Like many other sectors, the manufacturing industry is struggling with major personnel shortages, material scarcity and the need for circular production. Smart, people-oriented technologies can do much to address this. This is evident from pilots conducted by the South Holland manufacturing company HTC Parking & Security and work-learning company Werkse! During innovation program SMITZH (Smart Manufacturing Industrial application in South Holland) they explored the possibilities of these technologies in their business processes.
“Work in the manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly complex,” notes Gu van Rhijn, project manager and researcher at TNO. Within SMITZH, she and her colleagues focus on the research area of human-centered technologies, one of the four program themes. “At the same time, the labor market is getting tighter. As a result, the need for so-called operator-support technologies, which support workers and make work easier and more efficient, is growing.”
Gu and her colleagues are studying what such technologies bring in terms of employability and onboarding time. They are also looking at how employees experience the application and what is needed to improve human-robot interaction. “In this way, we ensure that new employees can perform more complex work and SMEs gain insight into which technologies are most suitable for their processes. We always do this from the company’s question, so they can make the right choice.”
Material scarcity and circularity at htc
One of the participating companies is HTC Parking & Security from Waddinxveen, which develops and manufactures Speedgates for securing parking garages and business parks. As business innovation manager, Stefan Morssink is concerned with HTC’s circular development. “Refurbishing and remanufacturing are important steps in this.” With SMITZH, Stefan is investigating what role operator-support technologies can play in this regard. “From 2030, half of all raw materials must be circular. That means that we have to be more conscious of the materials we have. The current scarcity of materials is also forcing us to do this.”
Smart software in de-assembly
In the pilot of the SMITZH program, HTC, together with TNO, tested smart, workplace support software to simplify de-assembly for parts reuse. “We investigated whether and how the software could help with refurbishing and remanufacturingâ,” concludes Stefan. “With the threefold goal: to clearly convey the different information flows to employees, to simplify the processes and to collect new, relevant data about the technical parts. The latter enables us to detect the cause of a defect more accurately and adjust work processes accordingly. This allows us to refurbish parts properly and redeploy them with confidence.”
Embracing technology
HTC set up a reverse assembly workshop for the pilot and established protocols for service and factory mechanics. “The request to try out a tool for a trial produced more friction than expected,” Stefan says. “We will now investigate where this friction comes from: is the new way of working not introduced properly, does it take too much time, is it something else?” HTC wants to find that out first, in order to improve it in a follow-up project. “The tool and the software must first and foremost make the work easier, otherwise employees will not quickly embrace the technology.”
Importance of internal communication
The friction created by the pilot demonstrates the importance of good internal communication when introducing new technologies and the associated way of working. A valuable insight for the company itself, but also for TNO. “Employee engagement turns out to be even more important than we thought,” Gu responds. “If you regularly check what the users themselves need, interesting discussions arise. This in turn allows us to explore new possibilities, such as customized work instructions. There is clearly no one uniform way of working; therefore, continuous interaction with a group of employees is essential.”
Werkse! shortens distance to labor market with technology
Work-learning company Werkse! also investigated the use of human-centered technology in a pilot. Werkse! helps both people with disabilities and people on welfare (back) to work. “We want to make work more attractive or at all possible for people with a disability,” says Hans van Zeijl, strategic account manager for Working & Learning. Workshops and exploratory sessions showed that a smart glass was the most suitable: glasses that display work instructions. Werkse! then looked, together with TNO, at whether the tool is workable for their employees and how it increases employability, accessibility and efficiency.
Order picking with smart glass
In the pilot, 24 employees were instructed to use a smart glass to pick orders in a warehouse. The glasses showed a picture of the product, where in the warehouse it was located, how many orders to follow and how many had already been completed. Before and after, participants filled out a questionnaire and were interviewed. “From that came positive results,” indicates Hans. “Seventeen participants were very satisfied and found the glasses user-friendly. They preferred to work with a smart glass rather than paper. About six had physical difficulties. Someone in a wheelchair, for example, can only work at eye level.”
Input for optimization and insight into employability
The pilot showed that experienced employees without smart glasses take longer to complete the same task but make fewer errors. These results provide valuable input to further optimize instruction. Conversely, the pilot gave Hans and his colleagues a lot of insight into the possibilities of the technology. “Especially for people who have difficulties with reading, counting and arithmetic, we saw many advantages. They can now perform work that would otherwise not be possible for them. Moreover, the instructions took only 15 minutes, which saves a lot of familiarisation time.”
Natural way of learning at HTC
“HTC wants to extend the project at SMITZH successor EDIH to gain new insights and more experience with new software and work processes. Stefan is curious to see what other components are suitable for reuse and whether the software is also applicable for assembly and maintenance work. “But most importantly, we are making the work easier and more enjoyable for our engineers and mechanics. For example, by storing various streams of information in a central location or by tailoring instructions. We are now going to investigate how best to do that.”
At Werkse! higher commitment and independence
At Werkse! there are now discussions about the decision to use smart glasses for warehouse work. Hans: “The question now is whether and how we will proceed with it. Does everyone want it, what does it cost and does it provide enough benefit?” The completed pilot provides those conversations with valuable input. “We now know that technology can help some of our employees reduce their distance from the outside world, and that this will make it easier for them to move on to a logistics job in the regular labor market. It doesn’t solve their physical disability, but it increases their commitment and independence, and that gives them more self-confidence.”