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For many years, the Association of German Engineers (VDI) has been issuing guidelines for simulating production and logistics systems as well as for Digital Factory tools. The target group encompasses experts from science, consulting institutions, industrial companies, interest groups and software houses. The guidelines represent the state of the art, but in individual cases can also be regarded as a preliminary stage of a standard. This opens up the possibility of publication without the topic already being viewed as capable of being standardized. An individual guideline can contain several guideline parts. In simulation software and Digital Factory tools, the working human is playing an increasing role. From this background, special guideline parts have already been published, which deal with the modeling of humans in production-logistic simulation and with ergonomic aspects in the Digital Factory. The last-mentioned guideline part deals with the work task and especially with related anthropometric and work-physiological aspects. A further guideline part is currently in the process of being published and regards the stresses and strains from the work environment. This guideline part with its close relation to Occupational Health and Safety is discussed in the following. It reveals that a large field of research and development issues still needs to be clarified in order to integrate these aspects into Digital Factory tools.

According to the stress-strain concept of ergonomics, a distinction must be made between the stress on the working human and the resulting individual strain. Furthermore, it must be taken into account whether several influences act simultaneously or one of them acts successively. Therefore, point in time-related and period-related influences are to be considered, whereby in the latter case a connection to discrete event-driven simulation is necessary. It has been known for many years that simulation methods can be used to analyze stress on the human caused by the work task itself, at least in macro-ergonomic terms with regard to time utilization. In addition, anthropometric and work-physiological aspects of the work task can be analyzed using digital human models. The evaluation and assessment of influences from the indoor working environment are more difficult. In this case, both micro- and macro-ergonomic analyzes can be performed. In the following, it is explained in more detail to what extent such forecasts can already be carried out in Digital Factory tools. The result shows that there are still a lot of research and development tasks to be solved before a comprehensive forecast of ergonomic influences can be carried out.

In the shipping division of a tinplate manufacturer, alternatives of assigning employees to activities should be examined: a personnel structure where an employee can perform any job or just one type of activity (universalists versus specialists). The aim of the first project stage was to check whether the actual situation can be improved by further qualification measures. A simulation model was developed to analyze different qualifications of the employees and load scenarios of the shipping division. Various difficulties arose due to different shipping materials (coils with horizontal or vertical axis, and panels) and different types of loading (truck, wagon, ship, container). Furthermore, modeling was hampered by fuzzy descriptions of work processes and the lack of time data. For these reasons, the model had to simplify reality. After validating the simulation model based on historical order data, predicted load scenarios were then assumed for the actual investigation. The deployment of specialists led to only minor deterioration in wagon and truck loading, and on the other hand, the lead times of ship and container loading were reduced. However, the universalists approach was accompanied by an increase in lead times for all types of shipping. Therefore, the recommendation was derived to work towards a stronger specialization in future personnel development. In a second project stage, the influence of working time systems on employees’ work-life balance was examined. The statistical analysis showed different effects with regard to the target criteria, but the results were only valid for the regarded shipping division.

In the context of production logistics, U-shaped assembly systems often present several advantages compared to straight-line systems. Therefore, such systems are usually evaluated in the planning phase using production logistics and cost-related criteria. However, some published papers illustrate that these advantages may face ergonomic drawbacks. For decision making, the evaluation must be expanded in order to consider these systems from both perspectives. In this way, unfavorable forms of work organization in U-shaped assembly systems can be detected already during the planning phase. In addition, the static methods such as spreadsheet calculations generally used for planning prove to be poorly applicable due to the overly optimistic results they generate, especially in case of model-mix systems. These aspects are especially addressed here and the difference between static and dynamic approaches are illustrated. Consequently, planning solutions must be validated dynamically by means of simulation. Only then can be judged whether the planned production logistics criteria are achievable at all. In addition, the simulation allows for more realistic statements also concerning ergonomic criteria. This approach will be demonstrated here by a near-to-reality planning case. For a comprehensive multi-criteria decision making in the face of production logistics and ergonomics the use of lexicographic ordering is shown.

