In many industrial fields, the introduction of automation affects human interactions in different ways, provoking production failures and decreasing service quality. Industry 4.0 is one of the recent forms of a new industrial revolution when new technologies in manufacturing have to be applied to promote efficiency and high-level productivity (Javaid et al., 2021). As a result, a decrease in technical failures has been observed, while the failures due to human participation cannot be predicted (Di Pasquale et al., 2013). Thus, the concepts of reliability and maintainability are commonly used to explain the potential for failure in production. The former means underlines the importance of risk prediction and mitigation, while the latter focuses on restoration processes when failure is hard to avoid. The human factor should not be neglected even if services are fully automated. Errors affect productivity, cost, sales, and the overall environment at the workplace. The implications of the potential for failure in production can be minimized if all participants follow a specific plan and share their knowledge and experiences.
Planning helps people understand what they can do to predict the worst-case scenario and why their assessments are necessary. One of the reasons for addressing reliability is that failures might affect people’s perceptions and attitudes toward technologies and their further application of knowledge (Honig & Oron-Gilad, 2018). Communication and mitigation strategies can be implemented to learn what people know about technological advancement at the moment and how they are ready to develop. Planning is also effective for recognizing the alternatives that meet some aspects of the chosen course of action (Honig & Oron-Gilad, 2018). Following a well-designed plan, such errors as poor management, job dissatisfaction, workplace conflicts, and technical failures will be insignificant or solved within a short period. Despite the level of readiness and professionals, not all human errors may be predicted, and reliability has to be regularly developed and improved.
References
Di Pasquale, V., Iannone, R., Miranda, S., & Riemma, S. (2013). An overview of human reliability analysis techniques in manufacturing operations. In M. Schiraldi (Ed.), Operations Management (pp. 221-240). IntechOpen.
Honig, S., & Oron-Gilad, T. (2018). Understanding and resolving failures in human-robot interaction: Literature review and model development. Frontiers in Psychology, 9.
Javaid, M., Haleem, A., Singh, R. P., & Suman, R. (2021). Substantial capabilities of robotics in enhancing industry 4.0 implementation. Cognitive Robotics, 1, 58-75.