The OperatorInfo ICON project, currently in execution (20162017, works towards a solution for filtering and displaying the most appropriate digital assembly instructions based on contextual information such as operator experience, preferences, and display device. The project progress revealed a big issue on the availability of appropriate and up to date assembly instructions t o support that filtering process. The filtering makes no sense on incomplete or even partly wrong instructions. For that reason, the new OperatorKnowledge project targets a support system to create and maintain an evolvable set of digital assembly instructions based on online operator feedback. The most relevant and complete information can be recorded by the operator himself on the job, by explicitly documenting his assembly process knowledge and allowing intelligent algorithms to implicitly identify and classify his tacit knowledge. Extending the role of the operator, from assembler to knowledge worker, will reduce the methods engineer’ effort to merely creating a generic instruction structure (appropriate for a range of product variants) and then continuously enriching that instruction set per variant based on a review of preprocessed operator input.

Such an iterative documentation process requires a feedback loop between the operator and the methods engineer, which in current practice is tedious and hardly ever performed completely, because no technological solution is readily available to achieve it. In current practice, operator feedback is only handled indirectly, via a long paper trail, which is slow and ineffective. Nevertheless, companies try to stimulate improvements via processes like “uggestion of the month”since they know the expertise of the operator is invaluable. As a result of the inefficient link between the operator input and the methods engineer, complete work instructions are rarely available and are not adapted to the current best practice as applied by the operators at the assembly line. Enabling and facilitating operators to bring their experience and knowledge into the assembly definition will ensure closer alignment of work practice and prescribed assembly instructions. The risk for nonquality is thereby minimized, as the real executed process is documented, allowing it to be reviewed and verified. Frustration of operators with incorrect or obsolete instructions can be eliminated by immediate feedback and correction. Motivation of operators will increase when they see that their expertise plays a key role in defining the work practice