Abstract:

New production technologies based on Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and the Internet of Things (IoT) are pushing their way onto the textile industry’s shop floor. This is considered to be a revolution of work processes: The interaction with “intelligent” systems on machines and the increasing automation change processes, work structures, and tasks of textile industry’s workforce on different organizational levels. For instance, tasks get more complex, extended and changed competencies become necessary. The handling of modern textile machines is more complex than before and requires increasing skills of the employees in operation and maintenance. For instance, the requirements of mechanics become more mechatronics-oriented, and industrial electricians work more and more together with IT service personnel.

By creating and providing diversity-driven workplaces, technical tools, and mobile information technologies, companies can provide their employees with individual assistance in the exercise of their activities. These measures will simplify working life for the large group of older workers, by helping them to compensate for resulting performance limitations, as well as allowing them an adequate participation in professional life. In particular, the introduction of information technologies in manual processes or handling operations can help to compensate age-related decreases in cognitive processes, or a declining sharpness of the senses. This can reduce effects such as social exclusion or economic competition between employment generations.

The combination of both effects, i.e. increasing diversity of the workforce in the textile industry and increasing complexity of smart machines, creates the necessity of human-centered assistance systems. Intelligent assistant systems help the individual employee to improve his or her skills and to pass on knowledge to co-workers and colleagues. Therefore, it is important to enable and support learning in the work process. Intelligent assistance systems are considered to significantly contribute to learning and promoting health and safe systems of work. Such assistance systems can be adapted to individual problem solving and learning strategies automatically. Because of this ability to adapt to the individual needs of different employees, whether differences are due to different professional qualifications or different cognitive abilities, learning new skills and solving complex tasks will be simplified. Therefore, an intelligent assistance system is a tool for the realization of learning supportive structures and processes in the company, which covers settings, frameworks, and instruments. The assistance system directly supports learning processes in the context of machine utilization and indirectly supports other elements of the suitability for learning, for example, through the provision of information for occupational education and training, and Communities of Practice (CoP).

Keywords:

German textile industry, Cyber-Physical Production Systems, workforce diversity, learning systems.