Exploring Adoption of Smart Wearables for Ergonomic Evaluation in Production Settings

To meet the ambitions of Industry 5.0 in promoting factory workers’ well-being, there is a growing need for initiatives that support employees' long-term health and safety. One such area is physical ergonomics, where smart wearables offer promising potential for improved ergonomic evaluations. However, previous research shows a successful implementation of smart wearables in industrial settings remains challenging. Therefore, this study aims to explore what manufacturing companies should consider before adopting smart wearables in order to support a well-functioning implementation. The study is based on a qualitative case study conducted at a Swedish manufacturing company. The core data was collected from three production sites through 17 semi- structured interviews, complemented by 29 hours of observations and an undocumented number of hours of informal interviews during the initial phase. A thematic analysis was applied for analyzing the collected data, resulting in five main themes: Expected benefits, Technological feasibility, Knowledge, Resource allocation and Willingness to engage. The results show that while the implementation of smart wearables may offer benefits, companies must consider the demands associated with the adoption. Beyond technical functionality, the empirical findings show that a successful adoption also depends on organizational and employee-related conditions. The five identified themes reflect both financial and non-financial aspects of these implementation considerations. To strengthen the study’s practical value, these themes' content have been converted into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in order to create a guide. The guide is intended to help companies assess their preparedness and support financially grounded decision-making regarding smart wearables for ergonomic improvement. This study represents a first step in connecting demands for smart wearables with financial reasoning. Future research could expand on this by examining how economic aspects, with help of this study's KPIs, will evolve over time and influence long-term adoption. In particular, future studies involving mature implementation cases could provide valuable comparative insights and help further develop the KPIs established in this study.