Challenges for the Operator 3.0 Addressed Through the Enabling Technologies of the Operator 4.0

Paper in proceeding, 2020

Just as human operators are important production enablers in the fac-toriesof today, they are expected to staykey enablersalsoin future manufactur-ing. In today’sfactories,operators often meet challenges relatedto poor infor-mation and communication design, whichaffectstheir possibilities to perform with higher efficiency levels. Therefore, they need to be provided with better cognitive support tools that are relevanttothe challenges to be met. To ensure efficient and effective operator work in the factories of the future, operator sup-port needs to be adequate for the new tasks arising from the evolving operators’roles and work. Within this paper, the results of current operators’work and chal-lenges,based on six casestudies, are combined with an outlook of the future of work of operators, based onthe Operator 4.0vision. The challenges categorized in this paper can be used to identify opportunitiesfor improvementin the opera-tors’cognitive support in present factories as well as for researchers and devel-opers of Operator 3.0 supportsolutions.