i-com 2017; 16(2): 153–164

Special Issue – Case Report

Andrea Altepost*, Mario Löhrer*, Nenja Ziesen, Marco Saggiomo, Niklas Strüver,
Daniel Houben, and Yves-Simon Gloy

Sociotechnical Systems in the Textile Industry

Assistance Systems for Industrial Textile Work Environment

https://doi.org/10.1515/icom-2017-0020 1 Introduction
Abstract: This article delineates the work of an interdis-
ciplinary research group concerning the implementation With Industry 4.0 concepts approaching shop floors, the
of a digital assistance system in the German textile indus- German textile industry is forced to face real technical
try. Using a holistic approach, researchers from different and social challenges. Mainly shaped through small and
disciplines contribute to the design of an integrated socio- medium enterprises, the textile sector is now confronted
technical method that guides industrial actors in develop- with a trend of growing automation and interconnected
ing and implementing digital assistance systems that are production lines and value-added chains. This trend cor-
applicable on the shop-floor level and at the same time responds to a decreasing relevance of large scale produc-
take into account various social and organizational de- tion in favour of smaller lot sizes. Cyber Physical Pro-
mands. Following this approach, the development of new duction Systems (CPPS) [1], electronic components, sen-
technologies is coordinated with innovative social prac- sors and control modules conjoined with new commu-
tices, for example, learning techniques or organizational nication elements change handling and maintenance ac-
changes. Furthermore, aspired users of the assistance sys- tions of production equipment and processes. The profes-
tem participate in the project by contributing their exper- sion of textile machine engineering is going to rely heavily
tise of the working progress as well as by defining require- on wireless and web-enabled sensors to monitor relevant
ments essential towards addressing the various challenges process variables [2]. Therefore, an important question is
at hand. The conceptual outline and early findings of the whether and how interconnectedness and integration of
project, including the development of a prototype of the digital elements will change work processes and will re-
assistance system, are presented in this article. quire new competences in regards to human-machine in-
Keywords: Sociotechnical systems, assistance systems, In- teraction.
dustry 4.0 At the same time, the present structure of the textile in-
dustry is strongly pressurised by the demographic change:
the proportion of workers above 45 years of age is higher
than the current average [3] and a shortage of skilled work-
ers and successors to the retiring workforce [4, p. 32] can
be identified in Germany, which necessarily affects the tex-
tile industry. Also migration – in the years 2015 and 2016
*Corresponding authors: Andrea Altepost, Mario Löhrer, Institut für alone 1.85 million people immigrated to Germany [5] – will
Textiltechnik (ITA) der Rheinisch Westfalische Technische ultimately increase the diversity and heterogeneity of the
Hochschule Aachen University, Aachen, Germany, e-mails: German workforce. To remain its competitiveness, hence,
andrea.altepost@ita.rwth-aachen.de, it is crucial for the textile industry to consider aspects
mario.loehrer@ita.rwth-aachen.de
such as – among others – age, gender, language and cul-
Nenja Ziesen, Niklas Strüver, Daniel Houben, Institut für Soziologie
(IfS) der Rheinisch Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen tural background as relevant for their modes of produc-
University, Aachen, Germany, e-mails: tion.
nziesen@soziologie.rwth-aachen.de, Accordingly, these developments pose the question of
nstruever@soziologie.rwth-aachen.de, how to connect the necessary technological innovations
dhouben@soziologie.rwth-aachen.de
with existing social practices and working experiences
Marco Saggiomo, Yves-Simon Gloy, Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) der
Rheinisch Westfalische Technische Hochschule Aachen University,
of an increasingly heterogenous staff. In order to gener-
Aachen, Germany, e-mails: marco.saggiomo@ita.rwth-aachen.de, ate new and adequate social courses of action, for exam-
yves.gloy@ita.rwth-aachen.de ple new forms of organizational communication and on-
154 | A. Altepost et al., Sociotechnical Systems in the Textile Industry

