Abstract
Autonomous production needs to be reliable. Outputs from reliable production systems consistently conform to performance requirements. By contrast, outputs from unreliable production systems often do not conform to performance requirements. Unreliable production can lead to accidents, rework, scrap, loss of good will, etc. In this communication paper, comparative analyses are provided of work characteristics in the manufacturing and construction industries, which affect opportunities for reliable high-level autonomous production systems. Analyses indicate that there are strong opportunities and weak opportunities for reliable high-level autonomous production systems in these industries. In the strongest opportunities, there is repeated work certainty; the composition of work involves few materials/parts that have little variation; and work is carried out in settings that require no additional engineering to facilitate reliable autonomous production. In the weakest opportunities, work settings require extensive additional engineering; the composition of work involves many materials/parts that have lots of variation; the work to be done is not certain until completion and then it is never repeated. It is explained that when seeking to improve weak opportunities for reliable high-level autonomous production systems, industrial engineering methods and situation awareness modelling can be combined within a critical realist framework in order to address challenges in work setting, composition and uncertainty.
Highlights
There are levels of autonomous systems: for example, 1–6 [1]
This is because it is recognized within critical realism that reality is an open system in which the effectiveness of causal mechanisms is dependent upon them acting with appropriate causal contexts
Implications for Theory Building criticalrealism, realism, causal mechanisms in real-world activities be generalizable, Within critical causal mechanisms in real-world activities may bemay generalizable, but will but will only enable intended outcomes if those causal mechanisms operate within appropriate only enable intended outcomes if those causal mechanisms operate within appropriate causal causal contexts
Summary
There are levels of autonomous systems: for example, 1–6 [1]. high-level autonomous production systems are necessary to enable high-levels of autonomous production, they are not sufficient to enable reliable conformance to production performance requirements. Systems 2018, 6, 26 implementation of high-level autonomous production systems is affected by work characteristics in the manufacturing and construction industries. In this communication paper, work characteristics affecting potential for reliable implementation of high-level autonomous production systems are explained in terms of work setting, work composition, and work certainty. Strong and weak opportunities for reliable high-level autonomous production systems are described for two industries: manufacturing and construction. It is explained how weak opportunities for reliable high-level autonomous production can be improved through the application of industrial engineering methods and situation awareness modelling within a critical realist framework. Principal contributions are stated, together with implications for research and for practice
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