Der Beitrag geht der Frage nach, welche Rolle das Personal als Systemelement in der Ablaufsimulation spielt. Die Moglichkeit, Personal als eigenstandige Ressource in Simulationsmodellen abzubilden, besteht im Prinzip bereits seit Anfang der 1980er-Jahre, wenn auch anfanglich noch nicht in der Automobilindustrie, wo die Personaleinsatzsimulation inzwischen die Materialflusssimulation zunehmend erganzt. Der Beitrag zeigt auf, dass Simulationsanwendungen aus vielen anderen Industriebereichen ohne Weiteres auf die Simulation von Arbeitssystemen in der Automobilindustrie ubertragen werden konnen. Hierzu werden Beispiele aufgefuhrt, die von der Simulation variantenreicher End- und Komponentenmontagen uber Anwendungen in der Teilefertigung bis hin zur Simulation von produktionsvorbereitenden und - begleitenden Aufgaben wie Instandhaltung und innerbetriebliche Logistik reichen. Daruber hinaus werden auch neuere Aspekte angesprochen, wie die Simulation des Einflusses einer alternden Belegschaft auf die Produktivitat von physiologisch gepragten Arbeitssystemen. Die Einbeziehung ergonomischer Kriterien in die Ablaufsimulation zeichnet sich als eine zukunftige Aufgabe der Weiterentwicklung entsprechender Methoden und Verfahren ab.

In order to follow the principles of sustainability disassembly of end-of-life products is necessary for the re-use of their parts and sub-assemblies. In contrast to production control of assembly systems, disassembly lines feature some peculiarities: used components can be proven to be non-detachable or even missing, so that with increasing disassembling progress the desired components can no longer be gained, and there is a threat that the stations and workers assigned to them would remain idle. This paper describes a procedure for controlling division of labor-based lines, which follow the flow principle and are tailored to the specific features of disassembly control. It aims at maximizing the disassembly proceeds and the utilization of the disassembly stations, but it also considers the uniformity of their utilization. Thereby future disassembly lines can be operated in a way that efficiently counters the increasing volume of end-of-life products to be disassembled. The effectiveness of the procedure is verified by means of a simulation-supported application study.

As a reaction to the volatile market demands with regards to the number and variants of products offered, ever more complex procedures for manufacturing control are being developed. Most recently, self-organising procedures, which often mimic the behaviour of natural systems, have arisen. The method of ant colony optimisation (ACO), which was inspired by ants, can provide the necessary fundamentals in order to realise self-organising manufacturing control. In this context, the ifab-Institute has developed the AntControl tool for self-organising manufacturing control based on ACO. In order to investigate the potential of ACO, several concepts have been developed and integrated into the existing OSim simulation tool to create the new OSim-Ant tool. An exemplary simulation study within a manufacturing system has been carried out to evaluate the behaviour of AntControl. This paper presents this tool as well as the results of the simulation study.

Due to the increasing competition in global markets, many European garment manufacturers have had to undergo significant restructuring and were forced to create leaner value-adding processes. As a result, the majority of the manufacturing operations have been outsourced to low labor cost countries. At the same time, production logistics as well as information and communication technologies have gained importance, in order to keep job functions requiring higher qualifications within Europe. Another challenge concerns the introduction of customized products into the production processes which previously had been designed for manufacturing of large volumes. Prior to implementing such changes, the consequences with respect to production logistics as well as the financial impacts should be examined. The case study presented in this paper uses a simulation tool for these purposes. Different scenarios developed for a garment company were analyzed. Based on the results, recommendations for the further development of the regarded company were deduced.

Many industrial nations are faced with the question of the effects of the demographic development, particularly with respect to the employment of an ageing workforce. An increase in the share of ol...

In addition to the traditional consideration of technical and economical issues, staffing aspects are gaining in importance in the planning of production systems. The usual approach is to determine the manufacturing equipment according to the applied technology and then to define the necessary staff. However, this approach may lead to problems after the technical issues have been determined. On the other hand, a reversed approach, namely planning the technical resources based on the personnel to be implemented, is hardly practical. The following article deals with the topic of an integrated, simulation-supported procedure for the planning of personnel and technical resources based on a pre-determined order programme and the corresponding production logistical conditions.

