Human-Machine Symbiosis Of Manufacturing Enterprises:Influencing Factors,Driving Path And Evolution Mechanism

Driven by strategies such as intelligent manufacturing and replacing human labor with machine(RHLM),human-machine symbiosis(HMS)has become the best perspective for understanding the new human-machine relationship in manufacturing enterprises and an ideal strategy for coordinating human-machine conflicts.However,the existing literature has not yet effectively answered the key question of how can human-machine symbiosis be possible,and the related theoretical research still lags behind the enterprise practice and there is still no suitable systematic theoretical system for explaining the phenomenon of human machine symbiosis.Meanwhile,the existing literature has little knowledge about the practice of the HMS relationship,and there are still few related researches on the influencing factor model of HMS in manufacturing enterprises,the multi-factor synergistic driving path from the configuration perspective,and the evolution mechanism.Therefore,this research focuses on the core issue of how can human-machine symbiosis be possible.Based on symbiosis theory and supplemented by actor network theory and Man-Machine-Environment System Engineering theory,this research systematically explores the theoretical framework of HMS in manufacturing enterprises,and the related research work can be divided into five parts.The specific research work and corresponding conclusions are as follows.First,this research systematically sorts out the historical evolution logic of HMS based on the perspective of historical retrospective,and on the basis of which,the research exploratively proposes the theory of organizational HMS as a new theoretical paradigm to interpret the human-machine relationship in the era of digital intelligence.Besides,the basic theoretical connotation system of the HMS theory is systematically discussed.The results show that:(1)From the perspective of historical retrospective,the human-machine relationship has generally gone through four historical evolution stages,namely "human as tool → human using machine → human-machine conflict → human-machine collaboration → HMS".And human workers are manifested as the evolution trend of "primitive human → physical human → experienced human → knowledgeable human → intelligent human".Besides,the machine has gone through the evolution process of "metatool → working machine → power machine and transmission machine → automatic control machine → intelligent control machine".(2)HMS has four basic elements,which are symbiotic unit,symbiotic mode,symbiotic environment,and symbiotic interface.The symbiotic unit is the core foundation of HMS,the symbiotic mode is the key element,the symbiotic environment is the external condition,and the symbiotic interface is the fundamental medium and basic vectors.(3)The types of HMS mode can be divided from the three perspectives of symbiosis behavior,time continuity and spatial coverage.Among those HMS mode types,symmetrical mutualism and integrated symbiosis mode are the ideal modes of HMS,and it’s also the overall trend and direction of human-machine relationship evolution.(4)HMS presents a dynamic evolutionary trend of partially RHLM and overall HMS,and there coexist the paradox of RHLM and helping human with machine,substitution and compensation for human labor force of machine.Second,based on the statistical sample data of human laborforce and industrial robots from 1999 to 2020,this research empirically explores the synergistic symbiotic relationship between industrial robot applications and human laborforce.The results show that:(1)There is a positive correlation between human laborforce and machine laborforce.(2)In the long run,human laborforce and machine laborforce generally exhibit a long-term equilibrium relationship.(3)according to the Granger causality test,human labor and machine labor have generally shown a certain Granger causality,but this interaction only shows a one-way effect or a certain delay in transmission in some cases,indicating that the simultaneous two-way interaction effect between industrial robot applications and human laborforce is still weak at this stage.(4)From the result of impulse response analysis,it can be seen that the impact of industrial robot applications on human laborforce should be preceded by the impact of human laborforce on industrial robot application,and both effects are positive in the long run.Third,the research further conducts practical research and interviews from the micro-level of enterprises,and based on 643 questionnaire samples,it analyzes the general situation of the symbiosis relationship between employees and machines in manufacturing enterprises.The results show that:(1)It’s the general trend of enterprise practice that RHLM from the local level and being human-machine symbiosis from the overall level.(2)Some enterprise organizations have been advocating employees to treat machines as colleagues,and over 60% of the interviewees hope to treat machines as colleagues.Besides,most of the interviewees say they treat machines as partners rather than tools or competitors.(3)Machines are both replacing human labor and enhancing employees,and employees love and hate machines in the meanwhile,because they are not only worried about being replaced by machines,but also cannot work alone without machines.In addition,RHLM has a double-edged sword effect on employees’ work income,efficiency,intensity,time,motivation and other aspects.