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Empirical studies have documented skills that make humans superior to machines in various contexts while keeping them inferior in some others, nevertheless; humans are recognized as the most flexible element in a production system. This paper relates the theory of Lean automation with human-machine interaction; thereby taking benefits from the best...
Citations
... Here, several technological solutions can be the key for managing the ongoing transition towards a circular economy. Flexibility might be achieved through production innovations related to either human-robot collaborative applications (Koren et al., 2018;Malik & Bilberg, 2019) or reconfigurable manufacturing systems (Koren et al., 2018). However, implementing innovative production solutions for achieving changeable and automated-assisted manufacturing challenges the operators in their role , Sigurjónsson et al., 2022. ...
Resource-efficient production including life-cycle approaches was stated as early as 2002 as the only way forward for the industry. Now, twenty years later, this is a reality in many ways. This represents a challenge to manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) due to a disruptive industrial environment as well as changing market needs that require more capability to manage predictable as well as unpredictable changes. This paper explores some aspects manufacturing SMEs must manage, such as developing new capabilities to stay competitive in a disruptive industrial environment with uncertainties in supply chains, technologies, energy costs, changes in customer demands, and circularity. This paper presents a conceptual guideline for assessing the capabilities to develop as a manufacturing SME in a circular industrial environment. One way to manage this transition towards circularity in an industrial environment can be to develop transdisciplinary collaborations between different stakeholders and competencies.
... The interdependency of mechanization and automation to a CPS and a human-centric system is crucial for achieving a more efficient and productive workplace in the civil engineering domain [115,116]. The layers of mechanization, digitization, and humancentric design should be combined with additional layers of safety, compliance, and monitoring to ensure the system's effectiveness and safety. ...
The construction industry struggles to increase productivity, time management, working effectiveness, and quality due to a lack of awareness of the use of new technologies that are widely used in other disciplines. This study aims to looks into current research trends, problems and solutions in technology adaptation. A literature review was conducted and results were used to establish a roadmap for enabling Industry 4.0 by implementing AI, IoT, and Blockchain. The significance of technology integration and research by significant pioneers for achieving industries 4.0 and 5.0 were was found, and a conceptual framework was developed, and future research areas were described.
... With ever more powerful digital technologies for measuring, controlling, analyzing, and coordinating resources, the possibilities for continuous improvements and optimization also increase. This indicates a possibility to respond to the industrial trend of more automated-assisted assembly for customized products by designing HRC layouts (Malik & Bilberg, 2019;, by increased utilization of digital tools in the production development process (Wadekar et al., 2018). Since the variety, as well as the capacity of digital tools continuously increase, it is relevant to have a holistic view of production system layout design, over time. ...
... The specification of KPIs is critical for performance support when making decisions (Bishop, 2018) i.e. decisions regarding measures intended to increase created V, or reduce R. The trend towards HRC layouts increases the complexity of KPI specification, as several new value and resource terms need to be reflected upon. Our study indicates that most of the relevant KPIs are connected to (1) economical parameters, productivity, and cycle time (Malik & Bilberg, 2019), (2) throughput and utilization of equipment (Barosz et al., 2020), and (3) average assembly time (Prajapat et al, 2020). Environmental indicators are also ever more important, such as emissions and energy consumption (Paju et al., 2010;Matta et al., 2019). ...
The introduction of Human-Robot Collaboration assembly (HRC) adds complexity when designing layouts, as e.g. new safety and security issues need to be considered. In this paper, the usefulness of digital tools, such as simulation and emulation tools, to support the transdisciplinary activities in an integrated product and production development process for HRC layouts, is explored. The empirical findings was collected through interactive workshops between industrial experts and researchers, developing and analyzing challenges and needs while using digital tools. The conclusions indicate a need for an understanding of the cost drivers when utilizing digital tools, and how the reuse of digital models and knowledge can reduce development time and cost. This includes understanding of how new versions of digital tools may drive costs. Four important activities while designing a HRC layout, utilizing a digitalized production preparation process, were identified. It was also found that an efficient and reliable assessment method related to different regulations and standards is needed to support the selection and use of digital tools when designing a HRC layout.
... Two fundamental properties of a team's members are capability and adaptability. Capability of an entity is defined as the objective-achieving property that helps it realizing its overall mission (Malik and Bilberg, 2019b). For production systems, the capability of a resource is to have the ability to accomplish the desired tasks. ...
