SORISMA - Sociotechnical Risk Management in the Introduction of Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 is the vision, but the path to it is often complicated and difficult to keep track of. The research project "SORISMA - Sociotechnical Risk Management in the Introduction of Industry 4.0" systematized the relationships of the factors technology, organization and people in the context of Industry 4.0.

The introduction of Industrie 4.0 solutions provides companies with many advantages and is an important success factor for their profitability. However, implementation is a comprehensive, continuous process that not only impacts technical aspects, but also directly affects the organization and people. As a result, it is difficult to assess the risks associated with the introduction of Industrie 4.0 solutions. For this reason, the SORISMA project investigated how holistic, socio-technical risk management can succeed in the context of Industrie 4.0. The aim was to enable companies to minimize risks in the future introduction of Industrie 4.0.

This project was supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) with approximately 2.7 million euros.

Objective and project structure

The aim of the project was to develop practical measures and methods that enable companies to identify socio-technical risks at an early stage and introduce Industrie 4.0 solutions in a correspondingly risk-optimized manner. To this end, the joint project was divided into five cross-sectional projects: Risk Analysis, Risk Assessment, Risk Control, Risk Monitoring and Tool Support.

Four user companies were involved in the development and testing of the project results. In a cross-company industry group, they developed use cases and possible risks, thus ensuring the practical relevance of the research content. Selected use cases were then implemented in the companies as part of pilot projects in order to validate the research results. Through the integration of trade unions as well as transfer networks with direct access to a large number of SMEs in North Rhine-Westphalia, a continuous dissemination of the results takes place.

For more information on this project, please visit the Homepage of Sorisma.

Funded project partners

A total of three research institutes were participating in the project and, together with two enabler companies, developing methods that will enable companies to identify and assess socio-technical risks in the context of Industrie 4.0 at an early stage. These methods were tested and evaluated in practice at four different user companies.

Research Partners:

• Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics
• Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design
• Heinz Nixdorf Institut der Universität Paderborn

Enabler Companies:

• Unity AG
• myview systems GmbH

User companies:

• BEULCO GmbH & Co. KG
• MIT Moderne IndustrieTechnik GmbH & Co.KG
• westaflex GmbH
• thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG

This project was funded by: