Workforce and supply chain disruption as a digital and technological innovation opportunity for resilient manufacturing systems in the COVID-19 pandemic

Giuseppina Ambrogio; Luigino Filice; Francesco Longo; Antonio Padovano

doi:10.1016/j.cie.2022.108158

Workforce and supply chain disruption as a digital and technological innovation opportunity for resilient manufacturing systems in the COVID-19 pandemic

Comput Ind Eng. 2022 Jul:169:108158. doi: 10.1016/j.cie.2022.108158. Epub 2022 Apr 8.

Authors

Giuseppina Ambrogio¹, Luigino Filice¹, Francesco Longo¹, Antonio Padovano¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, Italy.

Abstract

During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (also known as COVID-19), workforce downsizing needs, safety requirements, supply chain breaks and inventory shortages affected manufacturing systems' and supply chain's responsiveness and resilience. Companies wandered in a disrupted scenario because recommended actions/strategies to survive - and thrive - were not available an improvised actions to keep their operations up and running. This paper analyzes the COVID-19 impacts on the workforce and supply resilience in a holistic manner. The following research questions are discussed: (i) how can manufacturing firms cope with urgent staff deficiencies while sustaining at the same time a healthy and safe workforce in the perspective of socially sustainable and human-centric cyber-physical production systems?; (ii) is remote working (cf. smart working) applicable to shop-floor workers?; (iii) is it possible to overcome supply chain breaks without stopping production? In the first part, we propose three Industry 4.0-driven solutions that would increase the workforce resilience, namely: (i) the Plug-and-Play worker; (ii) the Remote Operator 4.0; (iii) the Predictive Health of the Operational Staff. In the second part, the concepts of (i) Digital & Unconventional Sourcing, i.e. Additive Manufacturing, and (ii) Product/Process Innovation are investigated from a novel business continuity and integration perspective. We ultimately argue that forward-looking manufacturing companies should turn a disruptive event like a pandemic in an opportunity for digital and technological innovation of the workplace inspired by the principles of harmonic digital innovation (that places the human well-being at the center). These aspects are discussed with use cases, system prototypes and results from research projects carried out by the authors and real-world examples arising lessons learned and insights useful for scientists, researchers and managers.

Keywords: Additive manufacturing; COVID-19 pandemic; Digitalization; Industry 4.0; Manufacturing systems; Operator 4.0; Resilience; Supply chain disruption.