The Future of Factories is living one of the most exciting moments in its history, particularly from the workforce point of view. Humans and machines are not only connecting, but they are also improving each other. Nevertheless, while many changes are still needed on the factory floor, the European Commission follows its plan to make European industry the most advanced.
Humans and Machines Collaboration storytelling
Recently, automation has taken a new twist in factories, allowing humans to work side by side with the machines. The story gives automation’s first role in the late 17th century as responsible for mass production. With electrification in the 19th century the process was accelerated, and with computers and robots in the 20th and 21st energy efficiency, productivity, accuracy, and precision are increasing production quality and consequently competitivity. For quite some time now, machines have taken over specific tasks once performed by humans, leading to enhanced productivity and a transformation in work. In less than twenty years, automation has transformed factory floors with advanced robots, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. According to McKinsey Global Institute, about 50% of current jobs globally, theoretically, could be automated. For about 60% of occupations, at least 30% of the constituent activities could be automated.
What if Ursula Van der Leyen was reading science fiction all along
The relationship between Humans and machines is a topic that has created many imaginative scenarios, especially in the science fiction gender. Asimov, the Master of Science fiction, reflected the machine domination fear well in his books. He even created specific rules for robots not to harm humans: “(1) a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; (2) a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; (3) a robot must protect its existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law”. In reality, robots are also trained not to harm workers. As in Asimov’s books, robots avoid humans working in dangerous environments and improve workers’ conditions. Still, the future of factories makes many workers tremble, and the prospect of losing their jobs is a concern that dominates their mindset. Do robots destroy jobs? Well, the truth lies in the deindustrialization that started in the 1970s which involved a continued decline in manufacturing employment. The technological disruption has no impact on it, says the JRC technical report from the European Commission: “In 1970, all depicted countries had more than 20% of employment in manufacturing, in some cases even more than 30% (Germany and the UK). Nowadays, all countries shown have a percentage below 20%”. The study also points out that robots create positive impacts more than destroying jobs: “Most likely, both robot adoption and employment tend to go together because they reflect some underlying variable such as the resilience, competitiveness or innovative capacity of some national industries”.
The workforce of the future wants to get upgraded with knowledge transfer.
Twenty years ago, I worked in the summer for a factory producing CDs and DVDs. I remember quickly integrating the team but, most importantly, understanding the daily tasks. Nothing particularly complicated at first. Surprisingly, the difficulties lay in getting adapted to the different machines. I had to follow a list of security protocols to avoid my arms or legs from getting trapped in the machine, to prevent burns or intoxications, to wear special shoes and unique clothing, to be aware of my steps within the factory, not to put in danger any of my coworkers. The workflow was intense, the machines were not user-friendly, and the morning, afternoon, night shifts were exhausting. Of course, I got burned, harmed, and cut myself, but mostly because I was tired of doing repetitive tasks. The factory floors now are different, sometimes including training phases and collaborative robots to improve the well-being of the workers. It is not the human who gets adapted to the machine but the contrary. At SHOP4CF, the developed components aim to support humans in production activities and provide basic implementation blocks of human-centred manufacturing solutions. All components are available for free on the RAMP platform. SHOP4CF (Smart Human Oriented Platform for Connected Factories) is an EU-funded project that aims to create a unique infrastructure to deploy human-centric industrial applications conveniently. SHOP4CF believes that automated processes should not replace people for processes but can gain new relevance by using their abilities within the factory. Therefore, new technologies need to be human-centric.