In order to achieve a work- and organisation-centred design, an understanding of Industry 4.0 is required that takes into account both the social and technical aspects of change. For example, companies should consider the further training and skills development of their employees as strategic priorities. Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen discusses these and other challenges as well as the change in traditional roles in companies in the atp interview. He is a member of the Industry 4.0 Research Advisory Board coordinated by acatech and a Research Fellow at the Social Research Centre of the Technical University of Dortmund.
Mr Hirsch-Kreinsen, a people-oriented approach to work and organisational design requires an understanding of Industry 4.0 that encompasses both the social and technical dimensions of change. Where do you see the decisive levers here?
The general view of labour research has long been that digitalised production processes, including Industry 4.0, should be understood as socio-technical systems. For a people-oriented or qualification-oriented design of digitalised production processes, this means that the interaction of digital technologies with the resulting personnel and organisational changes must always be taken into account. In other words, the key lever is to design the overall production system in such a way that the connections between the different parts are taken into account. It is not just a matter of considering and designing the work organisation or a technical system in isolation, but rather of ensuring that they are well coordinated with each other and are effective in the context of the entire production system.
In view of the accelerating pace of digitalisation, skills development and further training will continue to be key building blocks for successfully mastering the digital transformation both socially and economically in the future. In which areas of Industry 4.0 do you see the greatest change in skills requirements and how can these be met?
General answers are difficult here because new skills requirements for employees arise in different ways depending on their function, employment segment, qualification level and digital systems and therefore also require specific measures. Depending on the work situation, valid analyses and the development of customised qualification and further training concepts are always required. Of course, two often neglected prerequisites are essential for this: Firstly, companies must regard skills development and further training as strategic tasks. Secondly, employees must be provided with sufficient resources and motivating conditions for effective qualification measures.
The successful introduction of Industry 4.0 and the associated business models must be accompanied by organisational change. What should companies pay particular attention to in advance?
As also emphasised by the Industry 4.0 Research Advisory Board in its research and development topics, far-reaching organisational adjustments are necessary for the successful implementation of Industry 4.0 and the associated business models, ranging from the working to the management level. This is because Industry 4.0 is changing the traditional roles of employees, managers and works councils. Digital media make information and knowledge more transparent within and across organisations and management functions are differentiated at various levels - hierarchically, horizontally, in networks, etc. Overall, it should be noted that a lack of "lessons learned", a lack of adequate error culture and inadequate solutions for knowledge storage and knowledge transfer within the organisation, especially in globally distributed value chains, are key reasons why many companies have not progressed beyond the prototype status of Industry 4.0. The aim is not only to overcome traditional ways of thinking and processes, but also to bring about a change in the culture and organisational structure of companies using suitable change management methods. A comprehensive reassessment of the understanding of leadership and forms of employee participation is therefore essential.
The Industry 4.0 Research Advisory Board
As a strategic and independent body, the Industry 4.0 Research Advisory Board makes a significant contribution to identifying research-based solutions for the further development and implementation of Industry 4.0 and thus providing orientation - with the overarching goal of strengthening the German innovation system and value creation. To this end, the Research Advisory Board currently brings together 32 representatives from science and industry with their interdisciplinary expertise, formulates new, pre-competitive research impulses and needs, identifies medium to long-term development perspectives and derives options for action for the successful implementation of Industrie 4.0. Research in the field of Industry 4.0 is increasingly focussing on topics such as sustainability, resilience, interoperability, technological and strategic sovereignty and the central role of people. The work of the Research Advisory Board is coordinated by acatech - National Academy of Science and Engineering, supervised by the Project Management Organisation Karlsruhe (PTKA) and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