Assembly, the process of integrating parts and components into usable products, is a key industrial process to achieve finished goods. Driven by market demographics and technological advancements, industrial assembly has evolved through several phases i.e. craftmanship, bench assembly, assembly lines and flexible assembly cells. Due to the complexity and variety of assembly tasks, besides significant advancement of automation technologies in other manufacturing activities, humans are still considered vital for assembly operations. The rationalization of manufacturing automation has considerably remained away from assembly systems. The advancement in assembly has only been in terms of better scheduling of work tasks and avoiding of wastes. With smart manufacturing technologies such as collaborative robots, additive manufacturing, and digital twins, the opportunities have arisen for the next reshaping of assembly systems. The new paradigm promises a higher degree of automation yet remaining flexible. This may result into a new manufacturing paradigm driven by the advancement of new technologies, new customer expectations and by establishing new kinds of manufacturing systems. This study explores the future collaborative assembly cells, presents a generic framework to develop them and the basic building blocks.
... Despite the advances in the field of robotics, the presence of human workers is still required in many tasks due to their superior analytical and dexterous abilities [2]. In many cases, it has been proven that the combination of superior human capabilities with partial automation is more fruitful than fully automated lines that only use industrial robots [3]. As a result, a majority of industries focus on active human-robot interactions (HRIs) to evolve their production lines [4]. ...
There has been a rapid increase in the use of collaborative robots in manufacturing industries within the context of Industry 4.0 and smart factories. The existing human–robot interactions,
simulations, and robot programming methods do not fit into these fast-paced technological advances
as they are time-consuming, require engineering expertise, waste a lot of time in programming
and the interaction is not trivial for non-expert operators. To tackle these challenges, we propose a
digital twin (DT) approach for human–robot interactions (HRIs) in hybrid teams in this paper. We
achieved this using Industry 4.0 enabling technologies, such as mixed reality, the Internet of Things,
collaborative robots, and artificial intelligence. We present a use case scenario of the proposed method
using Microsoft Hololens 2 and KUKA IIWA collaborative robot. The obtained results indicated
that it is possible to achieve efficient human–robot interactions using these advanced technologies,
even with operators who have not been trained in programming. The proposed method has further
benefits, such as real-time simulation in natural environments and flexible system integration to
incorporate new devices (e.g., robots or software capabilities).
... With the advent of novel technologies for smart factory operations, such as human-robot collaboration and AR/VR-based HMIs, operators require extra training to learn these technologies to better perform tasks. These technologies require both cognitive and physical abilities to perform tasks (Malik and Bilberg, 2019). However, the operator's cognitive abilities are more important than their physical abilities in a smart factory. ...
... Wallhoff et al. (2007) also utilized hand gesture inputs to move, grab, and dispose of 3D objects (sphere, cone, etc.) in assembly tasks in a production line. Gesture interactions are widely used in control, maintenance, and assembly tasks in smart factories because they enable operators to naturally interact with machines (Gorecky et al., 2014;Malik and Bilberg, 2019;Wallhoff et al., 2007). We found that hand gesture interaction could also perform tasks quickly using micro-interactions, such as holding an object, moving an object, selecting a button, and zooming in or out, especially in AR contexts (Hietanen et al., 2020). ...
... The challenges associated with HMIs in smart factory operations are as follows: (a) they require a strong cybersecurity network to protect the factory cloud from unauthorized users (Lezzi et al., 2018), (b) human-centred technology is necessary to improve the usability of the HMI (Malik and Bilberg, 2019), and (c) guidelines for smart factory HMI design must be formulated from cognitive and physical perspectives. ...
A smart factory is a form of manufacturing in the era of Industry 4.0 that has adopted new integrated manufacturing technologies. The importance of human–machine interfaces (HMIs) has been increasing due to the complexity of the current manufacturing context. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and understand HMIs in smart factories from a holistic perspective, which enables us to understand the overall picture. In this study, we conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) of HMIs to identify smart factory functions, tasks, information types, interaction modalities, and their impact on human operators from the perspectives of human factors and human–computer interaction. Seventy-seven articles were selected for SLR and analysed based on three research questions. We found four smart factory functions (operation and supervision, management, maintenance service, and cybersecurity) consisting of 18 tasks, including subtasks and functions. The effects of these functions, tasks, and HMIs on human operators are also discussed. Five interaction modalities (gaze, voice, gesture, tactile, and haptic) were used to perform these functions and tasks. This paper also discusses the practical use context of HMIs in smart factories and offers HMI recommendations for users, designers, and researchers. These findings provide insights into the design of HMIs in smart factories.
... Second, as already mentioned, agile is implemented in factories that apply automation on a massive scale, but already in a flexible form (Malik and Bilberg, 2019). The combination of agile and automation is called 'Agile Automated Production' -AAP for short (Hopp, Seyed and Shou, 2005). ...
The concept of the "end of work" as a result of automation has been in scientific circulation at least since at least the 1930s, when J. M. Keynes (1930) announced his prediction that that the grandchildren of current workers would have completely new perspectives the possibility of life without work. The digital economy has indeed opened up We have a completely new way of life, but it has not yet made it possible for us to existence without work. Keynes' thesis has been revisited many times in the last 30 years. Some researchers have looked for strong statistical ground for it (Frey and Osborne, 2013), others have put on their own intuition and view (Rifkin, 1995).
