Six levels of robotic substitution of human labour: a staged framework for improving performance in engineering enterprises

Engineering enterprises face increasing pressure to improve productivity, quality, competitiveness and long-term sustainability under conditions of labour shortages, rising complexity and accelerating digital transformation.Robotic systems are often presented as a response to these pressures, yet the relationship between robotisation and enterprise performance is neither automatic nor uniform.Existing automation and autonomy frameworks classify system capability, while Industry 4.0 maturity models assess organisational readiness; however, they do not sufficiently explain how the progressive substitution of human labour by robotic systems can be linked to concrete performance outcomes.This paper addresses this gap by proposing a six-level framework of robotic substitution of human labour in engineering enterprises.The framework adopts work substitution as its central unit of analysis and distinguishes six stages: Assisted Work, Robot as a Helper, Human-Robot Tandem, Teleoperated Robotic Work, Semi-Autonomous Robotic Work and Full Robotic Autonomy.Each level is connected to specific performance mechanisms and indicators, including ergonomic load, safety, quality, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), labour productivity, value added per employee and capital productivity.The framework is developed as a conceptual design artefact grounded in socio-technical systems thinking and illustrated through typical engineering operations such as welding, material handling, assembly, quality inspection and internal logistics.The paper argues that higher autonomy is not automatically superior; progression between levels should be governed by safety as a gatekeeper and operational data as an enabler.The framework provides managers with a structured language for performance-oriented, safe and evidence-based robotisation decisions.