Smart operators: How Industry 4.0 is affecting the worker's performance in manufacturing contexts

Abstract The fourth industrial revolution is affecting the workforce at strategical, tactical, and operational levels and it is leading to the development of new careers with precise and specific skills and competence. The implementation of enabling technologies in the industrial context involves new types of interactions between operators and machines, interactions that transform the industrial workforce and have significant implications for the nature of the work. The incoming generation of Smart Operators 4.0 is characterised by intelligent and qualified operators who perform the work with the support of machines, interact with collaborative robots and advanced systems, use technologies such as wearable devices and augmented and virtual reality. The correct interaction between the workforce and the various enabling technologies of the 4.0 paradigm represents a crucial aspect of the success of the smart factory. However, this interaction is affected by the variability of human behaviour and its reliability, which can strongly influence the quality, safety, and productivity standards. For this reason, this paper aims to provide a clear and complete analysis of the different types of smart operators and the impact of 4.0 enabling technologies on the performance of operators, evaluating the stakeholders involved, the type of interaction, the changes required for operators in terms of added and removed work, and the new performance achieved by workers

Gamification at Workplace: Theories, constructs and conceptual frameworks

Gamification has been an active area of interest for both academicians and practitioners for the last decade. Gamification has extended its application to many areas, including the workplace. This study aims to shed light on the theoretical scenario of the gamification literature at the workplace. The article reviews the recent literature on gamification in this context and analyses the theories, constructs, and frameworks used to study the phenomenon. There is a lack of focus on the theoretical framework in the existing reviews. We create a broad taxonomy of theories used in the literature of gamification of the workplace. Further, we also propose a causal-chain framework to explain how gamification influences employees in the workplace. The results indicate that gamification at the workplace is still in its nascent stage and requires more rigorous and in-depth research. We believe that the insights generated provide research avenues for future research studies

A New Concept of Digital Twin Supporting Optimization and Resilience of Factories of the Future

In the context of Industry 4.0, a growing use is being made of simulation-based decision-support tools commonly named Digital Twins. Digital Twins are replicas of the physical manufacturing assets, providing means for the monitoring and control of individual assets. Although extensive research on Digital Twins and their applications has been carried out, the majority of existing approaches are asset specific. Little consideration is made of human factors and interdependencies between different production assets are commonly ignored. In this paper, we address those limitations and propose innovations for cognitive modeling and co-simulation which may unleash novel uses of Digital Twins in Factories of the Future. We introduce a holistic Digital Twin approach, in which the factory is not represented by a set of separated Digital Twins but by a comprehensive modeling and simulation capacity embracing the full manufacturing process including external network dependencies. Furthermore, we introduce novel approaches for integrating models of human behavior and capacities for security testing with Digital Twins and show how the holistic Digital Twin can enable new services for the optimization and resilience of Factories of the Future. To illustrate this approach, we introduce a specific use-case implemented in field of Aerospace System Manufacturing.The present work was developed under the EUREKA–ITEA3 Project CyberFactory#1 (ITEA-17032), co-funded by Project CyberFactory#1PT (ANI|P2020 40124), from FEDER Funds through NORTE2020 program and from National Funds through FCT under the project UID/EEA/00760/2019 and by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, Germany, funding No. 01IS18061C).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Implementing sustainability in product portfolio development through digitalization and a game-based approach

The aim of this research is to explore if and how digitalization and a game-based approach can improve the usability and implementation of sustainable design methods and tools in a product development process. Based on semi-systematic literature review, advantages and limitations of digitalization and game-based approaches in this context were identified. A previously developed method that guides the implementation of a strategic sustainability perspective in product portfolio development, was then selected and elements of digitalization and game-based approaches were incorporated in its four building blocks: double-flow scenario modeling, sustainability assessment, market success assessment, and portfolio development. The resulting prototype of this method was further adapted after feedback gathered through expert interviews and then tested in workshops with industry and academia. It was found that digitalization was especially useful for the scenario simulation, data management, and automatic visualization of results, while the benefits of the game-based approach were enhanced motivation, collaboration, and co-design of results and solutions. At the same time, drawbacks were discovered, for example related to decreased transparency of how results are calculated, overuse of visualization and extrinsic rewards, leading to lack of clarity and trust in the results. In conclusion, there are synergies between digitalization and game-based approaches that can improve the usability of sustainable design methods and tools, but extensive testing is recommended to avoid pitfalls that can lead to opposite effects. Moreover, recommendations were identified for how to include digitalization and a game-based approach, for example, to enable integration with other tools, maintenance and constant update, to explore the benefits of team-based assessments and collaboration, to add diversity and customization, and to link the game to the user\u27s context, application, expectations and requirements