The aim of this dissertation is to examine to what extent labour automation actually affects the labour market and how it does so. I consider it no less important to establish what factors influence automation itself. Ultimately, the dissertation aims to show the place of labour automation in a broad context of relations and conditions, primarily social, but also economic and political. economic and political.
The main research question that motivates me to carry out the research is: does the automation of work exist in Poland? automation of work exists in Poland, and if so, what is the relationship between automation and labour market? I formulate a hypothesis, which I will try to confirm through research: labour automation in the long run does not lead to a reduction in the size of the labour market, but leads to a change in its structure in the form of elimination of professions based on repetitive repetitive activities.
I start my research by verifying existing data - available results in various countries, which also extends the research field to other factors surrounding automation of work and the labour market. In the theoretical chapter, I discuss them in detail as as much as the assumptions of the dissertation allow. Then, in the research section, I return to the source research question and present the results of qualitative research and quantitative analyses for the Polish labour market.
Thanks to the above structure, the dissertation presents a wide spectrum of relations and conditions of of automation and work in the broadest possible context showing both micro, mezo and macro perspectives micro, meso and macro social perspective.
... The avatar operator, who is a smart net aggregator, employee competences profile and their professional requirements as new type of working places have the following labor functions [23,24]: ...
To prognosticate a crisis in the small and medium entrepreneurship engaged in technological product manufacturing may lead to creation function expandable platform to control a cyber-production. A cyber-production is a separate technological aggregate physically isolated as a device class. A cyber-production avatar is a system administrator to control the control modes and inter-machinery interaction. The cyber-production technical park area provides the item manufacturing from the idea to a serial sample. To control aggregates within being regulated parameters, which is normally done through the production office functioning center requires from the avatar strong technology and cyber-tools grasp. The labor functions are defined as much as cyber-production operator requirements as an Industry 4.0 worker. The working conditions and system of labor relationships are defined, which are valid for the Industry 4.0 cyber-production as an employer 4.0.
... In parallel, customers are demanding more customized products which challenges the production systems to manage many variants in the same assembly lines [2], [3], and for manufacturing companies to increase productivity, as well as being agile and flexible [4]. Malik and Bilberg [5] argue that manufacturers in high-wage economies aim to manage the challenge of being cost-effective and flexible while increasing automation. This demands the assembly systems to switch between products and/or variants, in an efficient way. ...
... The need for flexibility in a production system that can manage many variants in a mixed model assembly line (MMAL) are reflected in the literature review [5], [13], [37][38][39]. In an assembly line for high-mix in low-volume (HMLV) production, research indicates that productivity can be improved through utilization of automation or human-robot collaboration [5], [8], [13], [39]. ...
... The need for flexibility in a production system that can manage many variants in a mixed model assembly line (MMAL) are reflected in the literature review [5], [13], [37][38][39]. In an assembly line for high-mix in low-volume (HMLV) production, research indicates that productivity can be improved through utilization of automation or human-robot collaboration [5], [8], [13], [39]. However, a lot of research for MMALs focus on balancing and production planning [18] while the technologies and solutions for automated assisted assembly still needs to be explored further for successful implementation in HMLV production. ...
The trend in manufacturing is towards increased automation. This in combination with more customized products challenge the production systems to manage assembly of high mix in low volume (HMLV). The industry constantly explores innovative solutions to deal with this task in a more efficient way. This is a literature review over the role of automation whereby it can streamline assembly complexities of high mix in low volume productions. The paper explores how automation-based solutions within the assembly process could assist product customization efforts in the mid-sized segment.
... With the growing demand of customization and flexibility, modern day manufacturing systems are getting increasingly complex (Bilberg and Malik 2019). The attention towards integrating flexibility of humans and efficiency of machines is making humans the central part of a manufacturing system (Flemisch et al. 2012) (Malik and Bilberg 2019a) thus transforming the manufacturing system from being mechatronic nature to biomechatronic architecture. ...
Over the past years, the concept of human-centered automation has received a lot of attention to achieve hybrid automation. A form of hybrid automation is taking benefit from the synergistic effect of human-robot collaboration. When used in the assembly, the requirement of flexibility, adaptability, and safety makes the design and redesign of human-robot collaborative (HRC) systems a complex and prone to error process. The use of time-based continuous simulations can offer safe virtual space for testing and validation thus easing the design of complex HRC systems. However, conventional simulations don't allow to experience the future production system as an end-user in an immersive environment. This paper explores the technological development in VR for design of human-centered production systems and develops a unified framework to combine human-robot simulation with VR. The simulation as an event-driven simulation helped in estimating the human-robot cycle times, developing process plan, layout optimization and robot control program. The same simulation is used in VR to interact with the production equipment and particularly with the robot. Additionally, AWS Sumerian environment is used to create a virtual robot to assist VR user in the design process.
