Designing new technologies in an industrial workplace: what role do workers and their current and future work play in the design process?

This study examines an ongoing design process, monitoring a use-case in a metalworking company aiming to digitalize a product storage area for enhanced product and stock traceability. Two research questions were defined: i) what perspectives and concerns drive the design team’s discussions regarding the new work situation? ii) how is the work of operators who interact with the products in the storage area and their experience and potential for skills development considered in this design process? Data was collected through the monitoring of the design team meetings, work observation moments, and meetings with members of the design team to promote reflection and discussion of results. Findings suggest that the design team's concerns are exclusively driven by technical concerns with variation in the perspectives privileged between operational management and technology designers. This leaves aside concerns regarding the operators’ development in their work situation, the possibility to debate the actual work and the problems that are recognized by the workers and how they can provide key criteria to design future work situations. The originality of the study lies in the external monitoring of an ongoing design process by a research team, aiming to contribute to setting a “dialogical debate” between all actors involved in the design and implementation of I4.0/I.50 technologies. This will allow the definition of guidelines for decision-makers following a participatory approach and promoting a dignified and sustainable management of the design process.