Scalability of Assembly Line Automation Based on the Integrated Product Development Approach

Product life cycles change, market developments and quantities are increasingly difficult to predict, as is the case in the production of charging stations. For these reasons, scalable assembly concepts with an adaptable degree of automation are becoming increasingly important. Currently, charging stations are still manufactured manually. With increasing quantities, however, manual production is no longer economical. New technologies such as lightweight robotics offer a great potential for making production more flexible in terms of quantity. At the same time, new challenges arise because these requirements must be taken into account from the very beginning of product development and process planning. Currently, there are no planning approaches and recommendations for action that take this into consideration. Therefore, the research project “Simultaneous product and process development of a charging station outlet module suitable for automation” (SUPPLy) develops an integrated, digital and simultaneous product and process development of a modular charging station suitable for automation. The aim of the project is to develop an assembly process which enables an economic production of charging stations in case of fluctuating sales figures. The focus is not only on changes in the production process but also on a product design that is suitable for automation. The paper presents the ideas on a conceptual level.

Die Vermarktung des Kindes im Influencer-Marketing

Are parents free to decide how to deal with their children's privacy in the age of social media? Are children already allowed to be active as influencers? Is this still a hobby or already (regulated) work? In connection with the appearance of minors on influencer channels, questions arise that are highly relevant for fundamental rights and a healthy child development. So far, however, the child as a performer on his or her own or parental account has hardly been addressed in law and politics. The author closes this gap of a systematic reappraisal, analyses the current legal situation in Germany and formulates recommendations for action against the background of a legal comparison.

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment—A Survey Based Potential Future Development for Implementation and Interpretation

The aim of this study is to define, via an online expert survey, current challenges and possible future approaches in and for the implementation, application, and interpretation of the Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA). Using an online survey, sustainability experts from around the world were surveyed over a period of five weeks, resulting in 71 experts answering 25 questions. The experts were invited by e-mail and through networks; the online questionnaire was the preferred survey choice particularly for reasons of time, cost, and the pandemic. The survey evaluation shows that no change in LCSA is needed. Nevertheless, (1) a detailed optional baseline LCSA framework, with pre-selected fixed indicator sets, (2) a supporting optional but unified visualization tool, (3) a clear and transparent communication on assumptions, targets and system boundaries and (4) early defined stakeholders were identified as relevant for further LCSA implementation and interpretation. Due to natural subjectivity, the results of this written survey are to be understood as recommendations for action and orientation, not explicitly as a prediction. Finally, an action outlook for future LCSA-development is given.

Exploring the ‘unexplained’ awarding gap through understanding BAME students' experiences

A narrative method of enquiry was used to investigate the university experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students studying in a south-eastern UK business school. Participants were self-selecting undergraduates and postgraduates and academic and professional staff. The three facilitators were all academic staff from the Business School: two who identify as Black, one who identifies as white. Using a ‘Thinking Group’ (Kline, 1999) narrative methodology, it was found that issues relating to belonging, isolation, inclusive curriculum, and employability are all impacting Black, Asian and minority ethnic students' success in the Business School currently. The research resulted in the co-creation of 30 recommendations for action in the following academic year.

Change in Rhetoric but not in Action? Framing of the Ethical Issue of Modern Slavery in a UK Sector at High Risk of Labor Exploitation

This article shows how the ethical framing of the contemporary issue of modern slavery has evolved in UK construction, a sector in which there is a high risk of labor exploitation. It also examines how these framing dynamics have inhibited the emergence of a common framework of action to deal with the issue. We draw on both framing theory and the literature on the discursive construction of moral legitimacy. Our longitudinal analysis reveals that actors seeking to shape the debate bring their own moral schemes to justify and construct the legitimacy of their frames. Actors cluster their views around five evolving frames: human rights issue (later shifting to hidden crime), moral issue, management issue (later shifting to human moral obligation), social justice issue, and decent work issue—which promote particular normative evaluations of what the issue is, who is responsible, and recommendations for action. Our study contributes to a dynamic and political understanding of the meaning making of modern slavery. We identify the antecedents and conditions that have forestalled the emergence of new patterns of action to tackle modern slavery in the UK construction sector thereby evidencing the effects of the interplay of morally competing frames on field-level change.

