The journey toward Industry 4.0 and the increasing implementation of Cyber Physical Systems are evoking changes in human work and work organization, thus, creating new challenges and opportunities. To take advantage of these opportunities and deal with the challenges, we must gain a holistic understanding of the emerging socio-technical interactions and apply new human-centric approaches and methods when introducing new digital technologies and designing Industry 4.0-enabled work systems. In this paper, we present the findings of a systematic literature review, consisting of quantitative and qualitative data, focusing on investigating to what extent, what type, and how academic publications on Industry 4.0 integrate human factors and ergonomics in their research. Based on these findings, we point to future research needs, highlighting the need for further empirical evidence and improved collaboration between the academic fields of Industry 4.0, human factors, and ergonomics, as well as with practitioners.
Engineering design is a strong determinant of workplace ergonomics. A survey among 680 engineers in 20 Danish enterprises indicated that engineers are not aware that they influence the work environment of other people. Ergonomics had a low rating among engineers, perhaps because neither management nor safety organizations expressed any expectations in this area. The study further indicated that effects of ergonomics training in engineering schools were very limited. The engineering cultures in enterprises, together with other organizational factors, are suggested to be of greater importance than the professional training. The implications for industrial ergonomists might be an acknowledgement of the role as change agent when trying to integrate ergonomics into engineering. In doing so, they need also to acknowledge that engineers are widely different. They have different backgrounds and a "sensitivity" to ergonomics depending on their current engineering domain, tasks, organizational position, and the industrial branch of their organization.
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