Mental Strain as Field of Action in the 4th Industrial Revolution

Dombrowski, Uwe; Wagner, Tobias

doi:10.1016/j.procir.2014.01.077

Cited by 161 publications

(118 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Measures for organizational and production fit were derived from literature investigating company characteristics that impede Industry 4.0 implementation [42,43,57,[81][82][83]. Challenges concerning employee qualifications and acceptance lay the basis for items within the respective construct [2][3][4]61,66,78,84,85].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Developing or sourcing these qualifications represents a major challenge and obstacle for manufacturers [3]. Another aspect in this context is the acceptance of new Industry 4.0 technologies by employees [42,66]. Companies are well-advised to address employees' concerns and anxieties regarding data transparency, dependency on technical assistance systems, and workplace safety in human-machine interaction systems in order to enhance trust.…”

Section: Employee Qualifications and Acceptancementioning

confidence: 99%

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What Drives the Implementation of Industry 4.0? The Role of Opportunities and Challenges in the Context of Sustainability

2018

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Abstract:The implementation of Industry 4.0 has a far-reaching impact on industrial value creation. Studies on its opportunities and challenges for companies are still scarce. However, the high practical and theoretical relevance of digital and connected manufacturing technologies implies that it is essential to understand the underlying dynamics of their implementation. Thus, this study examines the relevance of Industry 4.0-related opportunities and challenges as drivers for Industry 4.0 implementation in the context of sustainability, taking a differentiated perspective on varying company sizes, industry sectors, and the company's role as an Industry 4.0 provider or user. A research model comprising relevant Industry 4.0-related opportunities and challenges as antecedents for its implementation is hypothesized. In order to test the model, partial least square structural equation modeling is applied for a sample of 746 German manufacturing companies from five industry sectors. The results show that strategic, operational, as well as environmental and social opportunities are positive drivers of Industry 4.0 implementation, whereas challenges with regard to competitiveness and future viability as well as organizational and production fit impede its progress. Moreover, it is shown that the perception of Industry 4.0-related opportunities and challenges as antecedents to Industry 4.0 implementation depends on different company characteristics.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Employee Qualifications and Acceptancementioning

confidence: 99%

What Drives the Implementation of Industry 4.0? The Role of Opportunities and Challenges in the Context of Sustainability

2018

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“…As a result of rapid advances in automation and digitization, current working conditions are subject to dynamic changes, especially in industrial settings (Cascio & Montealegre, ). Intelligent, interconnected technical systems that integrate highly automated physical processes and digital information (Hozdić, ) have entered the production process aimed at increasing production flexibility and productivity, efficient use of resources, and customization of products (Dombrowsky & Wagner, ; Lu, ). In the German‐speaking area, the term Industry 4.0 is often used as a label for this dynamic process (Hermann, Pentek, & Otto, ; Hofmann & Rüsch, ; Kagermann, Helbig, & Wahlster, ; Pfeiffer, ), whereas terms such as industrial internet, advanced manufacturing, integrated industry, or smart industry are used in the English literature (Hermann et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The introduction of new technologies coincides with an increase in their complexity (Bonekamp & Sure, ; Oborski, ). As a consequence, employees are assumed to be confronted with increasing qualification requirements (Bonekamp & Sure, ; Dombrowsky & Wagner, ; Oborski, ) especially in the production sector (Brettel, Friederichsen, Keller, & Rosenberg, ), while sufficient knowledge for successful task accomplishment is often missing (Ragu‐Nathan, Tarafdar, Ragu‐Nathan, & Tu, ). Skills such as “experience‐based self‐learning, adaptation to new situations, […] and [the] ability to react to unforeseen situations” are presumed to be most important to “successfully adapt on new forms of MMI [man‐machine interaction]” (Oborski, , p. 228).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived stress in human–machine interaction in modern manufacturing environments—Results of a qualitative interview study

et al. 2019

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Rapid advances in digitization technologies are changing modern working conditions especially in industrial settings. Consequently, employees are confronted with new forms of human–machine interaction. Whether changes in working conditions in general, and the increasing relevance of human–machine interaction in particular, affect psychosocial working conditions, and employee's health is currently matter of debate, but empirical data are lacking. Therefore, we conducted semistructured interviews with 36 employees working in five different companies. The interviews were aimed at identifying potential stressors associated with the introduction and use of modern technologies in the manufacturing industry. The results show that stressors linked to human–machine interaction are technical problems, poor usability, low situation awareness, and increased requirements on employees' qualification. For example, technical problems such as breakdowns or slowdowns were described as a main stressor when employees were not qualified to handle these problems on their own, thus decelerating work flows and causing additional time pressure. Overall, the results show that problems in human–machine interaction, which have been observed in laboratory and nonindustrial settings, also apply to industrial work places with highly automated working conditions and are a potential source of stress. These factors should be considered in psychosocial risk assessment of work‐related stressors.

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“…The fourth Industrial revolution is said to be happening now. This is predicted to involve increasing collaboration between humans and machines to the point of fusing the physical, digital and biological realms (Dombrowski and Wagner 2014). The world where the next generation of construction leaders will play out their future careers may be strongly influenced by digital complexity, globalisation, product industrialisation and market volatility.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preparing Students for a Disruptive Construction Future

Hardie¹

EPiC Series in Education Science

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Many industries have felt the impact of disruptive change on their profitability and established practices. Examples of disruption have been documented in industries as diverse as transportation, photography, newspapers, retailing, recorded music and computer graphics. The construction industry has mostly avoided large-scale disruption because, in spite of the globalisation evident in mega projects, most construction is locally-based and delivered within a specific national context and regulatory system. This may be about to change. The forces of digitisation, industrialisation and globalisation are combining to generate the potential for disruptive enterprises which will grab market share and shake up existing business models. As academics striving to prepare students to be employment-ready, we need to open their eyes to the potential of the new economy to support new business models that are quite different from traditional construction companies. Students will need to be entrepreneurial in seeking out opportunities and identifying market niches. In two new and developing units/subjects at an Australian university these issues are being raised. Students are challenged to identify markets and market strategies enabled by social enterprises, collaborative systems, the 'Internet of Things' and even 'Brutal Innovation'. Using student feedback and reflective practice, the lessons from the first two offerings of the new units are identified and teased out. In general, students respond well to the challenge of strategic thinking which relates to their future careers. While predicting the future is always fraught with difficulty, not attempting to do so could leave us vulnerable to disruptive change.

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Mental Strain as Field of Action in the 4th Industrial Revolution

Cited by 161 publications

References 13 publications

What Drives the Implementation of Industry 4.0? The Role of Opportunities and Challenges in the Context of Sustainability

What Drives the Implementation of Industry 4.0? The Role of Opportunities and Challenges in the Context of Sustainability

Perceived stress in human–machine interaction in modern manufacturing environments—Results of a qualitative interview study

Preparing Students for a Disruptive Construction Future

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