New production concepts rely on the active (co-) shaping of planning, control and organisation processes on the shop floor level. Established CAPM technologies (CAPM =Computer Aided Production Management) only provide insufficient support, and a complete automation of the production management is not suited to close this gap. This is why new principles of system design have to be developed which meet various requirements: from taking into account a multidimensionality and contradiction of planning targets and the integration of learning opportunities with (...) the use of systems up to the promotion of work process knowledge. (shrink)

The German discussion about experience-guided work has led to the question of how work experience can be regarded within the process of designing technical artifacts. This paper offers a solution for the area of skilled maintenance work. Some considerations about the nature of experience and about the problems skilled workers have in aquiring work competences within computer aided production environments are introduced in order to illustrate the design philosophy: A decision-support-system is described which stimulates workplace learning by enabling previous and (...) present users of the system, including maintenance staff and shop floor workers, to exchange and build on experience. (shrink)

The debate about experience-based or tacit knowledge has focused much attention on the limits to formalisation of work process knowledge. A main line of argument has been that, for example, industrial work even with highly advanced technical equipment can only be performed adequately when the worker through experience on the job has gained a feel for the functioning of the machinery and the properties and behaviour of the materials. In this debate links tend to be created between on the one (...) hand formalised-abstracted-verbal knowledge as opposed to on the other hand informalised-concrete-tacit knowledge. We have worked for some years with the design of training materials which at its core have video documentation of best practice as we have found it at work. In this paper we will present and discuss experience with design and use of a hypermedia type training material, SPRING to be used by new machine setters in the spring industry. Based on our own experience we will argue for the relevance of this type of training materials as a means of supporting reflection and dialogue in the community of practitioners. (shrink)