A meta-analysis based modified unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (Meta-UTAUT): A review of emerging literature

YesOver the last more than four decades, several theoretical models have been developed to understand the acceptance and use of information systems. Realising the dilemma in selecting the appropriate theoretical model to assess the acceptance and use of technology and considering the pattern of using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), a modified version (meta-UTAUT) has been developed based on the synthesis of results from 162 existing studies. The aim of this article is to review the emerging literature on meta-UTAUT and offer some future research recommendations. The analysis suggests that studies have started citing the relationships suggested by meta-UTAUT and researchers have reviewed it alongside other alternative models while analysing acceptance and use of technology

Reimagining the future for retail and service design theory and practices

These proceedings were created by compiling the papers presented at the first colloquium of the Special Interest Group (SIG) Designing Retail & Service Futures from the Design Research Society (DRS). The SIG was established in 2021 under the guidance of the Design Research Society. The SIG strives to gain a better understanding of the value of design in the commercial sector, including disciplines, such as interior design, architecture, retail and hospitality, branding, marketing, strategic design, design management and consumer psychology. Design and its value have been a subject of study for many years and from many different disciplinary perspectives (ranging from product design to marketing, business economics, service design, management, environmental psychology, (interior)architecture, etc.). However, these perspectives have been developed in a fragmented way with discrete research methods and results that present limitations to practically applying these findings holistically across the inter-related fields of design, retail, and services. Recent developments, that have been accelerated by the pandemic and the current economic crisis, show that in practice, services are becoming integral to retail and vice versa. The consumers’ needs and the dedication of retailers to serve these needs have sparked new approaches that unite both service and retail design. Whether it be online or offline (or both), for a product or a service or an experience, or all together… It is only natural that the research community support the development of this field through furthering insights. This colloquium focuses on bringing together various disciplines to contribute their related knowledge and insights with the objective of calibrating terms and meanings that strive for consensus across disciplines related to retail and service design. This is to work towards knowledge and practice-based contributions that strive for a more holistic and encompassing retail and service design future

Vocational Education and Training in the Age of Digitization

The increasing digitization of the world of work is associated with accelerated structural changes. These are connected with changed qualification profiles and thus new challenges for vocational education and training (VET). Companies, vocational schools and other educational institutions must respond appropriately. The volume focuses on the diverse demands placed on teachers, learners and educational institutions in vocational education and training and aims to provide up-to-date results on learning in the digital age

Gamification of cooperation : A framework, literature review and future research agenda

Cooperation is in many ways a meaningful behavior and understanding how cooperation can be fostered among humans is integral to solving the many global challenges we are facing. Thus, one of the major current developments exists in exploring the potential of gamification to engage people in cooperative activity. However, while the literature on this phenomenon is growing in numbers, it remains unclear how gamification motivates cooperation and how effective it is in cooperative settings. This lack of understanding obstructs us from designing gamification that appropriately supports cooperation and from comprehending what potential hurdles need to be considered. We close this gap by theorizing a framework for gamifying cooperation. Guided by this framework, we systematically review and synthesize the existing literature (n = 51) to understand how gamification has been previously employed to motivate cooperation and what is known about the effects of gamification in cooperative contexts. The main contribution of the present study consists in deducing three different approaches (i.e., based on individualistic, cooperative, and hybrid use of features) to motivate cooperation by gamification and in providing a strategic platform for future research by proposing 11 agenda points regarding thematic, theoretical, and methodological future research avenues for gamifying cooperative activity.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

The appraisal of Facebook online community: An exposition of mobile commerce in social media reviews

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