Digital information presentation in a complex production environment: An investigation into reducing operators cognitive workload
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Production engineering (MPPEN), MSc
Publicerad
2020
Författare
Helldén, Jakob
Karlsson, Viktor
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
A production environment defined by low volumes and high product variance in an
industry that is characterized by immense quality requirements confronts assembly
operators with high complexity in their daily work tasks. Therefore, operators must
be supported by information presentation of high quality to effectively handle the
complexity.
In this thesis the perceived cognitive workload of operators in the complex production
environment evident in the space manufacturing industry was evaluated.
Based on this assessment two solution concepts for presenting work instructions
were developed that contain several improvements reducing an operator’s cognitive
workload in the assembly present at the case company. These concepts feature
different implementation horizons, where one of the concepts lies within the reach
of short-term implementation, while the other one presents an outlook on how information
could be presented in the future. These concepts were evaluated by a
focus group consisting of both researchers on the area of information handling and
industry practitioners.
It could be concluded that a fundamental challenge an operator faces within this
environment is the handling and processing of large amounts of information, which
acts as a source for several information presentation issues affecting cognitive workload.
Furthermore, it was found that the application of an approach considering the
active cognitive processes of an information receiver may improve the effectiveness of
the information presentation within this environment. The evaluation of the developed
information presentation concluded that the developed concepts show potential
to reduce the cognitive workload of the user. Furthermore, it was concluded that
operator involvement will be necessary to ensure true usability of the instructions,
therefore operator validation is recommended for further research.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Cognitive workload, Information presentation, Work instruction , Information quality, New space, Space industry, Final assembly