the-job-learning, therefore, technological change must be the work phases conducted by the project team till date
comprehended only in its connectedness to social inno- are illustrated. Beginning with the requirement analysis,
vations. We regard social innovations as preconditioning, we then elucidate steps of user oriented conception of
accompanying and consequential phenomena of techni- an assistance system. These include work process- and
cal innovations [6], since they are primarily concerned workplace-analysis as well as several sub-steps of systems
with a goal-oriented reconfiguration of social practices design. This leads us to upcoming decisions on hardware
by actors to achieve a better or socially more desirable and software questions and the implementation of a pro-
problem-solving method [7]. For example, as a new, het- totype version in a laboratory environment in connection
erogenous workforce is in need of imparting qualifica- with a first user test. The conclusion section sums up the
tions and experience-based knowledge, innovative ways most salient aspects of the research initiative.
of learning and knowledge transfer are required. Tasks like
this – and sociotechnical innovations in general – demand
not only technical knowledge but also expertise in organi-
zational developments and social aspects. In order to ac- 2 Methodical Approach
complish those tasks, it is reasonable to bring together pro-
fessionals from different disciplines. Learning processes, This section introduces the methodical approach em-
for example, have to be designed, initiated and accompa- ployed for conducting this project. In regard to the choice
nied by professional educational support if they are pur- of method and profitability [11], the current research is
ported to be sustainable. based on a combination of systematic approaches and me-
Hence, only through a holistic, systematic approach thodical designs which are borrowed from engineering,
the manifold interdependencies between organizational, social sciences and education sciences.
technological and social changes of human-machine- This leads to an approach (see illustration below in
interaction in production environments will become dis- Figure 1) that is designed along the phases of the methodi-
cernable and thus controllable [8]. For these reasons, an cal framework of systems engineering as an engineering
interdisciplinary team of researchers was implemented at approach to systematically analyse and solve problems.
the Institute of Textile Technology of RWTH Aachen, con- Systems engineering combines models based on system-
sisting of specialists from engineering, sociology and ed- atic thinking and well defined procedures into a problem-
ucation sciences in order to conduct the project “Sozio- solving system reinforced in engineering sciences. For the
Tex – New sociotechnical systems in the textile indus- development of an assistance system from a sociotechni-
try”, granted by the Federal Ministry of Education and Re- cal point of view, it has to interact with methods of so-
search. The project aims at the development and imple- cial sciences in order to address the development of social
mentation of a digital assistance system for weaving mills, practices as described above. So each engineering phase is
which supports workers heterogeneous in age, gender, guided by the participation of prospective users and stake-
qualification and cultural background in adapting to vary- holders, employing a broad scope of social science re-
ing contexts and scenarios concerning Industry 4.0. By ac- sources for data collection (as surveys, group discussions
celerating and simplifying learning and performance, for or expert interviews) and evaluation.
example, conducting a warp beam change, the research Based on the resulting phase logic, the approach
group expects a growth of productivity of about 30%. From adopted for this research project (Figure 1) is designed
the very beginning of the project, the prospective users – for the development and implementation of sociotechni-
managers and employees of three weaving mills in Ger- cal systems in general and here is utilised for the devel-
many – were integrated into the requirement analysis and oping of an assistance system. In the system engineering
design process, by taking part in workshops, surveys and phase concept, the processing of a problem situation pre-
group discussions. This participative approach in systems cedes the so called “kick-off” phase. This phase marks the
design not only helps to address possible concerns and ob- period from the occurrence of a problem to the decision to
jections, which eventually would inhibit the implementa- do something to cope with the problem [12]. As a sign of
tion of digital or technical devices on the shop-floor. More- problem awareness, previous studies carried out are used,
over, it also makes use of the expertise of the employees e.g. on demographic change in German society. The results
to gather all information available to achieve a functional of this scientific study are also found in the preliminary
and accepted solution [9, 10]. study.
This project report initially describes the methodical The preliminary study aims to analyse the limitations
approach of this project. Subsequently, the proceedings of of the problem field and the design area, in this case the
 A. Altepost et al., Sociotechnical Systems in the Textile Industry | 155

Figure 1: Methodical approach for designing sociotechnical systems exemplary on assistance systems.

