Background
Maintenance work in manufacturing environments such as factories and plants requires a high level of expertise and specialized skills. At the same time, a generational gap among on-site workers has emerged, making it increasingly challenging to effectively transfer the knowledge and know-how possessed by experienced workers to younger staff. In particular, tacit knowledge that has been naturally shared through years of on-site experience is often expressed in the form of company-specific technical terms and abbreviations. In many cases, these terms and abbreviations are not explicitly documented. As a result, even when younger workers refer to documents that contain such tacit knowledge, they often find them difficult to understand.
Technology
We are developing technologies that utilize accumulated information to help solve problems in the field. A large amount of information is stored in a database at work sites, and it is necessary to promote problem solving by sharing and utilizing the knowledge of experts. Specifically, work details and abnormalities found during inspections are sometimes described in abbreviations or onomatopoeic terms, and it is not easy to understand the same intent because of the variety of expressions that have the same meaning. This technology searches for words and records with similar meanings and extracts relevant information from the database. In this way, we aim to make it easy to find valuable information from data, which contains knowledge, past experience, and know-how, even if there are variations in expression, and to use it in the field.
Strengths of the technology
・It supports not only documents and reports, but also free-format text, which can be searched even if onomatopoeic words, variations in notation, or clerical errors are included.
・Practical search accuracy is achieved by learning industry-specific information.
Future vision
・Advanced knowledge sharing and technology transfer
This system provides a mechanism for finding abnormalities and work records that occur in the field without relying on technical terms or abbreviations. This enables even inexperienced workers to make quick and accurate decisions by instantly utilizing past cases and the knowledge of experts. Specifically, since reports and daily reports can be searched without any hassle, the system aims to significantly lower the hurdle of using information and find useful information in a short time. This system helps reduce equipment downtime and improve safety by ascertaining equipment conditions at an early stage and leading to appropriate repairs. In addition, by accumulating the knowledge of experts and sharing it throughout the organization, the system accelerates the transfer of technology and provides value to compensate for human resource shortages.