Die vorliegenden DIN-Normen konzentrieren sich auf die anthropometrischen Abmessungen des Menschen und seiner direkten Arbeitsumgebung. Sie beziehen jedoch derzeit keine Werkzeuge der digitalen Ergonomie ein. Demgegenuber befasst sich der VDI seit langerem mit derartigen Werkzeugen. Bereits 2001 erschien Blatt 6 der VDI-Richtlinie 3633 zur Abbildung des Menschen in Simulationsmodellen. Die ereignisdiskrete Simulation bewertet Arbeitssysteme zwar vorrangig nach produktionslogistischen Kriterien, aber es wird auch auf existierende Verfahren zur makroergonomischen Analyse hingewiesen. Demgegenuber behandelt Blatt 4 der VDI-Richtlinie 4499 aus dem Jahre 2015 die mikroergonomische Analyse des Menschen in der Digitalen Fabrik. Dabei konzentriert sich dieses Richtlinienblatt auf die Belastungen durch die Arbeitsaufgabe. Derzeit befasst sich das geplante Blatt 5 der VDI-Richtlinie 4499 mit der Prognose von Belastungen durch die Arbeitsumgebung. Es zeigt vorrangig existierende Werkzeuge zur Prognose von Effekten aus Atemluft, mechanischen und elektromagnetischen Schwingungen auf, die allerdings erst kaum in Verfahren der Digitalen Fabrik integriert sind.

The examination of human performance within industrial processes increasingly extends beyond the matter of resource implementation. In addition to traditional approaches to personnel assignment planning, new management methods for the preservation and further development of personnel are becoming established. The following paper discusses the effects and challenges related to computed-aided competence management. For this purpose it is indispensable to examine the notion of competence more in depth as well as the resulting competence management. Since as of yet no universally valid definition of competence exists, the following article discusses various facets of competence management and illustrates these by considering individual simulation-aided decision and planning tools for industrial process optimization.

In the majority of manufacturing systems, human resources are the most expensive but also the most flexible factor. Therefore, the optimal utilization of human resources is an important success factor contributing to long-term competitiveness. In order to meet future requirements, which arise from continuous changes to products and technologies, production enterprises are forced to constantly adapt their human resources with respect to the number and abilities of employed persons. In order to accomplish this, it is necessary to define time frames, which allow for at least a rough planning of the needed number and abilities of a workforce. These time frames are determined by the dates when product or technology changes are expected. This already known technology calendar concept has now been enhanced by time frames for personnel development measures. Which worker is suitable for further education and how the respective abilities should be achieved is a subject matter related to the determination of qualitative personnel requirements, whereas the number of needed persons is a quantitative issue. If the required qualifications are to be available at the right point in time, it is indispensable that the necessary qualification measures are defined and scheduled appropriately. The concept, which has been developed here, describes the qualification measures, sorted into target groups, content, qualification costs and time. As a means to meet the personnel requirements arising from continuous changes to products and technologies, the enhanced technology calendar concept will be illustrated by using an application example.

The complexity of production management as well as manufacturing control has advanced exceptionally in the past years. In order to cope with the perpetually changing requirements, novel concepts and procedures have been developed. Since the beginning of the nineties, the trend is moving to self-organizing concepts of manufacturing control, like the holonic manufacturing. The Multi Ant Colony Systems, which are inspired by biological ants, can provide the necessary fundamentals in order to realise a holonic manufacturing control. This papers presents a procedure for the short-term, operative manufacturing control based on the Multi Ant Colony Systems.

The digital factory is becoming ever more prevalent in the planning of production systems. It provides tools that digitally support the planning process. Everything from a single workplace to a complete workshop or even a factory can be represented in the computer, analyzed for potential weaknesses and even revised digitally. In the field of occupational health and safety (OHS), this only affects ergonomic analyses and examinations of single workplaces at present. This micro-ergonomic approach is insufficient for extensive OHS measures because potential risks (e.g. noise) often result from the configuration of the whole work system and workers' change of workplaces during a shift. Therefore, a macro-ergonomic OHS evaluation approach which considers all elements of a work system and their interactions is also necessary. This paper describes a macro-ergonomic OHS approach to digital work systems planning developed at the ifab-Institute.

This paper presents a simulation aided approach for designing organizational structures in manufacturing systems. The approach is based on a detailed modeling and characterization of the forecasted order program, especially of elementary processes, activity networks and manufacturing orders. Under the use of the organization modeling system FORM, that has been developed at the ifab-Institute of Human and Industrial Engineering of the University of Karlsruhe, structuring strategies—e.g., a process-oriented strategy—can be applied in order to design organizational structures in manufacturing systems in a flexible and efficient way. Following that, a dynamical analysis of the created manufacturing structures can be carried out with the simulation tool FEMOS, that has also been developed at the ifab-Institute. The evaluation module of FEMOS enables to measure the designed solutions with the help of logistical—e.g., lead time degree—and organizational—e.g., degree of autonomy—key data. This evaluation is the basis for the identification of effective manufacturing systems and also of improvement potentialities. Finally, a case study is presented in this paper designing and analyzing different organizational structures of a manufacturing system where gear boxes and robot grip arms were manufactured.