German textile industry, as well as to identify require- as central work process during ongoing work. Here again,
ments and to summarize them in a requirement catalogue the users’ preferences and needs concerning functionality
(chapter 3). The participative approach of our project im- and ergonomics were analysed. This was achieved by ex-
plied to conduct the requirement analysis along a mul- tensive work process observations and subsequent inter-
tidimensional design (chapter 3) in cooperation with the views with workers.
prospective users. In this way, their ideas of social prac- By taking into consideration the results of the pre-
tices concerning the collaboration with the assistance sys- liminary, main and detail studies, concepts for the over-
tem were introduced into the conception of the techni- all assistance system with its subcomponents (chapter
cal design. The main study focuses on the development 4.2) and a qualification concept were developed. At the
and refinement of a solution concept by concentrating on end of the development phases (preliminary, main, de-
the field of observation based on the preliminary study. tail studies), concept decisions were made, which are
For this project, this identification of key parameters con- then followed by further development and implementa-
sisted of the selection of the product change as a set-up tion steps.
work process. This process was systematically analysed The aim of the system construction is the implemen-
and evaluated in terms of manual activities performed and tation and evaluation of experimental prototypes (chap-
the use of tools (chapter 4.1). As a result, critical activi- ter 4.2). From the synthesis of these prototypes, a com-
ties which required support were derived. During this work plete assistance system is developed. During the phase
step, the forms of assistance which were suitable for assist- of system implementation, the assistance system is re-
ing critical activities were examined simultaneously. The alised in a real-world condition lab, the textile learning
results of this step were described in a morphological box factory 4.0 in Aachen, Germany, where it will be validated
which matched single work activities and suitable forms through user studies before being transferred to an indus-
of assistance and thus serving as a foundation for the de- try scale.
velopment of assistance system concepts. Subsequently, A recommendation catalogue for the design and im-
a value analysis was conducted to compare and evaluate plementation of assistance systems with the example
those concepts. Its results led to the selection of an assis- of textile production will be drafted as project com-
tance system concept to be implemented in the further re- pletion for the transfer of the project results. Further-
search of the project team. Within the framework of the more, the implemented assistance system will be used
detailed study, the point of view was further limited and in the learning factory 4.0 for transfer activities such as
work process- and workplace-analyses were carried out in workshops or training courses beyond the course of the
three weaving companies, with focus on product change project.
156 | A. Altepost et al., Sociotechnical Systems in the Textile Industry

Figure 2: Key dimensions of assistance systems 4.0.

*following VDE 2008” [16].
**focus of the project: production, weaving mills/weaving machines.

3 Requirement Analysis Regarding ing the execution of an act – being one of them [14, p. 78].

Assistance Systems In contrast to what is generally implicated by the term sup-

port, assistance is centred on the fact that the interacting
human and technological artefacts (in any shape of form)
An assistance system is supposed to increase productivity are able to establish a relation of recognition between each
by prolonging the main processing time duration and re- other. This necessary recognition of action emphasizes an
ducing secondary processing and breakdown time dura- observational focus on human-technology interactions. In
tions. Further, from the holistic perspective delineated in addition, assistance systems are characterized by a devel-
chapter 1, a catalogue of requirements for the assistance opment of production and work in the context of Industry
system used as support for the employees and the human- 4.0. This is achieved by integrating different components,
technology interaction in the textile sector [13] was drawn. such as sensors, actuators and information and communi-
It was generated by a wide range of empirical methods of cation tools, in a system which is used autonomously by
social sciences such as literature review, surveys, guided humans [15]. Such assistance systems have three core di-
interviews, group discussions and observations in weav- mensions with different variances and specifications de-
ing mills, workshops and feedback by experts from the pending on the presented system: the factual (objective),
companies as well as industrial and scientific advisors. Af- temporal and social dimension (Figure 2).
ter identifying the relevant dimensions of assistance sys- They include technological, organizational, human
tems, some salient examples of requirements are intro- and legal aspects which were addressed by the assess-
duced. ment of requirements. In sum, a literature review pro-
As a working definition, the research group under- cedure, enterprise inspections, workshops, expert inter-
stands assistance systems as (intelligent) technical aids, views, information technologic and mechatronic machine
with a supporting and, in this case especially referring investigations were carried out with the results being eval-
towards machines, capable-assisting character. The term uated by the researchers in their respective disciplines
support represents a relation between human and technol- [17, 18].
ogy within an action in which the technological support From the human-centered, or respectively, from the
contributes a constitutive role to the action. This contribu- user’s point of view, the qualifications to be learned in
tion may manifest itself in various forms, assistance – eas- dealing with digital tools were emphasized, taking into
 A. Altepost et al., Sociotechnical Systems in the Textile Industry | 157

