Peter Thorvald
Associate Professor of Product Design Engineering
Two of the biggest challenges facing the manufacturing industry over the next decade are digitization and demographic changes. Changes in demography are going to lead to an older workforce and greater challenges in attracting skilled labour.
We believe that one response to this challenge might lie in digitization and the provision of cognitive support of various kinds. By supporting the employee’s needs for information and knowledge, improving their work instructions and adapting them to the new technology, as well as designing strategies for the digitization of manufacturing execution systems (MES), we can confront both the old and new challenges that are impacting Sweden’s industrial competitiveness today and in the future.
Three areas of focus
The parties involved in this project all have many years of experience of research in the area and consequently the project will focus on implementing and validating previous hypotheses in the following focus areas:
- Digitization strategies for manufacturing execution systems (MES)
- Sharing and dissemination of information and knowledge for MES staff
- The design and evaluation of MES with a focus on instruction design and the handling of stoppages.
MES staff need information and knowledge, and by using new digital technology, we will be able to improve their work instructions. By contributing this type of solution, we will benefit businesses by increasing their digitization maturity while contributing to a reduction in the cognitive workload for MES staff.
