The collaborater 4.0 and the “STEAM” mindset

The era of Megadata and Artificial Intelligence raises many ethical questions and often leads to deep reflections on the human factor. Faced with the rapid development of the various resulting technologies, industries, competence centres, training centres and institutions are approaching human factors from different angles.

There are few systems and processes that are not directly or indirectly affected by these important and structuring technical advances. As production systems involve increasing levels of automation, computing, robotics, sensors, and increasingly complex mobile devices, it is important to remember that human skills are needed for many tasks.

In fields such as medicine and aviation, mistakes can have major consequences. Although automation is already very present, safety is one of the main reasons for incorporating human factors. In highly competitive sectors such as communications and computer technology, business leaders place great importance on innovations that will give them an edge in the marketplace. Large manufacturers, such as car manufacturers, want to know how to save steps and reduce production costs.

The military wants to know how to effectively train large numbers of people to operate complex equipment. Scientists, managers, engineers and others working to effectively integrate human factors into their organisations need to understand and respond to the different interests.

Of these areas, human factors therefore play a key role in the future of manufacturing where people and technology are integrated more closely and intensely than ever before.

Executives from six areas – aviation, computing and communications, automotive, electronics, insurance and military research and development – were brought together to discuss their experiences and to define the current needs of the industries. The meeting highlighted what works and what does not work in these various industries.

Although some challenges are similar across industries (such as managers who prefer not to worry about human factors until a serious accident occurs), the executives had joint perspectives that illustrated the various situations summarised below:

1. The right tasks for the right people : the right training and/or development tools for the right profiles.

2. Increase productivity by focusing on employee performance.

3. To have a quality and efficient work on a daily basis.

4. Seize unique opportunities and obtain innovative concepts.

5. Raising awareness of sustainable development and the circular economy.

6. Change the security culture with the help of better monitoring and anticipation tools to act quickly and effectively.

7. Protecting employees, especially managers, from burnout, overwork, fear of failure, lack of motivation and confidence, the increasingly frequent burnout and other disorders related to working conditions. A subject that is often taboo but unfortunately very real. No manager, including myself, can be found among these 7 points revealing particular situations already experienced.

As for the security problems (related to point n°6), they are a consequence of a lack of rigour or simply a consequence related to the other points mentioned. (Download the full report…)