The activity of planning operators in road haulage transport companies: theoretical and methodological contributions (Part 1)

This study focuses on the activity of planning operators in road haulage transport companies. The contributions of ergonomic psychology and Operations Research are presented through a first part devoted to theoretical foundations. A method of cognitive activity analysis is proposed afterwards. Based on verbalizations coding, this method provides access to the mental processes of operators while fulfilling their planning activity. The latter has been implemented as part of a pre-validation study. The results validate the use of this method as well as the possibility to automate a part of the coding. The above approach can therefore be used in future work. The purpose would be to better assimilate the mental activity of the operators, to identify their different needs and allow them to minimize the risk of mental overload.