Analysis of the Psychological and Production Effects of the Use of Gamification for Manufacturing Assembly

Abstract

In this dissertation, the applications of gamification for manufacturing with a focus on effects to workers and productivity were studied. Gamification is a relatively new research area, with the term being officially defined in 2010. Since then, several fields (education, health, and marketing) have benefitted from its application. Despite exhibiting strong potential, the application of gamification had remained rather unexplored in the manufacturing domain. To explore this further, by employing a comprehensive literature review, four research gaps were identified: the need for i) the use and acceptance of Deterding’s definition of gamification, ii) a clearer definition for various game element terms, iii) additional empirical research, and iv) the development of step-by-step guidelines for implementing gamification for manufacturing. The importance of Deterding’s definition was established through documentation and explanation in the state of the art. A classification framework was developed by sorting the game elements into eight groups based on characteristics of implementation specific to manufacturing. An empirical study focusing on implementing gamification for a monotonous assembly task was designed and completed. The experimental setup utilized a build kit for a Lego Telehandler (kit #42133). Cycle time data, Myers Briggs Type Indicators, and NASA TLX assessment data from 20 participants for 15 repetitive builds were collected, with data collection alone amassing well over 110 hours and approximately 1,100 data points. The results of the 98 unique analyses indicated that gamification had a significant effect on the productivity for the last build in a series of assembly tasks and temporal demand at the first build. While statistical significance was not found for many of the analyses, thorough discussions regarding trends in the data and limitations of the study indicate that, with additional research, statistical significance may potentially be established for these analyses as well.