Tool or hassle?- Production workers evaluation of the potential of digital assistance systems on the shopfloor in shipbuilding projects

Abstract

Technology development opens up for new possibilities to facilitate the production processes through digital information systems. To optimize the systems’ value, the form, content, and medium must fit the needs of the workers. This article aims to contribute to the discussion on value, use and design of digital assistance systems for production. It presents empirical data from a case study at a Norwegian shipyard, on production workers’ perception of coordinative challenges, and the value (including content) of digital assistance systems in complex shipbuilding projects. A quantitative survey among supervisors and operators at the shop floor was conducted twice due to different circumstances at the yard. These variations in circumstances are valuable to enable an evaluation of the workers’ perception of coordinative challenges and digital solutions in different situations. The findings indicate a pronounced positive attitude towards the potential of digital systems. Moreover, the role of supervisors and operators in coordinative challenges leads to different requirements to the solutions. The results from this study will have both industrial and scientific implications, as they provide valuable insights to help develop user-friendly systems that aid both workers and the company in terms of efficiency and accurate communication.

Keywords:

• Shipbuilding
• digital assistance systems
• production
• engineer to order
• coordination
• cooperation

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all participants for contributing and to the Norwegian Research Council for funding (282365).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data available on request from the authors

Notes

1. N = 297.

2. N = 297.

3. N = 290.

4. To ensure that respondents did not place themselves in the middle if they found the topic irrelevant, they were also given the option “not relevant” (not included in this presentation)

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the The Norwegian research council [282365].

Notes on contributors

Marte Giskeødegård

Marte Giskeødegård holds a PhD in social anthropology, with specialization in organization, work, and technology. She currently works as an Associate Professor at the department of Ocean Space and Civil Engineering at NTNU. Before she joined NTNU, she worked as a researcher in a regional research institute, working among other things with research projects on the maritime industry. Her work focus in particular on interaction and coordination in work processes, emphasizing the socio-material character of work.

Kristina Kjersem

Kristina Kjersem is a senior researcher at Møreforsking AS, Norway. She received a Ph.D. in Logistics from Molde University College and her main research area in the last ten years has been lean project planning and control in ETO projects. Many of her research projects are performed in close collaboration with companies within the shipbuilding industry. Her research interests also include digitization from a logistics perspective as well as sustainability as a circular business model.

Niklas Jahn

Niklas Jahn is a research assistant and doctoral candidate at the Institute of Production Management and Technology, which is part of the Hamburg University of Technology. He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in the same field with a specialization on product development, materials and production at the aforementioned university. His current area of work comprises of digital production management, with a focus on the use of digital assistance systems in ETO industries. He is interested in software development and the creation of human-centric application fitting the needs and challenges of modern production.

Robert Rost

Robert Rost is a senior researcher and doctoral candidate at the Institute of Production Management and Technology, which is part of the Hamburg University of Technology. He researches since more than five years on smart solutions for workers in ETO industries especially in the field of Augmented Reality. The solutions he and his team develop focus on supplying the shopfloor with automatic generated, interactive workplans supplemented with information from different subsystems to increase labour productivity on the shopfloor. The overriding goal is a development that is close to the process in order to enable rapid application and intensive testing in the field.