account different degrees of digitalization as well as gen- 4 User Oriented Conception of an

eral usability (DIN EN ISO 9241-110 norm [19]), such as task
adequacy, self-descriptive design, controllability, expecta-
Assistance System
tion conformity, error tolerance, individual customizabil-
ity and learning conduciveness. For example, the tech- 4.1 The Weaving Machine as Operation Site
nical design of the assistance system provides individ- for Assistance Systems
ual user profiles that address individual states of knowl-
edge and expectations. To meet the demand of the work- In the context of a workplace- and work process-analysis in
ers to provide information for machine monitoring, ma- weaving mills, the work process of the warp beam change
chine data are collected by the assistance system and the – as a core process of product change – is a highly com-
information is actively pushed to the user interface device. plex action since it consists of a multitude of 55 different
The technical specifications resulting from these require- single steps. Therefore, it was specially examined as a cen-
ments are treated in chapter 4.2. The requirements identi- tral task during on-going working operation in three weav-
fied in the field of competence development and the pro- ing mills. The observed weaving mills produce raw and
motion of learning, primarily focus on the need for knowl- finished fabrics for various technical textiles and applica-
edge transfer and on the possibilities of entering knowl- tions, for example, in the fields of professional clothing,
edge into the system through internal and external ex- construction, mechanical engineering and transportation
perts (for example, experienced employees, machine man- industry.
ufacturers). Potential learning units must be presented As a key tool for the documentation and analysis of
in a customized and problem-oriented manner adapted the warp beam change, a partially structured observation
to the user’s knowledge. Furthermore, an assistance sys- guideline was used which allowed the recording of the
tem should provide feedback and information, e.g. in the work process steps with a focus on (potential) existing
form of a result feedback, to facilitate the assessment and stress factors [20]. The documentation of the work pro-
optimization of employees’ own work results. As already cess was carried out by using stationary as well as mo-
mentioned in chapter 2, the product change process was bile video and photo cameras. Moreover, measurements of
identified as an example of critical and time-consuming room parameters such as distances between machines and
tasks. the width of corridors used by employees were taken. Also,
With regard to the identified legal aspects of work a multimeter was employed to further measure spatial fac-
and safety, the investigations revealed that there are ma- tors such as temperature, humidity and loudness.
jor gaps in standardisation that still need to be addressed In order to obtain further information about the ob-
for assistance systems in an Industry 4.0 context, such as served workers and their activities, observation interviews
data transfer, data protection, etc. were carried out, contrasting and adding to our pure ob-
To complete the catalogue of requirements, organi- servations [20, p. 8-9]; [21]. Since the research focus is a
zational aspects and procedures to be supported – e.g. user-driven development of assistance systems, the sub-
communication networks – as well as possible organiza- jective impressions gained in case studies are central to a
tional changes are currently discussed with the involved requirement assessment, as well as acceptance of an assis-
institutions. All relevant requirements are included in tance system to be implemented [20, p. 9]; [22, p. 78 ff.].
prototype versions of the assistance system and will be Among other topics, the participants were asked to as-
tested by prospective users in an iterative process (chap- sess a range of possible interfaces with regard to their po-
ter 4.3). tential for assistance of the work process. The toolset was
These exemplary results are part of a comprehensive developed within several project-internal workshops. As a
requirement catalogue that includes technical, organiza- pre-test, a laboratory study at ITA (Institute of Textile En-
tional, human-centred, and legal aspects which must be gineering), RWTH Aachen University, was conducted.
met by a learning-promoting, (technological) needs-based From the results obtained, it can be stated that an as-
assistance system in order to support work tasks, pro- sistance system in the form of a tablet app, as a result
cesses and structures. of a wide range of possible applications and functions, is
The process of identifying work processes which need particularly recommended for activities carried out on tex-
support as part of the detailed study in the frame of sys- tile machines, especially in the process of the warp beam
tems engineering (chapter 2), stress factors and critical changing. Central functions of such a supporting assis-
tasks using the example of working with weaving ma- tance system related to this task, should include operat-
chines is in detail presented below. ing instructions and auxiliary visualization of the working
158 | A. Altepost et al., Sociotechnical Systems in the Textile Industry

