There are a number of levers that have a positive effect on the recruitment of specialists. The most obvious are probably to expand HR efforts or to pay above-average salaries for trained specialists. However, this quickly becomes expensive and better bait has little effect on the number of fish in the pond.

It is therefore at least as important to retain the skilled personnel already working in the company through employee satisfaction. Assembly in particular often offers opportunities to improve ergonomics at work and thus satisfaction. Appropriately designed workstations not only make the job more pleasant, but also demonstrably reduce health problems among employees. Targeted process optimization also makes full use of the know-how of the experts working in the company. Time-consuming and often unpopular ancillary activities that have nothing to do with the actual expertise are eliminated.

Even new, unskilled employees have far more potential than simply taking over simple tasks from existing specialists. With the right guidance, even inexperienced employees can quickly and sustainably acquire the knowledge they need. In this way, learning by doing at changing assembly workstations creates new skilled workers after a while.

The assistance system not only networks the various workstations with each other, but can also be connected to higher-level systems. © Bott GmbH & Co. KG

To make work easier for experts and newcomers alike, the Bott Group offers customized complete solutions - from individual workstations to assembly lines. These include ergonomic reach paths and lighting as well as the promotion of a comfortable posture.

Digital assistance - such as the elution two assembly software from ELABO GmbH, which is part of the group of companies - completes the system. This documents the work steps from picking to assembly and testing through to packaging. The workstations are connected to higher-level systems via standardized interfaces, eliminating the need for laborious manual information exchange. Connected tools are set up by the software using prepared data. Integrated automatic systems such as provisioning robots and testing devices save additional time.

The complete digital documentation provides a clear and up-to-date insight into the production situation. © Bott GmbH & Co. KG

Automation is only used where it makes sense. For manual tasks, the system offers detailed step-by-step instructions or a clear overview of the job in hand, depending on the worker's skill level. Qualified users can create new work plans, including repair loops, simply by dragging and dropping.

The combination of an ergonomic workstation system and digital assistance takes the strain off assembly personnel. It enables unskilled workers to be deployed quickly and flexibly. It also increases the efficiency of existing staff by reducing non-productive time that interrupts the actual creative process - for example, set-up or documentation. Complete digitalization creates transparency and an overview. Once implemented, this creates an important tool that effectively counteracts the shortage of skilled workers in your own company.

Convince yourself of the Bott Group's solutions for manual assembly at the automatica trade fair in Munich from June 27 to 30, 2023, booth A6.115.