Human factors and ergonomics design principles and guidelines : helping designers to be more creative

This is a pre-copyedited version of a contribution published in: Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018). IEA 2018. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 824, edited by Bagnara S., Tartaglia R., Albolino S., Alexander T., Fujita Y., published by Springer, Cham. The definitive authenticated version is available online via https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96071-5_17.The knowledge and application of Human Factors/Ergonomics (HFE) principles and guidelines can help designers to develop better products and services. However, they may also include design constraints that may affect designers’ creativity. Although both HFE principles and guidelines and creativity are considered essential in the design of products and services, the link between them is little researched. In this article a discussion is presented on the influence that HFE principles and guidelines can exert on the creativity of designers. It also presents case studies of HFE principles and guidelines and discusses how they can influence designers’ creativity. In addition, a set of recommendations is suggested to help designers apply ergonomic design principles and guidelines to stimulate creativity. It is concluded that HFE principles and guidelines can assist designers in creating safer and more efficient products and services and can also broaden their creative process and therefore the originality and appropriateness of products and services

The Italian Flagship Project: Factories of the Future

This chapter deals with the central role of manufacturing in developed and developing countries, assessing how relevant it is from economic and social perspectives. The current international and Italian manufacturing contexts are analysed by highlighting the main criticalities and the impact of relevant global megatrends. Then, the main ongoing industrial research initiatives are presented both at international and Italian level. Based on the elaboration of current context and research initiatives, the Italian Flagship Project Factories of the Future defined five research priorities for the future of the manufacturing industry. Based on these priorities, the flagship project funded a total of 18 small-sized research projects after a competition based on calls for proposals. The results of the funded research projects are analysed in terms of scientific and industrial results, while providing references for more detailed descriptions in the specific chapters