Gamification

Learning factories offer a practical environment for simulating production processes in which learners can acquire skills through the direct application of new technologies. The Industrial Transformation Lab (InTraLab) models hybrid production processes by combining real-world demonstrators and virtual simulations. This enables learners to acquire the skills that are crucial for the digitally transformed world of work.

The employee remains a key productivity element in industrial assembly. Assembly assistance systems have therefore become an integral part of employee support. This paper presents a novel assistance system that complements process-related assistance with human-centered functionalities. In addition, an approach for the systematic evaluation of assembly assistance systems is presented in this paper. The research is based on an evaluation of the current state of the art through systematic market analysis of available assembly assistance systems.

In manual assembly, assistance systems are applied for the informational and physical support of employees. So far, assistance mainly focuses on some process-related aspects of assembly processes, while system acceptance, motivational perspectives are not considered. This article presents the gamification approach as a possibility to support the motivation of the workers. To facilitate a successful implementation of gamification, this paper presents a structured and method-based selection approach for game design elements.

The digitalisation of the working world leads to the need and at the same time to the possibility of qualifying employees in a context-oriented, individual and process-oriented way. The challenge in this context is the target-oriented and coordinated use of different learning forms and systems. The present contribution provides an approach for combining content-related and structural gamification in e-learning and the increase of motivation for e-learning as well as knowledge consolidation through mobile learning by means of a game application tailored to the sector of application. To this end, the need to adapt education to digital change is described at the beginning, the pillars of the envisaged concept (gamification, e-learning and mobile learning) are classified, an implementation of the application case of the maintenance of wind turbines is delivered and, finally, the results of the evaluation as well as the added value of this contribution are discussed.

Many companies face the challenge of training their employees to handle increasingly complex products and to execute complex processes. In the course of globalization, this is no longer just classically interdisciplinary, but also multicultural and multilingual. In addition, the same level of knowledge often needs to be built up and maintained at production sites around the world. In this context, the question arises if traditional training in the form of external human-to-human training will meet the requirements of today’s qualification or whether digitization itself offers opportunities to make training more effective and efficient. An innovative approach, which is presented in the article and is currently being developed by DECURA Consulting GmbH is the combination of virtual reality (VR) and photogrammetry in combination with gamification elements.

Industrial work 4.0 challenges workers due to ambiguity, self-organization, and interconnec-tedness. To qualify workers to successfully cope with these challenges, this article introduces the software-based situational learning factory that is completed like a flight simulator. By playing these so called serious games that simulate situations on the shop floor of varying complexity, employees gain experiential knowledge and improve their IT-skills.