This paper addresses the potential of smart wearable and collaborative technologies in support of healthier, safer, and more productive shop floor environments during the present and post– coronavirus 2019 pandemic emerging digital manufacturing worlds. It highlights the urgent need to “digitally transform” many high-touch shop floor operations into low-touch or no-touch ones, aiming not only at a safer but also more productive return to work as well as a healthier continuity of production operations in more socially sustainable working environments. Furthermore, it discusses the interrelated roles of people, data, and technology to develop smart and sustainable shop floor environments. Lastly, it provides relevant recommendations to the key business units in a manufacturing enterprise in regard to the adoption and leverage of smart wearable and collaborative technologies on the shop floor in order to ensure the short- and long-term operation of a factory amid the coronavirus 2019 pandemic and the future of production and work in the Industry 4.0 era.
Gamification is a growing topic of interest across all industries, including manufacturing. We conducted a literature review to determine the past and current research being conducted in the realm of gamification within manufacturing. We found that significant research is being performed, with growth in recent years. However, our analysis also found that the research is widespread, and not one group of researchers are focused on a niche area for gamification in manufacturing. Gamification in manufacturing research often focuses on three different research areas: knowledge acquisition, training, and operational tasks. Gamification research is conducted in equal parts of in-industry and in-lab settings. Literature reviews, empirical studies, and case studies are commonly used and published, and no specific methodology stands out as being preferred over the other. We found that conducting statistical hypothesis testing is feasible and appropriate when conducting an empirical or case study. Our paper summarizes the analysis by drawing additional conclusions and suggesting future research avenues for other researchers interested in how gamification is and can be incorporated within the manufacturing domain.
The APMS conference and IFIP WG 5.7 community can proudly look back at a rich history of research and practical impact in the field of production and production management. However, in the light of the recent disruptions of the field, often summarized under the terms Industry 4.0 or Smart Manufacturing, it is critical to assess recent research trends and changing key topics within the community to enable informed decisions about the future directions of the conference. This paper takes a critical look at 1,428 published papers from the APMS proceedings that are available on Scopus and derives key insights through a bibliometric study. A special focus is put on the last five years to reflect the recent effects of digital transformation on the driving topics of the conference. The results show the emergence and dominance of Industry 4.0 among the recent topics, but also provides evidence of established topics, such as sustainability, remaining relevant. Overall, the study provides a wealth of information that provides the foundation for forward looking discussion among the community members.
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