steps, programming for the automatic height adjustment

of the hydraulic lifting device based on the process steps,
as well as locating and rating functions and motion detec-
tion. Moreover, mobile and factory-wide access of histori-
cal machine data turned out as a feature desired by oper-
ators. The results also accounted for the demand of assis-
tance in production monitoring, as well as a communica-
tion tool appropriate to the loud environment of work in
the weaving mill.
Here, an in-ear-device could also serve as a sup-
port supplement to the tablet app [20]. Further requested
functions concern digital placement of orders and shift
scheduling [20, S: 31f].
Another important aspect of the results is the neces-
sity to design self-learning elements for the professions
that require training in textile areas as well as storage and
Figure 3: Waterfall model [23].
transfer options of (experience) knowledge in an assis-
tance system such as the tablet app [20, p. 93 f.].
After having outlined the requirements and requested
functions of the assistance system in the procedure of tech- ment, chapter 3) and of the work process and work place
nical system design, the development of a prototype is de- analysis (chapter 4.1).
scribed in the following chapter. A first informal description of the required technical
features and characteristics for the complete assistance
system proposed a system which offers a mobile HMI (hu-
4.2 System Design and Prototype
man machine interface) and delivers relevant information
4.2.1 Development Methodology proactively. Further features were deduced from the aim to
develop a prototype that can be tested easily in manufac-
The use of structured software development lifecycles turing enterprises. Therefore, the system needed to be flex-
helps to develop reliable software effectively. As the de- ible, inexpensive and straightforward to set-up. Thus, af-
velopment of the prototype is a relatively short part in fordable commodity hardware had to be chosen, compati-
the scope of the project, within the methodical phases ble to the concept of “Bring-Your-Own-Device”. The system
of implementation and validation (Figure 1), the waterfall furthermore was expected to identify which information is
model is applied as SDLC [23] for the technical proceed- relevant to which user and deliver it accordingly in a proac-
ing. In order to meet challenges that cannot be foreseen tive manner. With this feature, an important aspect of indi-
during the requirement elicitation phase, iterations over vidualization requirements following the requirement cat-
the waterfall model are applied. They are based on – again alogue (chapter 3) is addressed.
– participative evaluations of the match of requirements The system architecture is non-machine-specific and
and aim at adapting the technical system to the needs of can be used with machines of different types and manu-
prospective users. Further, these iterations can benefit to factures. It is extendible and supports adding functionality
develop new social practices – for example, learning tech- modularly. By this means, it can easily be adapted to user’s
niques or organizational innovations. needs. Bearing in mind that a considerable part of work-
The waterfall model itself again consists of a staged ers in textile industry are so-called “digital immigrants”,
process. The different stages and their goals are shown in which means that they didn’t grow up with digital technol-
Figure 3 and are covered by the following sections subse- ogy, the setup and start-up routine of the system should be
quently. straightforward and easy to do for people with relatively
little experience in information technology.
4.2.2 Requirement Elicitation Phase of the Waterfall The prototype version described here was developed
Model parallel in time to the work process analysis, which re-
vealed a preference for a tablet as HMI on the part of the
In this stage, technical demands were drawn from the re- prospective users. Therefore, it is related to smart phones
sults of the requirement analysis (catalogue of require- and smart watches as interface devices. Currently, it is
 A. Altepost et al., Sociotechnical Systems in the Textile Industry | 159

Figure 4: Static application domain model.

