A Method For Extracting Sensory Motor Skills And Designing A Training System

Abstract

Two years ago, the rapid retirement of the “baby boomer artisans” in vast numbers threatened to erode the competitiveness of Japanese manufacturers (i.e., the 2007 problem). This study proposes a practical process for extracting skills and designing a training system, to accelerate the learning of skills in production fields by younger generations (the passing down of skills from generation to generation). The proposed process can be roughly divided into a description of a task, extraction of skill, and the design of a training system consisting of the following seven steps: structural arrangement of work, clarification of work condition and target, clarification of changes in quality, extraction of variation factor by worker, setting of a hypothesis, verification of the hypothesis and determination of an appropriate range of variation factors, and selection of the training facilities and design for the training system. The process of skill extraction and training design proposed in this study was applied to the handing down of skills in welding work for PVC boards at manufacturer of photo-developing machines. A verification experiment with 18 subjects was performed to verify the effects of the training system developed. The excellent training effects and high utility of the proposed process were verified.