3 questions for Angelika Bullinger-Hoffmann, Martin Krzywdzinski and Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen about ‘How are new technologies changing work in manufacturing companies?’

Copyright:
Angelika Bullinger-Hoffmann © Ph. Hiersemann; Martin Krzywdzinski © David Ausserhofer ; Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen © privat

Munich, 30 January 2025

Angelika Bullinger-Hoffmann:

There is an interesting transitional area between the two poles of ‘knowledge work’ and ‘production’ that I would like to highlight here: particularly in industry, there are tasks between office-based knowledge work and manual tasks on the shop floor. I’m talking about commissioning, maintenance, repairs, and the planning of modifications and expansions. This is where intellectual work such as diagnostic and problem-solving skills combined with highly specialised knowledge and manual activities, such as inspections, disassembly, and reassembly, come together. This often requires cooperation between the operators of (production) plants, their equipment suppliers, and industry-related service providers. Until now this has mostly taken the form of employees from equipment suppliers and service providers travelling to the plant operators. However, the technology of telerobotics offers great potential here, for example, to gain remote support from a competent maintenance technician at another location, thus creating a noticeable positive effect for employees in production. The two research projects PraeRI and TeleInteractionXR have created first use cases in this regard.

Martin Krzywdzinski:

Industrie 4.0 technologies create numerous opportunities for a new organisation of work. This starts with the reduction of strenuous and repetitive tasks and the use of digital assistance systems that enable employees to handle more complex tasks in the work process. However, new forms of work organisation with more flexible and holistic scopes of work for employees would also be conceivable. The challenges include the selection and implementation of technological solutions. It is important to proceed in a way that the needs of employees are taken into account early on.

Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen:

There is no doubt that new technologies create opportunities to organise work in a humane way. However, this is not an automatic process. The challenge rather lies in companies abandoning their established organisational and personnel deployment routines when introducing new systems, and systematically and holistically coordinating technology, organisation, and qualifications. Research findings repeatedly show that many companies do not abandon their entrenched organisational and personnel routines, and therefore do not exploit the social and, ultimately, economic potential of new technologies.

Angelika Bullinger-Hoffmann:

In line with the seemingly diametrical poles of knowledge work and production mentioned above, it is often assumed that flexible working hours are fundamentally impossible in production. In practice, however, this is usually due to rigid structures that have evolved over decades – not that employees are not involved in decisions about their work organisation for an objective reason. For example, if integrative communication concepts and neutral moderation succeed in bringing together HR, the works council, shift planners, and those affected (i.e. representatives of the shift workers) early on, surprising solutions can be found for some that meet with a high level of consensus. This can, for example, result in “after-work shifts” or variable shift transitions which increase employee satisfaction.

Martin Krzywdzinski:

New Work is not a very precisely defined concept. Frequently mentioned elements include flexibility in terms of working hours and location, as well as increasing the autonomy of employees in work processes. There are limits to the flexibility regarding working hours and work locations in production, but the digitalisation of processes can allow these limits to be at least slightly shifted by enabling virtual work in some cases. There is scope for increasing the autonomy of employees in work processes if assistance systems are specifically developed for this purpose and to meet the needs of employees.

Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen:

In production, special conditions naturally play a role in the introduction of New Work concepts. These include process-related requirements, such as cycle-based production lines or safety requirements. However, Industrie 4.0 opens up opportunities for New Work, even for activities on the shop floor. The use of cloud services and specialised software in many areas of work makes it possible to organise work flexibly in terms of time and location via appropriate data access. Networked systems offer significantly improved opportunities for collaborative forms of work with flat hierarchies. Furthermore, systems using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) offer new dimensions in process visualisation. In order to exploit this previously underutilised potential, management and works councils must question their established routines and ideas about work.

Angelika Bullinger-Hoffmann:

When introducing new technologies, it is too late to appeal to employees’ trust – this must be earned by speaking with the people working in a production segment, for example, before selecting a new technology, to find out where they see the greatest potential for improvement. This involvement turns those affected into participants who are also much more interested in the associated training for the technology. If the training is then supported by suitable and effective tools such as telerobotics and XR technologies, which show the employees that there is an interest in building knowledge, the course is set for acceptance and utilisation.

Martin Krzywdzinski:

Trust and acceptance are created when employees are involved early on in defining the requirements for the use of technology and the implementation of new technologies. A functioning co-determination process is a key factor here. With regard to further training, there needs to be a good connection between training and qualification directly at the workplace. Regarding this, I consider the development of multiplier roles on the shop floor to be interesting, where employees themselves support the further training of their colleagues and are also given time resources for this.

Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen:

The results of our study on “Akzeptanz von Industrie 4.0”, conducted on behalf of the Research Council Industrie 4.0, show that the acceptance of new technologies by employees depends largely on the following factors: early information and continuous communication about the objectives of the new technologies; transparent HR planning that excludes feared social consequences; ongoing optimisation of new processes through participation in detailed planning, continuous monitoring, and a fault-tolerant system introduction; and systematic qualification with “ample room for testing and experimenting”.

The publication of the Research Council Industrie 4.0 “Wie verändern neue Technologien die Arbeit in Produktionsbetrieben?” deepens these topics. You can find the publication here (in German).