Information presentation in manual assembly: a cognitive ergonomics analysis

In current practice, information is often presented to the operators under the false belief that more information leads to better quality. However, one must consider the cognitive capacity limitations of the human operator and design information systems based on these constraints. Important questions include what medium to use; audio, visual, paper based or computer screen systems? Also the syntax in terms of symbols and text, together with information content and the formatting of the system are important factors that will require much focus to result in a good information system. The paper describes a case where paper-based assembly instructions of a major automotive company have been studied, focusing on information design and cognitive ergonomics in information seeking behaviour. Within the case study, the paper-based information system has been evaluated with two focuses: automatic information behaviour (automatism) and consistency of information presentation in the operator graphical user interface (GUI). It is suggested that systems that do not offer clear and easy-to-find entry points to information will eventually cause quality issues in production.