What competencies do employees need for the use of augmented reality in logistics and production?: A report on practice of the Prospective Competence Analysis (ProCA) in three SMEs

Abstract

This practical report from the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. (GIO) presents how the prospective competence analysis was used in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to accompany the introduction of augmented reality systems and to highlight associated competence changes. The use of new technologies, such as augmented reality systems, represents a profound change for companies, which is not only accompanied by an intensive work-related learning process, but can also fundamentally change the competence profile of the work itself. This is particularly challenging in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), where few human resources are available to accompany these processes. One way to successfully manage this work-related change is to use scientifically based methods that can provide precise estimates of the changing competencies in advance, so that training needs and recommendations for action can be developed before the technology is introduced. One such method is Prospective Competence Analysis. In this practical report, we outline the implementation of Prospective Competence Analysis in a collaborative project in which an audiovisual assistance system based on an augmented reality system was developed for various application scenarios in three SMEs. In addition, we describe and reflect on a methodological adaptation of Prospective Competence Analysis that enables the use of the quantitative method also in SMEs.