A gamification approach application to facilitate lean manufacturing knowledge acquisition

Received: 19 April 2019 Abstract Accepted: 30 October 2019 Current fast development requires continuous improvement of employees’ skills and knowledge. Therefore, companies are looking for the best way for improving the employees’ qualifications and understanding of new concepts and tools which have to be implemented in manufacturing areas. One method employs gamification for this purpose. The aim of this paper is to present how gamification can increase the acquisition of knowledge concerning lean manufacturing concept implementation. Gamification is an active learning approach for people who will understand the subject easier by ‘feeling’ and ‘touching’ personally the analysed problems. The research utilized a questionnaire which assessed the game participants’ engagement level. The assessment focused specifically on the participants’ motivation, cognitive processing and social aspects. The participants were also examined before and after the game in order to assess the increase of their understanding of different lean manufacturing topics and tools. Five different games with different groups of participants were played. The results confirmed the hypothesis that gamification has a positive impact on the knowledge acquisition as well as on motivation, cognitive processing and social aspects. Finally, various insights on how to better design, conduct and utilize gamification in the similar technical context are presented.