A new methodological approach for considering workers’ diversity in assembly system design

Companies and production systems worldwide are facing significant challenges due to the growing diversity among workers. In general, humans differ from each other in terms of characteristics, such as age, gender, skill and physical attributes, and this variety may have a substantial impact on system performances. This issue can be more considerable in environments in which tasks are performed primarily by workers, such as assembly systems, whose performance depends more on workers than on machines. Therefore, there is a strong need to apply a human-centred approach to the design and management of industrial operation systems. This vision is also emphasised by Industry 5.0, which pays explicit attention to system workers toward the design of more human-friendly, human-centric and sustainable manufacturing environments. This dissertation investigates workers’ diversity in production systems to understand how differences among workers affect production systems, with a particular focus on assembly systems. After an extensive literature analysis, new approaches and optimisations are proposed to integrate workers’ differences into assembly systems. Distinctively, a combination of worker features was considered with the objective of analysing the effectiveness of considering workers in assembly systems (in both design and rebalancing phases) and improving workers’ involvement in job assessments, promoting an inclusive culture in workplaces. This research work identifies important relations between workers’ differences and assembly system performance. The outcome of this research can be instructive for production system managers and practitioners whether deciding on investments in the design phase or in workforce management.