Ageing workforce management in manufacturing systems: state of the art and future research agenda

Figures & data

Figure 1. Keywords and approach of the literature search.

Table 1. Classification of the relevant papers.

HUMAN RESOURCES					SUPPORTING TECHNOLOGIES
FUNCTIONAL CAPACITIES
	PHYSICAL		COGNITIVE	EXPERIENCE	PHYSICAL TASKS	COGNITIVE TASKS
Functional capacities analysis and evaluation of ageing workers				Experience analysis and evaluation of ageing workers	Need for support systems acknowledgement and analysis
Aunola, Nykyri, and Rusko (1978) Aunola, Nykyri, and Rusko (1979) Kochhar (1985) Rowe (1985) Snook (1987) Marszalek et al. (2000) Jeong (1999) Chung and Kee (2000) Gaudart (2000) Marszałek (2000) Räsänen, Laitinen, and Rasa (2000) King (2002) Pennathur, Contreras, et al. (2003)	Pennathur, Magham, et al. (2003) Rouch et al. (2005) Kang, Woo, and Shin (2007) Landau et al. (2008) Lindroos et al. (2008) Saremi et al. (2008) Sörensen et al. (2008) Verma et al. (2008) Chung and Wang (2009) Kawakami and Yamanaka (2009) Blok and de Looze (2011) Landau et al. (2011) Carrillo-Castrillo et al. (2016)	Fritzsche et al. (2014) Neupane et al. (2014 Qin et al. (2014) Xu et al. (2014) Thetkathuek et al. (2015) Van de Ven et al. (2016) Binoosh, Mohan, and Bijulal (2017) Chen et al. (2017) Gilles et al. (2017) Hibino et al. (2017) Moraru, Cioca, and Babut (2017) Nardolillo, Baghdadi, and Cavuoto (2017)	Kochhar (1985) Gaudart (2000) Räsänen, Laitinen, and Rasa (2000) Rouch et al. (2005) Schwerha, Wiker, and Jaraiedi (2007) Sörensen et al. (2008) Wiker, Schwerha, and Jaraiedi (2009) Blok and de Looze (2011) Fritzsche et al. (2014) Neupane et al. (2014) Van de Ven et al. (2016) Gilles et al. (2017) Moraru, Cioca, and Babut (2017)	Belbin and Stammers (1972) Cooke and Blumenstock (1979) Laflamme and Menckel (1995) Laflamme (1996a) Laflamme (1996b) Anon (2000) Lombardi et al. (2009) Pueyo, Toupin, and Volkoff (2011) Arezes and Miguel (2013) Rohani et al. (2016) Volberg et al. (2017) Srilakshmi and Kulkarni (2018) Strasser (2018) Abubakar and Wang (2019)	Shephard (2000) Amasaka (2007) Thun, Größler, and Miczka (2007) Bouma (2013) Bures and Simon (2015) Barrios and Reyes (2016)
Consideration of ageing workers’ capacities in industrial system modelling and management				Exploitation of ageing workers’ experience	Design and integration of support systems
Williamson (1989) Nagata (1991) Ellis, Pines, and Allaire (1999) Kawakami et al. (2000) Kumashiro (2000) Olstein (2005) Kawakami et al. (2006) Weichel et al. (2010) Kumashiro (2014) Boenzi et al. (2015) Jeon, Jeong, and Jeong (2016) Botti, Mora, and Calzavara (2017)				Giannoglou et al. (2016) Abubakar and Wang (2018) Battini et al. (2018)	Duan et al. (2012) Del Fabbro and Santarossa (2016) Gonzalez and Morer (2016) Katayama, Miyoshi, and Terashima (2016) Ngo, Sommerich, and Luscher (2016) Noh et al. (2016) Oba and Kakinuma (2016) Saggiomo et al. (2016) Sanders (2016) Asaga, Yamato, and Kakinuma (2017) Borzelli, Pastorelli, and Gastaldi (2017)	Duan et al. (2012) Del Fabbro and Santarossa (2016) Gonzalez and Morer (2016) Ngo, Sommerich, and Luscher (2016) Saggiomo et al. (2016) Sanders (2016)

Table 2. Technology solutions to improve the ergo-level of manual activities (benefits, limits and investment levels).

