A Human-Centric Assembly 4.0 System–An Evaluation from the Human Perspective

Manual assembly has become more complex. This complexity brings challenges for workers who are expected to work on a wider range of unfamiliar assemblies. Assembly Systems 4.0 are a new innovation expected to help. Assembly Systems 4.0 leverage technologies such as machine learning to augment the operator in the assembly of products by the provision of context-specific timely instructions. However, increasing technology changes the nature of work. In this case study an Assembly System 4.0 is evaluated from the workers’ perspective. Two experiments are conducted producing a range of quantitative and qualitative data. The system is evaluated with Operators from a satisfaction perspective using the System Usability Scale. Thirty operators participated in this experiment. The system is ranked by operators on the 82.42th percentile, with an adjective rating of between very good and excellent. Thirty Process Managers participated in a second experiment, who rank the system as easy to use, and validate the need for the research. Using a Wilcoxon Rank Sum test there is no statistical difference between the two groups as to their opinion on how likely it is to be successful in reducing human error, both ranking it very likely.