The Impact of Industry 4.0 on Ergonomics

Abstract

The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) has accelerated technology advancement across the manufacturing sector. The technologies of Industry 4.0 make it possible for manufacturing processes to be more efficient while also bringing about changes in human work that may pose new risks to employee wellbeing and test their current abilities. Technologies, such as virtual reality and augmented reality have a significant impact to revise the position and responsibilities of human in the manufacturing environment. Thus, ergonomic perspectives have evolved from focusing solely on adjusting the human to the other components of the work system physically and psychosocially into upgrading cognitive skills to process more information. There are very few ergonomics-related studies in the literature with reference to Industry 4.0 emerging technologies. Especially, research on emphasizing the importance of the concurrent development of technical and ergonomic skills in the industrial setting is a necessity in this modern era. This research aims to explain the modified manufacturing environment, define the role of the human in this new production settings and describe the cognitive modifications required to fit into the Industry 4.0 habitat.