New Industrial Work: Personalised Job Roles, Smooth Human-Machine Teamwork and Support for Well-Being at Work

Industry 4.0 is changing factory floor work towards knowledge work and novel digital tools provide new opportunities for factory operators, as illustrated in Operator 4.0 visions. We have studied worker expectations towards the change in large-scale surveys with factory floor workers in Finland. Based on the results of the surveys, Operator 4.0 literature and our earlier studies, we analyse how factory operators’ work is changing and how well-being at work can be supported in the Industry 4.0 transformation. We present a vision of future industrial work with personalised job roles, smooth teamwork in human-machine teams, and support for well-being at work. We conclude the results by giving recommendations on how the new industrial work should be considered when designing and introducing Industry 4.0 solutions for the factory floor. The focus of the design should be human-machine teams and collaboration in them. The work community should be engaged in designing the new solutions, as well as related new job roles, training and on-the-job support. Impacts on well-being at work should be considered in the design and monitored during the transformation. Future factories are dynamic and resilient, and that is why new industrial work should be designed for continuous change.