extended to a tablet version as requested by the future ple, in Figure 4: One human machine interface has the ref-
users in the weaving mills who participated in the analy- erence to one message broker.
ses. In addition, the work process- and workplace-analysis As non-functional requirements for the back-end are
yielded the need of a communication element comple- modularity and extensibility, the goal is to decouple the
menting the assistance of the warp beam change process. single concepts as far as possible and use universal inter-
The formal requirements derived in this stage pro- faces between them. This is manifested in the static appli-
vided the foundation for the further development process cation domain model outlined in Figure 4, as there is only
and built the reference to validate the system in a subse- aggregation; which means no composition relationships
quent phase. Concluding the formal requirement lists, the between the concepts. Thus, every concept continues to
requirement elicitation phase is completed. The following exist if others are removed. It enables removing, changing
stage in the waterfall model is the analysis phase. and adding concepts in a modular fashion.

4.2.3 Analysis Phase of the Waterfall Model 4.3 Implementation in Laboratory

According to the waterfall model, the purpose of the anal- 4.3.1 Design and Implementation Phase of the Waterfall
ysis phase is to derive a consistent and verifiable model Model
of the system. The model is referred to as the application
domain model. The developed static application domain With the waterfall model in mind, the task of this phase
model for the prototype system is shown in Figure 4. is to design and implement the front-end, i.e., the part of
The static application domain model in Figure 4 dis- the software that is visible to the user and with which the
plays all conceptual modules with their main purposes user can directly interact [24]. Therefore, it has to present
and their corresponding relationships. The hollow dia- data, push notifications to the user and allow the employ-
mond at the one end of the connections between the con- ment of further application modules in a usable and utile
cepts is the symbol for an aggregation relationship. Thus, way. While utility describes the level of fulfilment of de-
two linked concepts can exist without each other as op- manded features, being already evaluated in the concep-
posed to a composition relationship where they can only tion phase, usability rather considers the ease of use of
co-exist. The directions of the connections read for exam- these features can be used [25]. The criterions of this re-
160 | A. Altepost et al., Sociotechnical Systems in the Textile Industry

quested standard were drawn from the requirement cata- weaving machines are working safely and with maximum
logue (chapter 3), including DIN EN ISO 9241-11 [19] with productivity in order to keep up with the immense compet-
its aspects effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction and speci- itive pressure.
fied context of use, as well as from the work process and For a more efficient error correction, your employer in-
work place analysis (chapter 4.1). The technological de- troduced the presented mobile assistance system, which
sign choices include a platform selection, hardware device sends error and status messages in form of push notifica-
choices, as well as software determination. Based on the tions to your smartphone and possibly smartwatch. It shall
idea of a smartphone as HMI at that time of the project guarantee that you are notified of machine problems in
course, the three existing smartphone platforms were eval- real-time, even, if they occur on the other side of the huge
uated with regard to project suitability. Aspects serving as production hall.
evaluation criteria were market share (covering as many Furthermore, the assistance system is ‘context-
devices as possible), estimated investment costs, afford- sensitive’ configurable. This means that you can subscribe
ability of hardware, estimated time to market, develop- to messages of particular machines that are of interest to
ment tools and ease of development. The comparison of you. If they are not of interest, you can also block them.
the different smartphone platforms determined Android to For all other messages, the system determines by itself,
be the application’s operating platform. In between, the which messages are relevant for your user profile.
assistance system is realised on a “ThingWorx” platform Recently, two machines have caused various issues.
which allows communication with a large scope of inter- Your shift leader has, therefore, decided to subscribe you
faces, independent of their own systems software, thus in- to all machine events of the two faulty machines: The
cluding Android based devices. “Dornier A1” and “Picanol OMNIplus 800” weaving ma-
With the general specifications from the conception chines.
and the set of technological design choices serving as a The second part of the user test took its cue from the
framework, the next step was to focus on the design and cognitive walkthrough. The user had to perform a given
implementation of the HMI application for the assistance task which he could accomplish by searching the inter-
system. This user interface includes several features which face for available actions, selecting the most appropriate
allow a thematic grouping into seven modules, namely action and then verifying its progress. The test participants
modules for initialization, notification, events, machine were asked to explicitly name and comment on all their
status, data comparison, local database and smart watch thoughts and actions while searching and clicking the in-
extension. Further modules can be integrated if requested terface and solving the tasks. This addressed the usability
by the user on a case by case basis. characteristic of providing a product that can be used in
The so-designed early prototype was implemented in an effective and efficient manner.
a laboratory situation and subjected to first user tests, fol- The test guides who read out the tasks to the users took
lowing the last phase of the waterfall model. In Figure 1, notes on all positive and negative findings. Furthermore,
this refers to the phase of systems building. From here, the user’s comments were recorded to allow a retrospective
the further technological development and optimization is analysis.
covered by several iterations of the waterfall model in the Next, in the user test, a use case scenario was simu-
systems building and systems installation phases. lated to test the application in a production environment.
It should examine whether users were able to react to real
and live machine notifications, which made the core ele-
4.3.2 Testing Phase of the Waterfall Model ment of the application. Testing the application in a real
environment is essential since it stresses the specified con-
After explaining the concept of the assistance system in a text of use criteria as part of the usability.
brief, verbal summary, each user received the same intro- Equipped with the smartphone application, the test
ducing story describing the situation in which the first part user was positioned in the technical laboratory of ITA with
of the test took place. The story portrayed the purpose of the task to identify and name occurring machine errors.
the test, specified and considered the context of use and These errors were provoked through one of the test guides
helped the user immerse into a typical use case scenario by pressing the emergency stop of a weaving machine.
with the following story line: When the particular notification arrived, the user first
Imagine you work as an employee in the weaving de- would notice the new machine notification, then open it
partment of a big textile manufacturer. As part of a six-man and understand the information which provides him with
team per shift, your team’s task is to ensure that the 100 information about the affected machine and the reason for
 A. Altepost et al., Sociotechnical Systems in the Textile Industry | 161