(4)Employees are optimistic about human-machine collaboration.They generally prefer to collaborate with humans rather than machines,but there are also differences due to role situations,that is,more employees prefer human collaborators(rather than machines)as peer colleagues or supervisors,and prefer machine(rather than human)as a subordinate.Fourth,based on a total of 673 samples of interviews,surveys and literature materials,according to the programmed grounded theory method and the use of Nvivo software to assist in coding,the research exploratively builds a model of influencing factors of HMS in manufacturing enterprises.The results show that 556 initial concept codes,183 initial categories,36 sub-categories and 7 main categories were extracted,and finally a structural model of Man-Machine-Material-Method-Production-Environment(4MPE)was constructed to obtain the influencing factors of HMS in manufacturing enterprises.The influencing factors of HMS in manufacturing enterprises can be classified into four categories,which are symbiotic unit(human and machine),symbiotic interface(material and product),symbiotic mode(method),symbiotic environment(environment),etc.Besides,there are 6 influencing factors and 4 action mechanism paths to drive the value symbiosis of employee and machine.Fifth,by using the hybrid method of NCA and fs QCA,the research explores the driving path of multi-factors synergistic linkage of HMS in manufacturing enterprises from the perspective of configuration.The results show that:(1)There are 8 antecedent conditions,including employee skill performance,employee individual attitude,machine intelligence,machine interface design,work automation characteristics,machine dependence of work,organizational support,and human-machine performance differences,and none of the which alone constitutes the necessary conditions for high and non-high HMS in manufacturing enterprises.(2)There are 8 driving paths and 3 types of configurations for generating high HMS,namely configuration of employee individual attitude-human-machine performance difference,configuration of employee-machine-interface-environment,and configuration of skill performance-organizational support-performance difference.(3)There are 7 types of driving paths and 5 types of configurations generating non-high HMS,which reflects the existence of various equivalent combinations of the generation mechanism of non-high HMS in manufacturing enterprises.Sixth,Chint Electric Co.,Ltd.was selected as a case sample of typical manufacturing enterprises,and the vertical single-case method was applied to further explore the human-machine symbiotic evolution mechanism in the process of RHLM in manufacturing enterprises from a dynamic perspective.The results show that:(1)HMS shows an overall evolution process of "introducing machine → HMS in production process → HMS in service process → comprehensively HMS in digital and intelligent factory",and the antecedents,processes and results in its multi-stage iterate gradually and form a dynamic cyclic evolution mechanism theory of HMS.(2)The HMS is subject to the dynamic superposition of the dual factors of power and resistance,and changes from the early passive to the later active HMS action.(3)Machine penetration in the process of RHLM can be divided into progressive mode and subversive mode,which generally presents a spatial-temporal dual-path evolution trend.And the flow direction of employees replaced by machines is dominated by the internal circulation in the early stage,while expanding to internal and external dual circulation in the later period.In addition,HMS presents an evolutionary trend of "human using machine → human-machine conflict → human-machine collaboration → HMS",and the dual effects of replacing and helping coexist with the machine.(4)HMS is a comprehensively reconstructing and upgrading of the 4MPE ecological closed-loop system composed of man,machine,material,method,production and environment,and it presents a multi-stage dynamic superposition and evolution trend.This research regards the machine as one of the main body of labor actors working side by side with human,and innovatively proposes the theory of HMS from the perspective of human-machine two-way interaction.Meanwhile,this research explores the construction of the 4MPE influencing factor model of manufacturing enterprise HMS,the multi-factor collaborative driving model from the configuration perspective,and a multi-stage dynamic cyclic evolution mechanism model.Generally speaking,this research can not only provide a new theoretical paradigm for interpreting the human-machine hybrid workforce and its collaborative symbiotic relationship in manufacturing enterprises,but also lay a theoretical foundation for the further exploration of the human-machine relationship.Besides,based on the theoretical experience summary and practical enlightenment of HMS in manufacturing enterprises,this research can provide experiences for manufacturing enterprises to alleviate the human-machine conflict in the process of RHLM,and can also provide theoretical guidance for manufacturing enterprises with the implementation of human-machine dual-channel hybrid workforce,and can promote the symbiosis and value co-creation of society,enterprises,employees,and machines.