Machine/Human Compatibility in Manufacturing Systems Design

Abstract Computer-based production technology offers opportunity for improved manufacturing capabilities; however, in many instances companies have been disappointed in the outcomes of large investments in these technologies. A major premise behind this research is that technollogical changes cannot be treated simply as technical problems. Successfully putting these advanced systems to work in industry requires equal consideration of the machine/human interactions involved. A second premise is that consideration of these interfaces early in the design of the technology can significantly increase the effectiveness of the resulting system. In the Spring of 1987 the National Science Foundation funded a two-and-a-half-year research project which combines the resources of Boston University and The Ohio State University with cooperating manufacturing finns in the discrete metal products sector of American industry to study these issues. The research objectives were to: (1) Measure the extent to which industrial firms consider machine/human compatibility when they are designing or selecting new process technology. (2) Determine the nature and extent of benefits or penalties that can result from taking the worker into account prior to technology design and selection. (3) Develop criteria and measures to evaluate these benefits and penalties. (4) Identify those principles pertaining to machine/human compatibility in process technology which might be used to guide future system design or selection. Data-collection involved in-depth telephone interviews with 63 senior manufacturing executives and on-sight case studies of major production system modernization projects. This paper is the fourth in a series, each member of which updates the infonnation contained in preceding papers. The results contained in this paper are based on those analyses completed at the time it was written, i.e., just before the deadline for the acceptance of the paper. Additional information will be available by the time it is presented.