Industry 4.0 and the human factor – A systems framework and analysis methodology for successful development

The fourth industrial revolution we currently witness changes the role of humans in operations systems. Although automation and assistance technologies are becoming more prevalent in production and logistics, there is consensus that humans will remain an essential part of operations systems. Neverth...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of production economics Vol. 233; p. 107992
Main Authors Neumann, W. Patrick, Winkelhaus, Sven, Grosse, Eric H., Glock, Christoph H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 01.03.2021
Elsevier Science Publishers
Subjects
Analysis
Content analysis
Digital transformation
Ergonomics
Human factors
Industry 4.0
Logistics
Management science
Methods
System design
System design
Industry 4.0
Ergonomics
Digital transformation
Human factors
Content analysis
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Summary:The fourth industrial revolution we currently witness changes the role of humans in operations systems. Although automation and assistance technologies are becoming more prevalent in production and logistics, there is consensus that humans will remain an essential part of operations systems. Nevertheless, human factors are still underrepresented in this research stream resulting in an important research and application gap. This article first exposes this gap by presenting the results of a focused content analysis of earlier research on Industry 4.0. To contribute to closing this gap, it then develops a conceptual framework that integrates several key concepts from the human factors engineering discipline that are important in the context of Industry 4.0 and that should thus be considered in future research in this area. The framework can be used in research and development to systematically consider human factors in Industry 4.0 designs and implementations. This enables the analysis of changing demands for humans in Industry 4.0 environments and contributes towards a successful digital transformation that avoid the pitfalls of innovation performed without attention to human factors. The paper concludes with highlighting future research directions on human factors in Industry 4.0 as well as managerial implications for successful applications in practice.
ISSN:0925-5273
1873-7579
DOI:10.1016/j.ijpe.2020.107992