Högskolan i Skövde

The project has explored the topic Smart factory with main focus on the future production staff. The project aims to investigate how the production staff is affected by Volvo Cars Skövde Engine Plant (SkEP) becoming a Smart factory, in the era of Industry 4.0. The definition of the Smart factory is a demand of Mobile- and wireless technologies, Human-oriented, pursue a Flexible production with Sustainable manufacturing, as well as utilization of CPS (Cyber-Physical Systems), IoT (Internet-of-Things) and Cloud storage. The current situation and the future five to twenty years were examined in order to define the future production staff. This by conducting an observational study and several interviews. The studies’ results were that SkEP cannot be regarded as smart since several demands are inadequate by definition. Five years are considered too short of a time for the plant to fulfill the demands. However, according to the interviews and literature, SkEP are expected to become smart in twenty years after time refinement of existing technologies and implementation of new ones. The authors estimate Leadership, Information, IT and Production lay-out to be the areas that require the most effort. The future production staff are expected to be flexible with workplace, working hours and able to manage multiple variants. They should be included in self-supporting teams where every individual possesses an expertise, are motivated and participating. Production staff should perform complex, varied jobs with more responsibility by endorsement of decision support systems. The staffs’ competence should consist of technical education, high basic and lay-out knowledge and the ability to contribute to the collection of information and analyses. Interaction with technology is expected to expand and the personnel must therefore have a well-established comprehension of technology. The concept Smart factory is extensive and relatively new, which means that it is constantly evolving. Thus it is important for SkEP to be updated and adjust to the impact from the outside world.