Supporting Operators with their Daily Tasks in Complex Production Environments - a Perspective on ICT Tools

To achieve a sustainable competitive business all resources needs to be utilized. Within a manufacturing company the shop-floor operators are one of those resources. The shop-floor operators has been called “A key to future competitiveness and effectiveness”. To facilitate high operator performance the equipment required to support their tasks ought to be provided. Information and communication technology (ICT) could provide cognitive support and through technological advancements the possibilities of communication and information sharing seems endless. Authors suggests that ICT tools supporting the operators are needed.The aim of this thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of what challenges faced by operators can be aided by ICT tools and how to evaluate this support.Operators frequently faces various challenges during a work day. This thesis identifies and discusses ten challenges relating to information and communication. These challenges can be approached and supported in several ways. In the thesis it is discussed how mobile and digital ICT tools can support operators with identified challenges. Evaluating the outcome of any change is important and so is evaluating changes and impact from ICT tools. In this thesis examples of performance measures are presented and a few aspects to consider when selecting them are discussed.A framework “Operator-support tool” was suggested to aid in the endeavours of identifying challenges faced by operators and selecting performance measures (in addition to use in the design phase). This framework was beneficial in maintaining a wide perspective and ensuring consideration of the three aspects of operators, their tasks and support tools

Driving vehicle dismantling forward - A combined literature and empirical study

To move towards a more sustainable and circular economy, a more efficient recovery processes for end-of-life vehicles and their constituent components and materials is needed. To enable reuse, remanufacturing, high-value recycling and other circular strategies, a well-functioning disassembly is essential. This article presents a literature review of studies focusing on vehicle dismantling and surrounding end-of-life treatment systems. Furthermore, topics considered as the most critical for practitioners were identified through focus groups composed of industry representatives and researchers from various Swedish organizations. By comparing findings from the literature and empirical results, it is concluded that there are differences and gaps between the areas researched and those considered as important by industry, thus calling for further research to address practical challenges in improving vehicle end-of-life management. The four areas highlighted as the most prominent are: i) plastics, ii) batteries, iii) investments and ownership structures, and iv) the workforce

Explore - Exploring the opportunities for advancing vehicle recycling industrialization

After almost four years of research, it is time to summarise the findings of the Explore project. Involving actors from across the vehicle value chain, it has aimed to increase dialogue and communication, built knowledge regarding the composition of vehicles and pinpointed barriers and opportunities to improve circular flows of vehicle materials in the future.The project\u27s goal is to find ways to strengthen Swedish automotive recycling industry’s role in a more circular economy and create close cooperation between manufacturing and recycling industries. Against this background, the project has the following objectives:* Analyze future vehicle fleet\u27s material content and its implication for recycling system adaptation.* Adopt and adapt manufacturing planning and control theories and practices to develop a more efficient vehicle dismantling.* Analyze and propose solutions for more efficient reverse logistics in vehicle recycling.* Identify political and industrial action that can support the development of Swedish vehicle recycling.* Identify technical solutions for disassembly, sorting and recycling of future vehicles.The project was carried out through six individual work packages related to different parts of the vehicle value chain

Understanding disturbance handling in complex assembly: analysis of complexity index method results

Disturbance handling is crucial for managing production complexity in final assembly. Due to that complexity in a system causes uncertainties and assembly errors, it is important to further investigate what causes disturbance handling and how it can be managed to support operators working with complexity. Production complexity was assessed through the method CompleXity Index (CXI), which captures operators’ view of a station. A statistical analysis of the CXI data was performed and relations between available time and use of work instructions and also seniority and empowerment were found. In addition no relation between empowerment and stress was seen which indicates that perceived empowerment and its relation to stress should be studied further

Adoption of lean philosophy in car dismantling companies in Sweden-a case study

At present, Lean manufacturing techniques are widely used in industries to improve the productivity by reducing different types of wastes. A case study has been conducted to investigate how Lean techniques can contribute in car dismantling companies in Sweden. This study gained insight of how car dismantling companies can be benefitted by adopting Lean philosophy. Some eccentric characteristics of this business which act as boundary condition for implementing Lean in Production Planning and control system were also identified

Using the CompleXity Index to discuss improvements at work: A case study in an automotive company

Many companies strive to increase their results and competitiveness. Working with improvements can entail better results and so can attracting customers through increasing the product variants. An increased number of variants implies a higher complexity for the operators. CompleXity Index (CXI) is a method which measures perceived production complexity. It was applied in the assembly and material handling department at a manufacturer in the vehicle industry, followed by workshops. The aim is, based on the results, to investigate if CXI could be used both to capture and transmit a current situation and be used by the operators and managers for improvement work. A high CXI level was measured for most of the production areas. The areas were mainly perceived as complex due to product variants and layout. The workshops reveal that the operators felt identified with the results and thought the method could be used to discuss their situation in detail. CXI was found capable of transmitting the operators’ perception. Finally, it was also discussed how CXI could be used for improvement work in assembly areas

Perceived production complexity – understanding more than parts of a system

To successfully manage today’s complex production systems it is essential to study operators’ perception of the system. The paper presents perceived production complexity assessed at seven manufacturing companies with the CompleXity Index (CXI) method. While other methods have measured product variants, layout, work content, tools and information items, CXI combines them into three areas. These three complexity areas (Station design, Work variance and Disturbance handling) help to create an understanding of the complex system by visualising how they contribute to complexity, and show the need to support the operators’ ability to handle the varying work

Using the compleXity index for improvement work: investigating utilisation in an automotive company

CompleXity index (CXI) is a method that measures perceived production complexity. CXI was applied in the assembly and material-handling department at a manufacturer in the automotive industry, followed by workshops. The aim of the article was, based on the results, to investigate if CXI could be used to capture and transmit a current situation and be used by the operators and managers for improvement work. A high CXI level was measured for most of the production areas. The areas were mainly perceived as complex due to work variance and station design. The workshops revealed that the operators felt identified with the results and thought the method could be used to discuss their situation in detail

Perceived production complexity – understanding more than parts of a system

To successfully manage today’s complex production systems it is essential to study operators’ perception of the system. The paper presents perceived production complexity assessed at seven manufacturing companies with the CompleXity Index (CXI) method. While other methods have measured product variants, layout, work content, tools and information items, CXI combines them into three areas. These three complexity areas (Station design, Work variance and Disturbance handling) help to create an understanding of the complex system by visualising how they contribute to complexity, and show the need to support the operators’ ability to handle the varying work

Challenges for the Operator 3.0 Addressed Through the Enabling Technologies of the Operator 4.0

Just as human operators are important production enablers in the fac-toriesof today, they are expected to staykey enablersalsoin future manufactur-ing. In today’sfactories,operators often meet challenges relatedto poor infor-mation and communication design, whichaffectstheir possibilities to perform with higher efficiency levels. Therefore, they need to be provided with better cognitive support tools that are relevanttothe challenges to be met. To ensure efficient and effective operator work in the factories of the future, operator sup-port needs to be adequate for the new tasks arising from the evolving operators’roles and work. Within this paper, the results of current operators’work and chal-lenges,based on six casestudies, are combined with an outlook of the future of work of operators, based onthe Operator 4.0vision. The challenges categorized in this paper can be used to identify opportunitiesfor improvementin the opera-tors’cognitive support in present factories as well as for researchers and devel-opers of Operator 3.0 supportsolutions