The Big Picture

The manufacturing line of the '90's is dramatically different from the manufacturing line of the '70's. Today's manufacturing work-cell probably works because a computer, or series of computers, sends a series of pre-programmed instructions to a control unit within the work-cell. Human intervention may be needed only to replenish parts and to diagnose problems. Although the operator from previous generations also had to diagnose problems, they did not have to understand advanced robotics, nor computer technology.

Many of the workers in today's factories don't have the skills needed to operate state-of-the-art equipment.

The question many organizations face is:

How can we efficiently upgrade the skills of our workers so they are able to operate technologically advanced manufacturing equipment?

One answer being implemented by Motorola University comes from a research study conducted by Nina Adams in conjunction with the staff of Motorola University.

Our hypothesis was:

A Virtual Reality simulation can be used to orient new employees to plant operations as effectively as the current method of new employee orientation.

This thesis explains how we proved our hypothesis. It includes:

• The pros and cons of a variety of training methods.
• One training approach used by Motorola to orient employees to plant operations.
• How we decided to modify the current Motorola approach.
• How we compared the current approach to the modified approach.

Download the entire research study (Microsoft Word Document in ZIP format - 117k)

Download the entire research study (Adobe Acrobat PDF format - 98k)