Human Factors in Production Systems

Abstract

Information and communication technology (ICT) is getting smaller and faster at a dashing pace and is increasingly pervading production technology. This penetration of ICT within and across production technology enables companies to aggregate and utilize massive amounts of data of production processes, both horizontally (across different products) and vertically (from machine level, over the shop floor, to the supply chain level). Presumably, this yields in Smart Factories with adaptable manufacturing processes that adjust to different goals, such as performance, product quality, or resource efficiency. But the increasing amount of available data also raises considerable challenges: Strategic decisions still depend on humans in the loop who have to perceive and process increasingly complex multi dimensional data sets and to make decisions whose effects are increasingly difficult to forecast. This paper is concerned with the potential of the human factor. Along with three case studies, we demonstrate the potential of human factors in the development of applications for Smart Factories and enterprises in the era of Industry 4.0. The paper concludes with a set of guidelines and methods for the usercentred development of applications for Industry 4.0.

Effects of data presentation and perceptual speed on speed and accuracy in table reading for inventory control

“…From this it can be concluded that task performance profits from operators' high perceptual speed. However, from an occupational ergonomic point of view it is much more important to argue from the other side: Not all persons can rely on outstanding cognitive competencies, especially as future work generations are characterized by highly diverse skills [7] with very different educational and professional backgrounds.…”

“…Users reported that the increasing amount of available data delivered by ERP systems in combination with suboptimal information representation leads to high (perceived) workload and a low motivation to use these systems [3]. As strategic decisions still depend on humans in the loop who have to perceive, understand and process increasingly complex information and to make quick and correct decisions with considerable consequences for the effectiveness of the production process [2,7], the usability and the adequacy of the information visualization are critical factors [2,6,8].…”

Industry 4.0 And Agile Manufacturing

“…a value stream, so it will lead to IT-enable mass customization (Brauner & Ziefle, 2015). Internet of things and digitalized smart machines synchronize themselves right from the start to the end of production processes within the value chain.…”

“…Cyber physical system can check the availability of particular employee for the specific operations thus reducing the mangers effort in maintaining workforce. In this way assessment of workforce in term of their availability, speed precision and performance could be simplified by worker support system (Brauner & Ziefle, 2015).…”

The Future: Obstacles and Opportunities

“…Individual people and their interactions are considered as a critical success factor in the development of new systems, including production processes (Yauch 2007;Alves et al 2012;Brauner and Ziefle 2015). It is the ability of individuals to reflect-in-action (Schön and Wiggins 1992), often through informal communication and self-organized teamwork that can lead to the discovery of new requirements and conceptual solutions, thus leading the design process in new directions (Gero and Kannengiesser 2014).…”