Inadequately presented information and its effect on the cognitive workload

The design and handling of information in manual assembly is becoming increasingly important in achieving effective and competitive assembly. However, the information provided to the assembly personnel in the automotive industry is usually poorly designed and presented, which can cause unnecessary mental stress and increase cognitive workload. Due to inadequate information, the original goals are placed aside and the workers are forced to figure out where the right information is located and how to access it within the system. One way of supporting the assembler could be to use kitting, which is a material supply principle where the assembler is provided with a kit of components that together support one or more assembly operations. The kit can also be considered as a carrier of information that complements or even replaces conventional assembly instructions. The aim of this paper is to initiate a theoretical exploration of the relationship between the assembler’s information needs and the kitting box, by investigating the kitting box and its potential to provide enough information for the assembler to fulfil the assembly task.