Robots are increasingly used in a variety of work environments, but surprisingly little attention has been paid to how robots change work. In this comparative case study, we explore how robotization changed the work design of order pickers and order packers in eight logistic warehouses. We found that all warehouses robotized tasks based on technological functionality to increase efficiency, which sometimes created jobs consisting of ‘left-over tasks’. Only two warehouses used a bottom-up approach, where employees were involved in the implementation and quality of work was considered important. Although the other warehouses did not, sometimes their work design still benefitted from robotization. The positive effects we identified are reduced physical and cognitive demands and opportunities for upskilling. Warehouses that lack attention to the quality of work may risk ending up with the negative effects for employees, such as simplification and intensification of work, and reduced autonomy. We propose that understanding the consequences of robots on work design supports HR professionals to help managing this transition by both giving relevant input on a strategic level about the importance of work design and advocating for employees and their involvement.
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The proceedings contain 24 papers. The special focus in this conference is on Challenging the Future with Lean. The topics include: A Confrontation Between Lean Thinking and Postmetaphysical Philosophy; barriers and Enablers of Lean Industry 4.0; how Organizations Can Harness Continuous Improvement Practices to Develop Their Data Analytic Capability: A Conceptual Paper; Introducing DACAR: A Process Mapping Tool to Uncover Robotization Implications in Manufacturing; toward 1+1 = 3 with Lean Robotics: The Introduction of a Human-Centered Robotization Method; digital Tools Supporting Lean Program in a Multinational Enterprise; lean Planning & Control in a High-Variety/Low-Volume Environment; sustainability Struggles: Investigating the Interactions of Lean Practices and Barriers to Environmental Performance in Manufacturing; Investigating the Relationship Among Lean Manufacturing Practices to Improved Eco-Efficiency Performance: A Fuzzy DEMATEL Analysis; The Contribution of SMED to the Sustainability of Organizations; hoshin Kanri for Social Enterprises - Co-visualizing Values-Based Strategic Plans; integration of a Robot Solution in a Manufacturing Environment: A Serious Gaming Approach; using Games and Simulations to Facilitate Generative Conflict; the Influence of Learning Styles on the Perception of Lean Implementation Effectiveness by Employees; current State of Practice in Developing Lean Six Sigma Training and Certification Programs -an Irish Perspective; improving the Success Rate of Lean-Themed Internships; serious Games as a Lean Construction Teaching Method - A Conceptual Framework; The Impact of SMED on Productivity and Safety; a Systematic Literature Review on the Use of Lean Methodologies in Enterprise Sales Processes; the First Chapter of a Regional Deployment of a Continuous Improvement Program in a Medical Device Company.
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Future work processes are going to change in several aspects. The working population (at least in Western European countries) is decreasing, while average age of employees increases. Their productivity is key to continuity in sectors like healthcare and manufacturing. Health and safety monitoring, combined with prevention measures must contribute to longer, more healthy and more productive working careers. The ‘tech-optimist’ approach to increase productivity is by means of automation and robotization, supported by IT, AI and heavy capital investments. Unfortunately, that kind of automation has not yet fulfilled its full promise as productivity enhancer as the pace of automation is significantly slower than anticipated and what productivity is gained -for instance in smart industry and healthcare- is considered to be ‘zero-sum’ as flexibility is equally lost (Armstrong et al., 2023). Simply ‘automating’ tasks too often leads to ‘brittle technology’ that is useless in unforeseen operational conditions or a changing reality. As such, it is unlikely to unlock high added-value. In healthcare industry we see “hardly any focus on research into innovations that save time to treat more patients.” (Gupta Strategists, 2021). Timesaving, more than classic productivity, should be the leading argument in rethinking the possibilities of human-technology collaboration, as it allows us to reallocate our human resources towards ‘care’, ’craft’ and ’creativity’.
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Historian Yuval Harari writes in his 21 Lessons for the 21st Century that due to increasing automation and robotization, large groups of people will probably become completely redundant in the labour market in the near future. He proposes a basic income as a solution. In this article it is argued that it may be a solution to fight poverty, but in itself it doesn’t provide meaningful connectedness, which is an important result of labour.
