The Change Management Process for Automation Implementations

The objective of this thesis is to identify change management processes in manufacturing and, if they exist, identify challenges and opportunities for improvement. There are many changes encountered in manufacturing as the advances of automation are integrated within production. For this reason, a change management process is required to effectively and efficiently implement these changes. To research this, a case study was conducted at a large manufacturing firm (more than ten-thousand employees). The facility studied produces low volume (~one per week), high complexity (~million components) products. The case study spanned six months, in which sixteen interviews were conducted with nine people from three different functional groups. The case study focused on a change to production, which was an automated machine that was implemented in the facility. This was not a change to the product, but a newly configured production station resulting in a decrease in automation level (bringing more manual activity into the task). The previous manufacturing method was fully automated but was not robust. Therefore, the change was to increase the human-robot cooperation in the robotic system. This study investigated the change process for this newly implemented automation. This was identified as a good case example to study due to several reasons. First, this was implemented within the past five years, which meant that people involved in the change process were still present. In addition to this, since the machine was still in operation it meant the propagation effects were stable and the changes were kept. Another reason this was a good example, was because this was a large-scale investment (~million dollars). This meant the return on investment (ROI) was high, leading to more attention to detail and higher resource allocation. From a research perspective, these reasons ensure the process was a critical case for study. Many change management processes align with the following high-level process: identify opportunity, gather approval to find a solution, form teams to solve, discover a solution, review, deploy a solution, and measure the solution. The change management process identified through the interviews followed this general pattern. In this model, thirty-four tasks were identified. Through a series of follow-up interviews, the process model was validated. However, obstacles were identified throughout some of the tasks in the process that encountered many changes. To explore this, a collaborative design resistance model was applied to see whether the model could accurately identify the tasks of highest resistance. The resistances were applied to the objective data from the interviews, such as team size and communication, and then compared to the subjective obstacles. From this, it was determined that the resistance model accurately predicted the challenges throughout the process. This research resulted in a mapped change management process for typical automation implementations. It additionally helped discover opportunities for making these implementations more efficient by mitigating the resistances. Motivated from this study, the following are some opportunities that were discovered for future work: conducting workshops to have participants build the change process model, studying the process at a small-medium enterprise, studying the process at a company with product change (high volume, low complexity)

Natural Resource Condition Assessment, Scotts Bluff National Monument

Executive Summary In collaboration with the National Park Service, the University of Wyoming Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources and the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database completed the Natural Resource Condition Assessment (NRCA) for Scotts Bluff National Monument (NM). The purpose of the NRCA is to provide park leaders and resource managers with information on resource conditions to support near-term planning and management, long-term strategic planning, and effective science communication to decision-makers and the public. Scotts Bluff NM was established in 1919. The purposes of the park include protecting and preserving the Mitchell Pass portion of the Oregon Trail and the geologic features of the bluffs. The assessment for Scotts Bluff NM began in 2015 with a facilitated discussion among park leadership and natural resource managers to identify high-priority natural resources and existing data with which to assess condition of those resources. Data were synthesized to evaluate each resource according to condition, trend in the condition, and confidence in the assessment. Natural resource conditions were the basis for a discussion with park leadership and natural resource managers, who then identified critical data gaps and management issues specific to Scotts Bluff NM. Resource experts, park staff, and network personnel reviewed this assessment. Priority natural resources were grouped into three categories: Landscape Condition Context, Supporting Environment, and Biological Integrity. The resources categorized as Landscape Condition Context included viewshed, night sky, and soundscape. At the time of this assessment, viewshed condition was of moderate concern and condition of night sky and soundscape warranted significant concern. Supporting Environment—or physical environment—resources included air quality, surface water quality, geology, and paleontological resources. Air quality warranted moderate concern, and condition of surface water quality, geology, and paleontological resources warranted significant concern. The natural resources that composed the Biological Integrity category included vegetation, birds, prairie dogs, and pollinators. Vegetation, prairie dogs, and pollinators were of moderate concern; we were unable to assign a condition to birds in the absence of specific management goals. This assessment includes a general background on the NRCA process (Chapter 1), an introduction to Scotts Bluff NM and the natural resources included in the assessment (Chapter 2), a description of methods (Chapter 3), condition assessments for 11 natural resources (Chapter 4), and a summary of findings accompanied by management considerations (Chapter 5)

Application of a Controlled Assembly Vocabulary: Modeling a Home Appliance Transfer Line

Part 8: Knowledge Management in Design and ManufacturingInternational audienceA controlled vocabulary list that was originally developed for the automotive assembly environment was modified for home appliance assembly in this study. After surveying over 700 assembly tasks with the original vocabulary, additions were made to the vocabulary list as necessary. The vocabulary allowed for the transformation of work instructions in approximately 90% of cases, with the most discrepancies occurring during the inspection phase of the transfer line. The modified vocabulary list was then tested for coder reliability to ensure broad usability and was found to have Cohen’s kappa values of 0.671 < κ < 0.848 between coders and kappa values of 0.731 < κ < 0.875 within coders over time. Using this analysis, it was demonstrated that this original automotive vocabulary could be applied to the non-automotive context with a high degree of reliability and consistency