System	Description	Benefits (impacts on work)	Limits for operator	Investment	References
Lifting and material handling device	Equipment that assists or helps the operator in moving and picking objects and parts and/or during the assembly tasks (i.e. lift, articulated arm manipulator, vacuum tube lifting device, sub-assembled moving device, smart AGV/LGV, etc.)	Increased efficiency and time savings for handling activities Improvement and facilitation of assembly and picking activities (easier access, right mounting direction display) Avoidance of musculoskeletal disorders and back pain	Potential restriction of possible material movements and placements in a certain area System availability (failures could compromise worker operation) Operators are more stationary	Low	Karande and Chakraborty (2013) Rossi et al. (2013) Grosse et al. (2015) Kousi et al. (2018)
Exoskeleton	Technical device worn by the operator, which allows a direct exchange of mechanical power and information signals. It can be active (actuated) or passive (non-actuated).	Ergonomic assistance for assembly, warehousing and handling activities (particularly for heavy lifting and overhead work) Physical effort reduction, with the potential limitation of work-related injuries Longer and safer productivity of operators (short and medium term) because they get tired less quickly Longer and safer productivity of operators (long term), referring to the employment of an ageing workforce	System weight and discomfort could reduce the operator’s acceptability Potential limitation during some body movements Safety issues (for active ones) System availability (failures could compromise worker operation, for active ones)	Low (passive) Medium-high (active)	De Looze et al. (2016) Spada et al. (2017) Theurel et al. (2018)
Intelligent/smart tool	Advanced active tool that is able to communicate and adapt itself to the environment of use, the operator and the product, with the possibility of also communicating and interacting with other tools	Easier tool setting: the tool automatically knows the next activity and sets the correct calibration Quality control: record of the operations and elimination of manual logging Enhanced productivity: less waste of time in tedious activities (e.g. logging, calibration, etc.), fewer errors, availability of the right information when needed Possibility of real-time monitoring and data collection	System availability (failures could compromise worker operation) Job impoverishment	Low-medium	Takahashi, Kudo, and Ishiyama (2016)
Augmented reality	Use of technologies and devices to create, in real time, an enhanced current perception of the reality (through graphics, videos, sounds or smart glasses, data glasses, etc.)	Improved quality: proactive signalling and avoidance of errors Increased productivity: faster search and processing of needed information Reduced training effort for new operators since they will be assisted during the job by the augmented reality environment	Potential sight fatigue when changing from near vision to long vision System weight and discomfort Job impoverishment Pressure/stress due to fast information arriving at the same time System availability (failures could compromise worker operation)	Medium-high	Ong, Yuan, and Nee (2008) Ong and Nee (2013) Paelke (2014)
Collaborative robot	Robot that can physically interact with operators during assembly and manufacturing activities (i.e. handling and positioning of components), sharing the workspace	Simplification of operators’ tasks Cobots can substitute humans only in the most not-ergonomic tasks Improved quality due to joint human–robot monitoring of the work output Space and cost savings due to sharing of the workspace Increased worker responsibility in terms of workplace safety	System availability (failures could compromise worker operation) Safety issues Ergonomics issues during the direct collaboration human-cobots	High	Krüger, Lien, and Verl (2009) Tan et al. (2009) Michalos et al. (2015) Liu et al. (2019)
Smart workstation	Workstation with adjustable devices and systems, able to adapt itself to the operator’s characteristics and needs. Usually equipped with an active recognition system that captures and obtains the anthropometry of the worker, it can also include lifting and material handling smart systems, AR technology and smart tools.	Improved workplace wellbeing due to a personalised workspace Greater system flexibility: different operators can use different workstations Active assistance and feedback to operators during assembly processes (e.g. digital guidance, poka-yoke solutions etc.) Faster and more intuitive operator training and employment in different production environments Improved quality: proactive signalling and avoidance of errors Increased productivity: faster search and processing of needed information	System availability (failures could compromise worker operation) Job impoverishment	High	Shikdar and Al-Hadhrami (2007) Shikdar, Garbie, and Khadem (2011) Garbie (2014) Gorecky et al. (2014) Kusiak (2018)

Figure 2. Five future research areas in industrial engineering for designing future age-friendly industrial systems.

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