Rapid advancements in an array of digital technologies and applications promote the transformation of industrial production into cyber-physical systems (CPS). This process is projected to lead to a completely new level of process automation, thereby redefining the role of humans and altering current work designs in yet unknown ways. However, existing literature is rather ambiguous and not explicit on how the transformation towards CPS affects work design. In this study, we therefore consider this transformation at a much more detailed level. Our main contribution is the development of a framework to assess work design changes in the transformation towards CPS, and the consideration of the role of management choice therein. The framework relates (future) capabilities of CPS on the machine, production line, factory and supply chain scope to functions of human information processing. We then evaluate how the potential automation or augmentation of those functions by CPS affects job characteristics. Automation in this context is defined as the transfer of control and decisionmaking from humans to CPS, while augmentation means that technology is used to enhance human productivity or capability. We expect that the transformation towards CPS and the resulting automation and augmentation of tasks will shift the majority of human work to jobs characterized by high levels of job complexity, job autonomy and skill variety. This effect will become more severe when tasks are increasingly automated in the transformation towards CPS. During this development, human skills and knowledge will presumably remain critical in near future industrial production. Nevertheless, the ultimate implications for work design are strongly dependent on management choice. Strategic decisions are required on (1) which functions to automate across different scopes of operations and (2) how to group the resulting pool of tasks into jobs. This may result in various work designs. However, this choice is to a certain degree limited, and the role of technology is to restrict, rather than determine management choice.what exactly leads to variations in these work designs (Parker, Morgeson, & Johns, 2017). One source of variation stems from the implementation of innovative digital technologies in industrial production, linked to the concept of Industry 4.0 (Hirsch-Kreinsen, 2016;Hirsch-Kreinsen & Ten Hompel, 2015). Industry 4.0 is an umbrella term comprising an array of different high-tech technologies and is characterized by Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) in the context of industrial production (Colombo, Karnouskos, Kaynak, Shi, & Yin, 2017;Hermann, Pentek, & Otto, 2016).In essence, CPS are systems of interconnected physical and computational objects, resulting in a close coupling of the cyber and physical contexts (Lee, Bagheri, & Kao, 2015). In industrial production, this means that physical objects, such as machines or products, are integrated with computational components. As a consequence, CPS are
With rapid advancements in the application of Industry 4.0 technologies throughout industries, a collection of different views on its potential implications for workers are emerging. Various authors agree that these technologies and their application in manufacturing systems is structurally different compared to current methods of production. Consequently, it is expected that the impact on manufacturing jobs, specifically on the tasks, is profoundly different from what we already know from literature. However, authors often borrow from existing literature to describe changes in work, and are not explicit on how and why Industry 4.0 and the implications is conceptually different. Until now, little research has focused on defining the technical functionalities that give rise to new job designs. This paper therefore focuses on synthesizing the diverging views on the effect of Industry 4.0 on employees' jobs and specifically aims to understand how the technical changes of the transformation towards a Cyber Physical System in production relate to changes in job design. The central question this paper addresses is: How do the technical changes of the transformation towards a Cyber Physical System impact job design in industrial production? The contribution is an overview of the technical functionalities of Cyber-Physical Systems that are conjectured to change direct and indirect valueadding jobs in industrial production. This model will be used as a basis for further empirical inquiries. Moreover, it provides central points of interests for organizations involved with the design and implementation of Industry 4.0, focusing on job design.
Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) are at the heart of industrial organizations' endeavors. While MES were traditionally positioned as an integration technology to bridge the shop-floor with higher level business systems, their current focus seems to be on the digitization of shop-floor activities for the collection, analysis and exchange of real-time information. Still, there remains dispute on the role of MES, specifically with respect to the functions they support in relation to other information systems in the automation pyramid, and their resulting interactions with humans. While MES are often positioned as the top layer of automated control of manufacturing processes, it is perceived by others as an integrated decision support system for the shop-floor. This study aims to shed light on the role of MES to either automate or to augment human tasks. Based on insights of a case study, we found that MES are neither automatic control nor solely decision support. MES' main role is the creation and maintenance of digital twins of products. This involves human interaction, which closely resembles work related to computer-aided engineering (CAE) systems. We expect that work in the sphere of MES will therefore increasingly resemble engineering work.
Manufacturing execution systems (MES) enable the detailed control of manufacturing operations, i.e. they facilitate digital and integrated shop-floor systems as envisioned by Industry 4.0. Yet, many manufacturing organizations struggle to integrate MES and demarcate it from other information systems (IS) in manufacturing. Therefore, this paper explores how MES can be functionally and technologically distinguished from other IS to determine its (future) role in the IS landscape. To provide an answer, this research applies the conceptualization of IS into five application functionalities and underlying enabling technologies. They are referred to as transaction processing, interactive planning, analytics, document management and process monitoring and control systems. We found that MES merges different types of application functionality into one system through its diverse functional requirements, and therefore can be characterized as technologically heterogeneous, in contrast to other 'classical' systems. MES then also takes on a central integrating role in the IS landscape. The findings offer an explanation for the challenges associated with the adoption of MES functionality, and highlight the importance of addressing integration questions in light of Industry 4.0.
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