In many manufacturing systems human resources are the most expensive, but also the most flexible factors. Therefore, the optimal utilization of human resources is an important success factor contributing to long-term competitiveness. With regard to the qualification of the workforce, there exist a large number of possibilities for varying the abilities of employed persons and for allocating them to tasks. Of course, the chosen assignment has an important effect upon labour cost and on the achievement of typical logistical goals. In order to consider the plurality of possibilities for personnel assignment and to exploit the flexibility of human resources, effective planning tools are needed. For this purpose, the ifab-Institute of Human and Industrial Engineering at the University of Karlsruhe exploits the possibility of using simulation as a planning tool, e.g. for re-assigning personnel to tasks in the middle term. Dependent upon the type of personnel assignment problem various tools have been developed, e.g. the personnel-oriented simulation tool ESPE (Engpassorientierte Simulation von Personalstrukturen). This article will explain, using one case study with varying questions, the procedures and the solutions for different types of personnel re-assignment problems.

Analogous to the well-known concept of product prototyping during the design phase of a new product, this paper discusses an approach for the prototyping of organisational structures of production systems. The procedure uses simulation techniques and is based on a special characterisation of the order processing. Specific process attributes are consulted for applying elementary structuring strategies, such as customer, order, product, task or process orientation. The procedure will be demonstrated through a case study of a company in the mechanical engineering area. With its help, a suitable departmental structure can be defined in order to integrate a new order type into the existing structure while increasing the performance of the entire production system.

During the realization of the CAESAR planning games, which has been supported by the European Leonardo da Vinci Programme, the use of modular planning games within a global scenario has shown to be very effective in concisely relaying educational content from the area of production management. In particular the close-to-reality situations have proven, time and again, to be highly motivating for seminar participants. In order to improve the transferability of acquired knowledge into practise, the ifab-Institute of Human and Industrial Engineering of the University of Karlsruhe has further developed the INSIGHTS-PPC planning game for production planning and control, in such a way that the planning tasks to be tackled are set in direct relation to market similar repercussions. This is realized in a new market share model. The market share model will be explained, paying particular attention to the practical consequences which come along with the implementation of such a model. Despite the potential of the de...

The simulation of production systems usually requires rather detailed data, concerning the duration of the modelled activities, which determine the quality and reliability of simulation results. Application in industry has shown that these data are usually available for manufacturing. However, for non-manufacturing tasks, only rough data are available as expert guesses. Therefore, in order to simulate complex production systems which include manufacturing functions as well as pre- and post-manufacturing functions, it is often necessary to combine simulation models with different levels of detail. Therefore, an adequate approach is needed in order to avoid inconsistencies in results. Such inconsistencies may be connected with different levels of detail and occur if i.e. a highly detailed manufacturing model is combined with a more global simulation model for the winding-up of customer orders. The solution until now has been to define a simulation model with only one unique level of detail. If highly specific results are needed, the user is forced to build a very detailed model of the whole production system. Often, this turns out to be either impossible or connected with too much effort. If more global models are used instead, the obtained results may be insufficient to render an answer to the user's questions. At the ifab-Institute of the University of Karlsruhe, a new simulation tool OSim, which allows for the integration of variously detailed submodels into an overall global model of the investigated production system, is under development. The consistency of different models is guaranteed by a specific method of coupling the models. In this hierarchical way, the global simulation model can be combined with various submodels which contain more detailed processes. These detailed processes are then synchronised with the processes of the global model. For this purpose, the global model initiates an underlying process which then delivers its result to the global process. This combination of variously detailed models can be extended hierarchically. Following the description of this new simulation concept, a practical example for application will be given. This example is derived from an aluminium factory. It concerns the simulation of the overall winding-up of customer orders with their underlying manufacturing processes. The consistency of this simulation approach will be demonstrated by evaluating logistical key data at various levels of detail.

Data, states, events, information, experience and knowledge are present in all production enterprises in a vast array of forms. There is a common trend for storage, administration and processing of these in a distributed and connected information system for collaborative computer work. Work objects and data in a shared computer application can be continually changed and modified by different users working simultaneously with this application. Due to the different versions and the history of a common working object it becomes more and more important to be aware of the various states of the object. Within a recently completed comparative investigation study at the 'Laboratory for Human-Machine-Interaction' of the ifab-Institute, different ways of visualizing object versions and archives were evaluated. The investigation was based on different structured visualization forms.

