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Title: A framework to promote social sustainability in industry 4.0

Authors: Alessandra Papetti; Monica Pandolfi; Margherita Peruzzini; Michele Germani

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131 Ancona, Italy ' Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131 Ancona, Italy ' Department of Engineering "Enzo Ferrari", University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, via Vivarelli 10, 41125 Modena, Italy ' Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, via Brecce Bianche 12, 60131 Ancona, Italy

Abstract: Industrial process digitalisation is pervading numerous areas of production system, including sustainability. The study presents a method to affirm how the social sustainability of a company also passes through the protection of the welfare of the worker and describes a case study focused on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The method considers different aspects including the characteristics of the worker/s, the working context, and the content of the work activity. According to the objectives of social sustainability in the factory environment multifactorial variables related to the workers wellbeing have been defined. IoT system and ad-hoc questionnaires can be used to collect such variables. Following the proposed method, the results of the case study offer many in-depth insights, from the objective analysis of personal characteristics to the organisation of work, and from the application of international standards to the evaluation of psychological parameters.

Keywords: social sustainability; human-centred manufacturing; ergonomics; human factors; industry 4.0; IoT; internet of things; worker wellbeing; user-centred workplace.

DOI: 10.1504/IJASM.2020.109243

International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 2020 Vol.13 No.3, pp.233 - 257

Received: 05 Aug 2019
Accepted: 13 Jan 2020

Published online: 02 Sep 2020 *

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