The recent debate on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (i.e. Industry 4.0) focuses mainly on the issues of the substitution of human labour with robots, the disappearance of old jobs and the emergence of new ones. The impact on workers’ conditions and the quality of work within the production plant are much less explored and often only in an indirect way. This paper represents a contribution in this direction. After discussing some general and controversial aspects of the 4IR, we will present a stylized model of a 4.0 production plant, inspired by several interviews to a sample of highly automated manufacturing companies located in the province of Modena (in the Emilia-Romagna region, one of the most industrialized and innovative regions of Italy). We use his stylized model to critically discuss the idea, often taken for granted in the existing literature, that the quality and working conditions in the digitized factory are clearly better than those present in factories not yet affected by the Fourth Industrial revolution.

Working conditions and quality of work in the digitized factory / Fontana, D.; Solinas, G.; Paba, S.. - (2020), pp. 219-232.

Working conditions and quality of work in the digitized factory

Fontana, D.;Solinas, G.;Paba, S.
2020

Abstract

The recent debate on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (i.e. Industry 4.0) focuses mainly on the issues of the substitution of human labour with robots, the disappearance of old jobs and the emergence of new ones. The impact on workers’ conditions and the quality of work within the production plant are much less explored and often only in an indirect way. This paper represents a contribution in this direction. After discussing some general and controversial aspects of the 4IR, we will present a stylized model of a 4.0 production plant, inspired by several interviews to a sample of highly automated manufacturing companies located in the province of Modena (in the Emilia-Romagna region, one of the most industrialized and innovative regions of Italy). We use his stylized model to critically discuss the idea, often taken for granted in the existing literature, that the quality and working conditions in the digitized factory are clearly better than those present in factories not yet affected by the Fourth Industrial revolution.
2020
11-dic-2019
Economic Policy, Crisis and Innovation: Beyond Austerity in Europe
Marcuzzo, M.C., Palumbo A., Villa, P.
9780367260293
Routledge
REGNO UNITO DI GRAN BRETAGNA
Working conditions and quality of work in the digitized factory / Fontana, D.; Solinas, G.; Paba, S.. - (2020), pp. 219-232.
Fontana, D.; Solinas, G.; Paba, S.
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
FPS_Ch. 12_Routledge.pdf

Accesso riservato

Tipologia: Versione dell'autore revisionata e accettata per la pubblicazione
Dimensione 700.7 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
700.7 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia
Pubblicazioni consigliate

Licenza Creative Commons
I metadati presenti in IRIS UNIMORE sono rilasciati con licenza Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal, mentre i file delle pubblicazioni sono rilasciati con licenza Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale (CC BY 4.0), salvo diversa indicazione.
In caso di violazione di copyright, contattare Supporto Iris

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11380/1188512
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 1
social impact