Figure 5: User test questionnaire responses.

the notifications. If the user could identify the correct error when a task could not be resolved at first try, they quickly
cause for the correct machine without any difficulty, the recovered and found the correct actions. Only in a few
test was considered to be successful. cases the user appeared to be stuck. Though the imple-
Asking the user to express his/her opinion extracts mented help option provides necessary answers and hints
the more emotional-related level of satisfaction. In the last it was often forgotten about or simply not used. In order to
test part, the users therefore were asked to fill out a ques- address this issue, the help module must be improved. The
tionnaire. This aimed to extract explicit feedback after the current help option texts could be extended by illustrating
users had been able to gain an overall impression of the images and animations and could be displayed more in the
application. foreground instead being located in the options menu. Ad-
The questionnaire stated six short and precise state- ditionally, a guided tutorial showing at the very first start
ments in a closed manner to allow a comparable, quan- of the application could help the user become more famil-
titative analysis of the overall feedback [26]. These state- iar with the application and be me more aware of the help
ments were graded by the users according to the Likert function.
scale scheme. This scheme consists of a bivalent and sym- Simultaneously, the tutorial might explain the con-
metrical about a neutral middle scale on which the users cept of the application, which did not become evident in-
expressed their attitude towards the statement ranging stantly to all users. The users especially showed compre-
from “strongly disagree” (-2) to “strongly agree” (2) [26]. hensive difficulties in regard to the distinction between no-
The statements are represented in Figure 5. tifications and events, the meaning of pressing the “Ok”
In addition, each statement provided a text field in button on notification cards, as well as the concept of the
which the users were asked to openly state reasons for the relevance rating.
selected Likert grade. This allows a more in depth explo- Figure 5 displays the quantitative results of the ques-
ration of the wide range of positive and negative aspects tionnaire responses. It becomes evident that the applica-
arising from the issue [26]. tion is perceived positively, as the majority agrees or even
The questionnaire completed the user test with the strongly agrees with the positive-phrased statements.
overall assessment of the application. 40% of the users agreed and 60% of the users strongly
Concerning the test results, in general, the test par- agreed that they enjoyed using the application (see Fig-
ticipants followed a trial-and-error approach so that even ure 5 (4)). This high level of satisfaction indicates a good
162 | A. Altepost et al., Sociotechnical Systems in the Textile Industry

