MAS4AI

Name: MAS4AI
Start: 2023-01-01
End: 2023-12-31

Design Innovation leverages the knowledge of traditional manufacturing with digital and up-to-methods to enhance human-centric factories. The project will support European interests by adding value through an up-skilled workforce, especially in manufacturing and engineering design building on three pillars: Design4Empower, Design4Safety, and Design4Inclusivity. Through these pathways, De4Human will support EU SMEs to achieve excellent human-centered manufacturing to enable and potentially transform fundamental manufacturing processes and contribute to the EU’s overall social and inclusive growth.

The goal of the project is to develop a modular learning experience for white collar, composed of a digital learning path, teaching, and learning factory methodologies. The 4th industrial revolution has been associated with production efficiencies, cost reductions, streamlined labor requirements, and business model adaptations. However, this is accompanied by social, economic, and organizational challenges such as income inequalities, public perception of job quality and scarcity, legal issues, and data security. Although we observe an increasing trend in automating human work in almost every industry, human workers are still playing a central role. Recently, the new Industry 5.0 vision places the well-being of the worker at the center of the production process and uses new technologies to provide prosperity beyond jobs and growth while respecting the production limits of the planet (Safety). Rather than taking emergent technology as a starting point and examining its potential for increasing efficiency, a human-centric approach in the industry puts core human needs and interests at the heart of the production process, asking what the technology can do for us to adapt the production process to the needs of the worker, e.g. to guide and train him/her (Empower). It also means making sure the use of new technologies does not impinge on workers’ fundamental rights, such as the right to privacy, autonomy, and human dignity (Inclusive). In fact, the way humans work in industrial systems is changing. The evolution of technologies, Industry 4.0 applications, and societal changes, such as aging workforces, are transforming operations processes. This transformation is still a “black box” for many companies, and there are calls for new skills for employees that can help to successfully overcome the future challenges of a human-centric manufacturing system. DE4Human will address such challenges by distinguishing three pillars: Design4Empower; Design4Safety; Design4Inclusivity.