In the realm of enterprise reorganization, terms such as process orientation, group work, segmentation, and de-layering of hierarchical structures are frequently discussed. Growing needs of support, before and during enterprise reorganization, calls for methods to assist the change process to the highest possible degree. During recent years, several methodologies and tools for modelling and designing enterprises were developed. This paper describes an approach using the GRAI-methodology for modelling the functional, physical, and decisional structure of production systems, respectively. Upon completion, the created enterprise models are transferred into the simulation system FEMOS for dynamical analysis. After describing the theoretical background, the paper demonstrates the effects of decisional adaptations using two case studies completed during the ESPRIT project REALMS (re-engineering application integrating modeling and simulation). The first case looks into the impact of decreasing the number of hierarchical layers with respect to a one-of-a-kind production system. The second case shows the effects of re-engineering a function-oriented production system with several department interfaces to a process-oriented organization.

Zusammenfassung. Angesichts der zunehmenden Dezentralisierung von Entscheidungs- und Steuerungsaufgaben in Fertigungssystemen hat sich der Handlungsspielraum von Fertigungsmitarbeitern vielfach erweitert. Die Effektivität des eigenständigen Handelns wird dabei weitestgehend davon beeinflußt, inwieweit der einzelne Mitarbeiter in der Lage ist, die weitreichende Bedeutung seines Handelns in den Kontext einer unternehmensumfassenden Zielsetzung einzuordnen. Derartige Zielsetzungen können sich aufgrund der Komplexität des Produktionsumfeldes von Tag zu Tag ändern, weshalb sich die Handlungspräferenzen der Mitarbeiter ständig anpassen müssen, um effektive Fertigungsstrukturen zu gewährleisten. Die hier vorgestellte Vorgehensweise unter Verwendung der Conjoint-Analyse ermöglicht es, die den Handlungen zugrunde liegenden Präferenzfunktionen der Mitarbeiter bei der Festlegung von Bearbeitungsreihenfolgen zu erfassen und transparent zu machen. Darauf aufbauend lassen sich Ansatzpunkte identifizieren, wie Zielvereinbarungen von Unternehmen effizient, z. B. durch Rückmeldungen über Arbeitsergebnisse, auf wertschöpfende Bereiche übertragen werden können.

This paper discusses a simulation aided approach of economy and productivity measures for organizational changes based on activity costs. The procedure is supported by the simulation package FEMOS in order to evaluate the planned production system dynamically. During the simulation run the activities will be executed exploiting the resource capacities of the system. The activity costs are calculated based on a resource cost model. This model consists of static cost factors for the resources which will be adapted during simulation in order to take into account the actual or planned production situation. With the help of an example it can be shown, that the calculation of activity costs is useful in reengineering processes.

Requirements upon modern production systems have changed considerably. One of the main results of these changes is that organizational improvements have become more and more important. In contradiction to this, the available approaches to support adjusted design of production systems in an early planning stage — especially regarding manual assembly systems — are deficit. Particularly, the consideration of process organizational effects by determination of the job division fails because the planning knowledge is limited to rather vague hints than based on precise planning rules. An analytical approach for the determination of job division in assembly systems under different goals has been developed to overcome this weakness. Basis is a parametric description of the important factors of the planning problem. Set up on this, a simulation-based investigation has been carried out to detect dependencies between the goal system and the assembly tasks. The result is an analytical approach based on regression models to determine a suitable form of job division for a clear-cut assembly task.

Having been forced by the development of international markets, producing enterprises are presently searching for possibilities to improve their order processing. Besides technical means, new organizational concepts which can be characterized by a process orientation are under consideration. Examples for such concepts which consider the entire order processing from order entry to delivery are order centers, production segments or the concepts of lean production. In connection with the realization of new forms of organizational structures, an enterprise has to decide which form of structure tends to produce the best system behavior in given circumstances. Up to now, general statements concerning the suitability of different forms of structure have not been available. Therefore, specially adapted solutions must be developed according to the given production conditions. As the evaluation of their suitability requires the examination of the dynamical system behavior, a simulation tool has to be used in order to completely evaluate the effects of the different possible solutions. A simulation-aided approach will be presented for the design of the organizational structure of production systems by using a case study as an example. In a mechanical engineering enterprise which produces conveying systems the production situation can be characterized by a strong customer-orientation. Each order refers to a special conveying system consisting of different components which are arranged individually. With the help of the simulation tool FEMOS, a suitable structure for the winding-up of orders in the pre-productive functions will be developed. This case study results in a proposal for the reorganization of the departments for design and operations planning.

