Towards a Methodology for the Assessment of Information Requirements in a Proactive Assembly Work Setting

• Assembly work settings enabling proactive behaviour of the assembly operators are considered to be an important factor enabling customization of assembly work. As a consequence, access to necessary and essential information is a critical means to support proactive behaviour of assembly operators. In this paper we propose a methodology for assessing information requirements supporting operators’ proactive activities and decisions. The methodology is based on work domain analysis and it was used for assessing the information flow in a real assembly setting. By analysing the structure of information exchange and the hierarchical means-ends relationships a number of conclusions could be drawn. The first is that in order to consider information needed for all possible work activities, work domain analysis is a suitable approach. Additionally, proactive behaviour is related to the access to information answering why and what-questions. Furthermore, development towards more proactivity among assembly operators may necessitate decentralised decision-making. It is also concluded that in order to identify intentional constraints of an assembly system with increased proactivity, it is necessary to examine the levels of automation. Furthermore, to reach productivity gains the levels of competence must be developed so that most proactive decisions will remain on the skill- or rule-based levels.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Produktionsteknik, arbetsvetenskap och ergonomi (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Work Domain Analysis

Proactive Behaviour

Information Support

Industrial engineering and economy

Industriell teknik och ekonomi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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