# The Human Performance Impact on OEE in the Adoption of New Production Technologies
## 4 Case Study of a Semi-Automatic Packaging Machine in a Logistics Company  
The case study examines the adoption phase of a new technology for a B2C company in the logistics sector that interfaces with consumers through e-commerce. Specifically, the integration of a semi-automatic packaging machine that produces parcels intended for small objects in outbound operations is studied. The raw materials employed by the \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l} \hline \hline
**Parameter** & **Related Equipment State** & **Specification** \\ \hline Production time (PT) & ON & Run \\ Idle time (IT) & SLOW & Stopped for delays; reduced speed \\ Blocking time (BT) & STOP & Blocking \\ Starving time (ST) & STOP & Starvation \\ Faulted time due to the process (Fproc) & STOP/OFF & Unplanned switch off \\ Faulted time due to the machinery (Fmac) & STOP/OFF & Unplanned switch off \\ Operator maintenance (OM) & STOP & Unplanned switch off \\ Setup time (ST) & STOP & Setup \\ Non-compliant products due to the process (P\({}_{\text{nc, proc}}\)) & ON & Run \\ Non-compliant products due to the machinery (P\({}_{\text{nc, mac}}\)) & ON & Run \\ Potential products due to the process (P\({}_{\text{pot, proc}}\)) & SLOW & Stopped for delays; reduced speed \\ Potential product due to the machinery (P\({}_{\text{pot, mac}}\)) & SLOW & Stopped for delays; reduced speed \\ Uptime (U) & ON & Run \\ Downtime (D) & STOP/OFF & Unplanned switch off; blocking; \\ Compliant products (P\({}_{\text{c}}\)) & ON & Run \\ Non-compliant products (P\({}_{\text{nc}}\)) & ON & Run \\ Potential products (P\({}_{\text{pot}}\)) & SLOW & Stopped for delays; reduced speed \\ Target products (P\({}_{\text{target}}\)) & ON & Run \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 5: Correspondence between the proposed metrics and the equipment states proposed by [PERSON] and Varisco (2020) [37]. machine are paper, glue and inkjet. The machine was originally intended for the packaging of parcels with constant dimensions, considering little variability in size, such as covers and documents, and it has been adapted for the packaging of objects of variable though limited size. Following the machine reconfiguration, no historical metrics relating to the processing procedures and technology performance were present. The human figure role is here linked to the insertion of products on the machine's feeding belt after scanning the objects, and to the management of production stops through the human-machine interface. Operators must also manage machine downtime events and start-ups following downtimes. The infeed belt is divided into slots highlighted by colored markers, and the objects must be inserted in the available slots, otherwise the items will be discarded from the machine upon entry. Moreover, the machine has the following features:  
* The technology has a minimum operating speed and a maximum speed; at the beginning of production, the operating speed has to be set according to the planned hourly units and according to the number of operators employed in the process. Following the start-up, the technology operates at a constant capacity and does not automatically adjust the speed of packages productions to the infeed rate of operators;
* For each empty slot on the infeed belt, an empty package is produced. Therefore, all slots on the feeder belt must be filled, so as to not produce paper waste in the form of empty packages;
* The technology registers the position of the items inserted in the slot after the article is scanned by the operator and positioned on the belt. At the entrance of the packaging module, the position of the object is checked using sensors; if there are no belt position variations, the object continues towards the packaging operations. Otherwise, it is discarded in a waste trolley. Objects that do not comply with the dimensions required by the machine are also rejected;
* The machine also has a second reject trolley for non-compliant packages. Initially, the machine was tested with the support of the supplier.