Proof of Concept for Automating Personal Settings in Construction Machines with a Mobile Application : An Observational Study on Transferring Data at Volvo

Abstract: In today’s market, digitization and automation are crucial for the survival of most companies due to the high level of software already present. The need to adapt to the demands of the day, forces a big mechanical company to perform a paradigm shift towards becoming a software producing company as well. However, the current systems are limited, they are not developed for such a change. Machines in the construction industry are complicated vehicles that require careful configuration by the operators. Each operator may have their own personal preference of how the settings of a construction machine should be configured in order to get full utilization. The problem for the operators revolves around the current situation of frequently having to configure these settings each time operating a machine, requiring time. Consequently, creating the risk of operators neglecting the configuration. Therefore, the problem of the thesis is that there is no existing system of how to facilitate this reoccurring activity. The purpose of this thesis is to prove the usefulness of introducing a mobile application as the missing system for when operators switch machines, through a proof of concept. The proof of concept suggests a quality approach towards the first steps in automating the work environment of operators for construction machines. The objective is to improve the efficiency of the workflow by saving the operators machine settings in a profile, in order to transfer the settings between the machines. The goal is to investigate and deliver a proof of concept for how to store and transfer the personal settings in a useful manner. Due to the limited time of the thesis, the starting focus is placed on wheel loaders with the research limited to one specific type of machine. The thesis consists of a qualitative study, analysing inductively from details to produce abstractions and hypotheses. The agile design science research method applied to the research, was evaluated continuously in the different phases and iterations of the thesis plan to adjust to improvements reviewed as necessary. The observational research includes an explorative and evaluative aspect, first to form an idea and consequently to prove the idea. A design of an user interface of a mobile application served as a method to support the evaluation. The result for the thesis is the proof of concept of a useful mobile application system to automate the personal settings of the construction machines. The evidence is supported by information gathered during the pre-study and the demonstration of a small prototype tested by engineers as well as the intended users, the operators. The questionnaires prove the prototype to be a useful improvement in the operators daily work environment. The documentation and suggested system construction are approved by the target audience to be viable and of value.