In this chapter we present the results of a four-year research project structured in two phases. The topic is a simulation supported approach to analyse and re-structure existing assembly systems (phase 1) respectively to develop a new approach for planning pulsed assembly lines (phase 2).

Als „Arbeitszeitmodell“ wird die Festlegung von definierten Gestaltungselementen, wie z. B. Dauer und Lage der Arbeitszeit, verstanden (vgl. REFA 1997, S. 45) [1]. Dabei konnen in einem Betrieb oder in einer Abteilung verschiedene Arbeitszeitmodelle gleichzeitig gelten. Unter dem Begriff „Arbeitszeitsystem“ wird eine solche Gesamtheit der in einer Organisationseinheit praktizierten Arbeitszeitmodelle bezeichnet (Bogus 2002, S. 29) [2].

Arbeit ist mit Zeit verbunden. Diese grundlegende Erkenntnis wird in Physik und Ingenieurwissenschaften spatestens dann deutlich, wenn man den Begriff „Leistung“ einfuhrt, womit dann „Arbeit“ zur Leistung in einem Zeitintervall wird. In den Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften ist „Arbeit“ vorrangig mit Begriffen wie „Einkommen“ und „Kosten“ verbunden, die sich beide im Zeitablauf erhohen.

Zur Entwicklung eines Arbeitszeitmodells mussen die verschiedensten Rahmenbedingungen des betrachteten Betriebsbereiches berucksichtigt werden. Neben gesetzlichen und tariflichen Bestimmungen und arbeitswissenschaftlichen Empfehlungen konkurrieren hierbei betriebliche, mitarbeiter- und kundenorientierte Ziele miteinander (Knauth 2002, S. 51 ff.) [1], wodurch sich i.d.R. nicht alle Ziele in gleichem Mase realisieren lassen. Erschwert wird die Arbeitszeitgestaltung zudem dadurch, dass meist nicht nur ein einzelnes Arbeitszeitmodell, sondern ein Arbeitszeitsystem gefunden werden soll. Unter diesem Begriff versteht man die Zusammenstellung aller Arbeitszeitmodelle im betrachteten Betriebsbereich.

This paper deals with the problems of staff planning, especially in highly automated production systems. In planning such systems, it is not sufficient to reflect only on technical details, but it is necessary to consider modern forms of work organization as well. As a planning tool to quantify dynamic processes, simulation will be used. After discussing the need for personnel-oriented simulation tools, two simulation studies will be presented, both focusing on planning the work organization in highly automated production systems in the field of mechanical engineering. The paper concludes with an outlook on future efforts in the regarded field of research.

Many companies currently strive to support their employees' work-life balance through appropriate measures in order to improve employees' loyalty towards the company and to recruit new employees. In this context, flexibility in the area of working times is a measure that can influence employees' private lives immensely. This is why the individualisation of working time arrangements has been accorded high importance in current discussions on work-life balance. In this area, best practice examples can be found showing how working-time arrangements can improve the situation of the employees. It should be noted, however, that there is not one single perfect working-time model. A working-time model must always be adapted specifically to the actual situation of the company and the employees. Therefore, a targeted analysis of the challenges facing the company and the demands on the employees is essential for the creation of an appropriate working time policy. In particular, the employees' working-time preferences must be appropriately taken into account. Owing, however, to a combination of organisational complications and legal data protection restrictions, it is for the most part impossible to meet these working-time preferences in their entirety. This paper, which is based on an employee survey, illustrates the strain on employees in the retail sector and identifies different types of working-time preferences.

In 2008 the Association of German Engineers (VDI) published the first part of the VDI 4499 guideline for methods and tools for the digital factory. Part 1 of this guideline deals with the fundamentals of the system and will be expanded by the addition of further parts on specific topics within the digital factory. Soon to be published is Part 4 which covers human mod- els as tools of the digital factory. It describes the state of the art of current digital human models with regards to the methods and procedures implemented in German speaking countries. The structure of this part of the guideline is based on the different sections of engineering mechanics and outlines the opportunities for ergonomic assessments and the evaluation of work sys- tems. During the writing of the guideline, the restrictions of the existing procedures also became evident thus showing the requirement for further development of such procedures. This is illustrated in this paper using examples from commercial software systems.