Promoting inclusion in clinical trials—a rapid review of the literature and recommendations for action

Background Without inclusion of diverse research participants, it is challenging to understand how study findings will translate into the real world. Despite this, a lack of inclusion of those from under-served groups in research is a prevailing problem due to multi-faceted barriers acting at multiple levels. Therefore, we rapidly reviewed international published literature, in relation to clinical trials, on barriers relating to inclusion, and evidence of approaches that are effective in overcoming these. Methods A rapid literature review was conducted searching PubMed for peer-reviewed articles that discussed barriers to inclusion or strategies to improve inclusion in clinical trial research published between 2010 and 2021. Grey literature articles were excluded. Results Seventy-two eligible articles were included. The main barriers identified were language and communication, lack of trust, access to trials, eligibility criteria, attitudes and beliefs, lack of knowledge around clinical trials, and logistical and practical issues. In relation to evidence-based strategies and enablers, two key themes arose: [1] a multi-faceted approach is essential [2]; no single strategy was universally effective either within or between trials. The key evidence-based strategies identified were cultural competency training, community partnerships, personalised approach, multilingual materials and staff, communication-specific strategies, increasing understanding and trust, and tackling logistical barriers. Conclusions Many of the barriers relating to inclusion are the same as those that impact trial design and healthcare delivery generally. However, the presentation of these barriers among different under-served groups may be unique to each population’s particular circumstances, background, and needs. Based on the literature, we make 15 recommendations that, if implemented, may help improve inclusion within clinical trials and clinical research more generally. The three main recommendations include improving cultural competency and sensitivity of all clinical trial staff through training and ongoing personal development, the need to establish a diverse community advisory panel for ongoing input into the research process, and increasing recruitment of staff from under-served groups. Implementation of these recommendations may help improve representation of under-served groups in clinical trials which would improve the external validity of associated findings.

Collaborative Destination Management of V4 Countries and Germany During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Tourism destinations need to develop a coordinated approach to the development of new tourism options. One possibility is to strengthen domestic tourism in the own country and to support local hotels and restaurants. However, rebuilding the destination requires a coordinated approach; for instance, collaborations with cross-border regions. Collaborative destination management is an approach to work with partner countries to jointly address the challenges of pandemics by establishing different types of tourism. Recommendations for action are identified from the PESTLE and SWOT analysis to ensure successful collaborative destination management of V4 countries and Germany during the Covid-19 pandemic. These analyses were performed because of brainstorming and the Delphi method with 4 experts from several fields of this study. Therefore, a strategy based on the TOWS Matrix reflects what a new collaborative destination management approach could look like during the current crisis for the Euroregions.

The Potentials of Research and Policies on Active Ageing: From MOPACT and EXTEND to EIWO

EIWO – ‘Exclusion and inequality in late working life: Evidence for policy innovation towards inclusive extended work and suitable working conditions in Sweden and Europe’ (start 2020) – is the third project in a series of interdisciplinary projects on ‘ageing in the world of work’. EIWO is being carried out in selective EU-member states that have dealt with how the measuring of ‘success and failure factors’ can be used to extend working life (EWL) at the various levels (micro, meso, and macro). The author of this text is involved in all three projects: work package leader for MOPACT WP 3, principal investigator for EXTEND, and scientific advisor for EIWO. MOPACT WP 3 – Mobilisation the potential of active ageing: Extending working lives (2013 – 2017) – compared EU-wide efforts to extend working life with respect to ‘good practices’ on all levels and served as a starting point for EU-wide recommendations for action. EXTEND – Social inequalities in extending working lives of an ageing workforce: Old and new social inequalities in age-related occupational retirement and pension transitions (2017 - 2019) – focused on social inequalities in the transition phase to retirement and therefore implicitly on socially-selected possibilities and chances of realising a longer working life, including, for example, the professional care sector. EXTEND’s recommendations for action related primarily to preventive measures, above all securing and promoting employability to avoid emerging and/or deepening social inequalities mainly through involuntary/forced early exit. EIWO explicitly takes a life course perspective into account to better recognise and classify exclusion from and social inequalities in the late phases of employment biographies, which have been less pronounced in both MOPACT WP 3 and EXTEND, but with leading insights. This paper places these three projects in an overall context and draws relevant conclusions from the EIWO research perspective aimed at understanding a ‘social life course policy’ that considers employees’ biographies and therefore explicitly a gender perspective as reference points.

The status quo of digital transformation in insurance sales: an empirical analysis of the german insurance industry

In this paper, we focus on the impact of digital transformation on traditional ways to sell insurance products. Our goal is to investigate how widespread the use of digital technologies in insurance sales is and which values of these digital technologies are perceived by insurance intermediaries. Moreover, we aim to analyze underlying influencing factors in this regard. We conducted a survey in July 2020, i.e., after the first wave of COVID-19, in which 671 exclusive agents from various insurance companies, independent agents and independent brokers from Germany participated. Our results show that even at this point of time, in a high proportion of sales workforces, digital transformation is not yet very advanced. Further analyses show that exclusive agents and younger people are further ahead in digital transformation even though COVID-19 pushes digital life across all ages and social classes. Based on our results, we derive initial recommendations for action for the insurer.