visual and functional system design leading to a high de- ification and learning tools, this provides a sociotechnical
gree of usability. It also suggests that the identified draw- approach for the design and implementation of digital as-
backs named below are of small magnitude otherwise they sistance systems in industrial contexts. Consequently, the
would influence the user’s satisfaction in a graver man- outlined interactions of technical and social aspects were
ner. translated into a research approach which links technical
In terms of intuitive handling (1), no negative feed- to social innovations.
back is given but a few small drawbacks hinder the users to As a result of our extensive work process- and
learn the application’s mechanics in a faster manner (see workplace-analysis in weaving mills, the first stages of our
Figure 5). The same trend accounts for disturbing factors project identified basic requirements and critical tasks,
(5) which only consist of small and quickly fixable bugs which are now supported by the assistance system. Cen-
that do not limit the functionality of the application but tral functional aspects derived from our analyses are the
impact only slightly the user’s satisfaction. In most cases, integration of machine data and maintenance clues in a
these bugs are, at the same time, the cause of the restric- homogenous application, a communication function and
tions in regard to intuitive handling. a platform for knowledge exchange and storage, and fur-
All test users stated that they will be able to make a thermore, the incorporation of learning-promoting tools
much better use of the application in the future, as then for heterogeneous and diverse qualification and learning
they will be more familiar with it and do not require initial needs.
training time (see Figure 5 (3)). Additionally, all test users Relating requirements and critical tasks to suitable
were able to name the simulated error messages success- forms of assistance formed the base for developing possi-
fully. Considering that the user test eventually consisted of ble assistance system concepts. A modular structure pro-
a guided tour through the application it becomes apparent vides flexibility to adapt the system to further user’s needs.
that the above-mentioned implementation of an initial tu- Requested components were identified and a technolog-
torial could raise the user’s learning curve. ical concept for the assistance system was selected. An
The questionnaire’s last statement asked if the user evaluation of possible HCI concepts with regard to project
sees potential for the application in the tested production suitability led to the decision for a preferred platform.
environment. 40% of the users agreed and 60% strongly Additionally, a first test of the human machine interac-
agreed with this statement, indicating added value of the tion revealed that the test participants in general were able
assistance system for the described environment of weav- to deal with a given task employing the assistance system
ing mills. prototype and enjoyed working with the system. However,
some drawbacks were detected and subsequently elimi-
nated.
5 Conclusion Altogether, our results indicate that an assistance sys-
tem for the attendance of weaving machines as well as the
As indicated in this report, the interdisciplinary research organizational processes it is embedded in should be an
group introduced aims at the development and implemen- appropriate support for both the critical tasks of the pro-
tation of a digital assistance system for the attendance of duction process and the accompanied learning demands
modern weaving machines and connected technical de- of a heterogeneous staff.
vices in Industry 4.0 contexts. The assistance system is
expected to increase productivity by supporting complex Funding: We give sincere thanks to the German Ministry
work procedures and to stimulate and accelerate learn- of Education and Research for the funding of the project
ing processes. So far, a main result of the project is the SozioTex.
development of a methodical approach integrating engi-
neering methods (systems engineering, waterfall model)
with methods from social sciences and education sci-
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164 | A. Altepost et al., Sociotechnical Systems in the Textile Industry

Nenja Ziesen Daniel Houben

Institut für Soziologie (IfS) der Rheinisch Institut für Soziologie (IfS) der Rheinisch
Westfalische Technische Hochschule Westfalische Technische Hochschule
Aachen University, Germany Aachen University, Germany
nziesen@soziologie.rwth-aachen.de dhouben@soziologie.rwth-aachen.de

Marco Saggiomo Yves-Simon Gloy

Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) der Rheinisch Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) der Rheinisch
Westfalische Technische Hochschule Westfalische Technische Hochschule
Aachen University, Germany Aachen University, Germany
marco.saggiomo@ita.rwth-aachen.de yves.gloy@ita.rwth-aachen.de

Niklas Strüver
Institut für Soziologie (IfS) der Rheinisch
Westfalische Technische Hochschule
Aachen University, Germany
nstruever@soziologie.rwth-aachen.de