With regards to methods of assembly systems planning we are familiar with the depiction of the technical structure using capacity fields and graphs in addition to the modelling of assembly activities as a precedence diagram. However, no form of presentation has yet been defined that describes the assignment of staff within an assembly system. This paper discusses the concept of the staff assignment graph used to balance a hybrid assembly system, and in doing so marks a first attempt to close this gap and develop a more comprehensive planning method. The paper also explains how to evaluate staff assignment graphs and presents an algorithm for automatically generating them based on existing capacity graphs and taking a multi-criteria goal function into account.

Changes in international competition lead to changes of the requirements on production enterprises. The introduction of new production technologies does not seem to be exclusively an adequate reaction to the increasing problems. Therefore tools of computer-integrated production lCIMr and new organizational concepts have to be conceived. Because these organizational and technical means are linked on the one hand with severe changes in the production system and, on the other hand, with rather higher economic risks in their realization, the effects have to be estimated in advance in the planning stage. Consideration of dynamical system behaviour plays an important part because the main goal is the improvement of order processing. This paper presents a simulation program, which can be used during the design phase of the organizational structure of production systems as a powerful tool for predicting the effects of new computer-aided tools and structures.

Die Junghans Microtec GmbH (bis 2007 Junghans Feinwerktechnik GmbH & Co. KG) mit Sitz in Dunningen-Seedorf gehort zu den fuhrenden Produzenten feinmechanischer und elektronischer Prazisionsgerate fur wehrtechnische Anwendungen. Das Unternehmen ist als ein Gemeinschaftsunternehmen der Diehl-Gruppe und der franzosischen Thales Group und auf den Gebieten Feinmechanik, Elektromechanik, Elektronik, Pyrotechnik und Werkstofftechnologien tatig.

Disassembly and recycling activities are becoming ever more important as a result of legislative changes. The disassembly of end of life products will come to have an increasingly industrial character focusing on the planning and control of economical disassembly processes. As a consequence, the pre-dominant form of work organisation will be based on the division of labour as this system allows for the efficient usage of various disassembly tools and methods in contrast to the complete-disassembly workstations mainly in use today. But the control strategies derived from assembly are only partially suitable for these disassembly systems as they do not sufficiently consider the specific characteristics of disassembly. Any control method suitable for this field of application needs to incorporate new approaches to the flexibilisation of workflows in disassembly systems.

In order to meet technological and economical demands, industrial enterprises have to reconsider their organizational structures. Especially on the shop floor level, new types of work structures are required to increase flexibility and productivity. However, the effects of such changes on certain indicators (e.g. dynamic capacity of production lines, lead time of jobs) can hardly be calculated during the planning processes. For this reason the use of simulation programs is often recommended. In this paper a simulation program is presented which allows us to investigate the effects of various numbers and qualifications of personnel employed in a specific work shop. For this purpose, the program incorporates three different types of input data concerning the production program, the equipment and the qualification of personnel. Due to this, results can be achieved on the loading of the personnel as well as the machines and the dynamic capacity of the production system. The economical results can be evaluated in terms of cost. The practical use of this simulation program is shown by an example concerning a special planning case.

In contrast to manufacturing and assembly systems, disassembly systems are marked by non-deterministic work sequences. The control of disassembly systems which adequately reacts to stochastically induced plan deviations are, therefore, of great importance for an efficient operation of disassembly systems. Thus, special control procedures, aligned to the requirements of disassembly, are required in order to manage disassembly systems appropriately. In order to improve disassembly control strategies, a simulation-aided control procedure for systems based on division of labour is under development to support the following tasks: Planning of the sequence of the disassembly orders, variation of the disassembly depth dependent upon the capacity utilization and variation of the disassembly operations according to the capacity utilization.

Current developments in Germany have led to severe consequences for the configuration of working times of medical and nursing personnel in hospitals. They underline the necessity to arrange work processes and person- nel employment as efficiently as possible. In this context, the current project "Process Optimization and Efficient Personnel Employment in Hospitals" has set the goal of developing a simulation-based procedure for the analysis of working time model. This procedure shall which can be used to explore the advantages and possibilities of working time models in hospitals based on simulation investigations and to derive configuration recommendations. The flexible alignment of the personnel capacity with the capacity requirements for patient treatment is used to achieve a high degree of patient-oriented service in medical tasks in order to help hospitals efficiently employ available personnel resources as well as to realize personnel-oriented goals. This article will intro- duce the developed concept for a simulation-based configuration of working times.

