability is challenged by low productivity, an aging artisan workforce, and work related musculoskeletal disorders associated with prolonged static postures and non-ergonomic workstations. This one-group pretest-posttest study evaluated changes in occupational health and productivity following a four-week ergonomic workstation intervention among a predetermined sample of 18 active weavers in Palembang, Indonesia. Outcomes included Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA), Nordic Body Map (NBM), fabric output, motif completion, and effective working time. Pre-post comparisons showed reductions in REBA (51.3%) and NBM scores (45.9%) and increases in fabric output (18.8%), motif completion (22.9%), and effective working time (11.9%) (paired t tests, all p < 0.001). Because the design lacked a concurrent control group, these changes should be interpreted as associations with the intervention rather than definitive causal effects; maturation, repeated measurement, and production-demand variation cannot be excluded. The study directly measured occupational and production outcomes. Possible effects on artisan retention and heritage continuity remain a conceptual implication requiring longitudinal evaluation.