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Living Lab Environments (LLE) are a relative new phenomenon, especially in higher education. There is no unambiguous definition of LLE in the literature and several LLE are discussed. Where traditional education takes place in a classroom (a controlled internal environment), LLE experiments in a real-life environment with all kinds of stakeholder groups needed. For higher education, this research explores whether this form of education in practice is appropriate by mapping the success and failure factors. Interviews with coordinators of labs and their experience with these labs will provide clues for future research.
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The Dutch horticulture sector has to deal with challenges related to sustainability and advancing technology. Engaging professionals and (engineering) students by working together in learning communities (LCs) is an emerging approach to respond to ‘wicked problems’. In the Greenport West-Holland there are different types of these public-private collaboration initiatives. They work and learn together in LCs in order to innovate. Research has been done on how to start a LC, however it is not completely understood how it can (effectively) last. This research, funded by the province of South Holland, aims to gain insight into what it takes to engage participants of LCs in the longer term. Our research question is: What factors contribute to sustainable learning communities in the Greenport West-Holland? We interviewed public and private partners (n=10) of five LCs. All interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed in Atlas Ti. Results show that collaboration between private and public parties is crucial in a sector in transition. Different disciplines come together: technical domains (e.g. robotization), horticultural knowledge, business and educational knowledge. The type of LC matters. The analysis revealed that to sustain the collaboration the LC should focus, among other things, on attracting people with drive and personal commitment to the shared ambition (instead of inviting organisations), should continually work on community building and show intermediate outcomes of actions and impacts. Identified preconditions for sustainable LCs are a good reputation and and long-term (financial) support.
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This study investigates what pupils aged 10-12 can learn from working with robots, assuming that understanding robotics is a sign of technological literacy. We conducted cognitive and conceptual analysis to develop a frame of reference for determining pupils' understanding of robotics. Four perspectives were distinguished with increasing sophistication; psychological, technological, function, and controlled system. Using Lego Mindstorms NXT robots, as an example of a Direct Manipulation Environment, we developed and conducted a lesson plan to investigate pupils' reasoning patterns. There is ample evidence that pupils have little difficulty in understanding that robots are man-made technological and functional artifacts. Pupils' understanding of the controlled system concept, more specifically the complex sense-reason-act loop that is characteristic of robotics, can be fostered by means of problem solving tasks. The results are discussed with respect to pupils' developing technological literacy and the possibilities for teaching and learning in primary education.
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Uit het vooronderzoekvan het project Duurzamelearning communities: Oogstenin de Greenportblijkt dat12 factorenhierbijvan belangrijk zijn. Deze succesfactoren staan centraal in de interactieve tool Seeds of Innovation. Ook komen uit het vooronderzoek, aangevuld met inzichten uit de literatuur en tips om de samenwerking door te ontwikkelen en meer gebruik te maken van de opbrengsten 12 succesfactoren met toelichting, belangrijkste bevindingen en tips voor ‘hoe nu verder’, Poster, Walk through, De app die learning communities helptde samenwerkingnaareenhogerplan te tillenen innovatieveopbrengstenoptimaalte benutten.
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In the fast-changing world of IT, relevant competencies are getting more important as these determine how successful you can function in practice. As a consequence, organizations are introducing competency frameworks like the European e-Competence Framework (e-CF, 2014) in their IT departments. However, for many organizations it is unclear what good practices and pitfalls are when introducing such a framework. In this paper this topic is studied by analysing 13 interviews with IT- and HR-managers who are (or recently have been) involved in a transition towards the use of competencies with their IT-staff.
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In: Frank Gadinger, Martina Kopf, Ayşem Mert, and Christopher Smith (eds.). Political Storytelling: From Fact to Fiction (Global Dialogues 12) This essay presents a summary of important perspectives concerning the distinction between what counts as truth or fiction. As a source of inspiration, it starts with two examples found in literature – the first a classical Spanish novel and the second a collection of stories written by the leader of a social movement in Mexico. These two examples of the conflictive relations between truth and fiction, authenticity and imagination serve as a source of inspiration for the rest of this article, which shows that this issue has been a subject of intense debate in philosophy and in the philosophy of science and still presents a challenge in the 21st century. The essay states that absolute, objective truth is a myth. It describes that what counts as ‘truth’ in a particular era, is, among other things, the result of power relations. It suggests productive ways to deal with this problem in modern society, through deliberative, emancipatory processes of reflexivity (Weick 1999), participatory research and dialogue, facilitating innovation and generation of new solutions.
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