Die Reorganisation von Produktions- und Logistikprozessen erfordert bei allen Beteiligten ein erweitertes Wissen uber neue Organisationskonzepte, deren Chancen und Risiken. Neben diesem fachlichen Wissen wird von den Beteiligten bei der Umsetzung eine Arbeitsweise gefordert, die durch interdisziplinare Teamarbeit gekennzeichnet ist. Die Schaffung neuer Organisationsstrukturen in Produktion und Logistik setzt damit Wissen und Arbeitsweisen voraus, die sich u. U. gravierend von bisher Gewohntem unterscheiden, fur den Erfolg der Masnahmen aber mitentscheidend sind. Dem Umgestaltungsprozess muss daher ein Lernprozess vorausgehen, in dem die Basis fur den Erfolg der Reorganisationsmasnahmen gelegt wird.

Bauen ist eine partnerschaftliche Gemeinschaftsleistung von Auftraggebern und Auftragnehmern sowie von verschiedenen Unternehmen und Gewerken. Die Kooperation muss tagtaglich „im Kleinen“. auf der Baustelle stattfinden, und zwar in Form eines zwischenbetrieblichen, integrativen und am gesamten Bauablauf von der Planung bis zur Ubergabe orientierten Bauprozesses.

In the case of designing or improving industrial disassembly and repair shops, a special characteristic to be considered is the stochastic nature of disassembly, diagnosis and re-assembly times. Because of this special characteristic, the reorganisation of such work systems shall be supported by using a simulation method which considers distributed operation times. A question to be answered is the type of distribution which should be used. The problem is that during the data collection phase of a simulation project, the parameters of the often suggested Normal- or Gamma-distribution are normally not available. In contrary the parameters of the Beta-distribution are easy to get, because it could be characterised by the optimistic, the pessimistic and the most common time value. The following investigates in which way the different distributions effect the quantitative evaluation of a modelled repair shop compared with fixed operation times. Finally disadvantages and advantages of the use of different distributions in a simulation study will be discussed.

Currently, comprehensive tools are being developed which shall improve the process of factory planning. These tools are referred to as the “Digital Factory” and comprise diverse features, from capacity planning of production resources to visualisation and simulation of a virtual workshop. In a micro-ergonomic view, human-centred functionalities and ergonomic workplace design and assessment can also be included. From a macro-ergonomic point of view, however, the integration of personnel-oriented simulation is still missing. This paper describes the main functionalities of these features and hints at first pilot software for their integration into the Digital Factory.

The optimal utilisation of human resources is one of the most important success factors contributing to long-term competitiveness. An essential requirement for the optimal utilisation is a goal-oriented planning of personnel development. The principal intention of personnel development and assignment planning is to cope with technology and product changes. These changes not only demand a quick and flexible adaptation of machinery resources but also that of an existing workforce. In addition to the productions logistical and financial objectives, which are generally in the foreground during the implementation of new technologies and products, the workers’ personal concerns should be taken into account. In order to be able to offer a methodology for the continuous adaptation of a workforce to the process of change, the idea of the technology calendar concept is picked up and expanded here. Within this concept, the ifab-Institute of Human and Industrial Engineering at the University of Karlsruhe exploits the possibility of using simulation as a planning tool in order to support a goal-oriented planning of personnel development.

The configuration of a working time model is a very complex task due to the fact that different restrictions concerning work demands and employee preferences have to be taken into account. The use of a simulation tool is a promising approach as it allows for an objective, quantitative, efficient and prospective assessment of alternative working time models during the design phase. This paper presents a simulation study within a call-centre of manufacturer of electric devices.

Seit einigen Jahren ist die Organisationsentwicklung im Bereich der Stuckguter-industrie durch zwei Trends gekennzeichnet: Einerseits handelt es sich darum, den gesamten Lebenszyklus eines Erzeugnisses von der Erzeugnisentwicklung und -herstellung uber die Nutzungsphase bis zum Recycling zu begleiten. Des Weiteren ist man bestrebt, nicht nur Erzeugnisse herzustellen und abzusetzen, sondern dies mit Dienstleistungen zu verbinden. Es wird damit nicht nur das eigentliche Erzeugnis angeboten, sondern letztlich dessen Nutzung. Dies kann als ein Trend zu einem erweiterten Erzeugniskonzept bezeichnet werden (vgl. Abb. 1).