The collaborative work experience of robotics and human workers in the automobile industry in South Africa

Through the lens of the evolutionary economic theory, this study aimed to investigate what drives the implementation of technologies in the South African automobile industry and to understand the experiences employees have had with the introduction of technologies to the sector with regard to work collaboration, safety, and job satisfaction. Using a qualitative methodology, data were collected through a semi-structured in-depth interview, which induced its information from three automotive companies with a total of 30 participants that were purposively chosen as the sample size. Findings revealed that robots and human employees work efficiently together in the automobile sector. In an attempt to minimize product imperfection due to human inconsistencies and to increase productivity, the automobile industry will adopt more technologies to meet the needs of its customers. Findings further revealed that the human-robot collaborative work experiences are negatively impacting on the job satisfaction and confidence of autoworkers and resulting in underutilized skills of the autoworkers. The recommendation is that it will be best to pair robots with human employees in ways that autoworkers’ job satisfaction and job security are not constrained. This research contributes to the ongoing study of human-machine collaborative work in the global manufacturing industry and, for the most part, to the study of labour processes and technical advances in the automotive industry worldwide.