Operator 4.0: digitalization at work - impact and opportunities for supporting operators in the food industry

General introduction

Digitalization is gaining ground in the food industry. This brings with it all kinds of challenges. For instance, digital transformation goes hand in hand with a 'skills revolution'. A skills shift is emerging, with the combination of soft skills and digital know-how becoming central. 

This therefore involves two crucial questions: What will be the impact of digitalization on the job content and well-being of operators on the shop floor?  How can digital tools be used to allow short-skilled employees to function optimally in an increasingly complex production environment?

Research approach

Operator 4.0 is a collective research, development and dissemination project (type COOCK) aiming to inspire companies and provide methods to take into account the human factor in their digitalization journey.

Relevance/Valorisation

The project is aimed at companies related to the food sector, but can also inspire other sectors not to forget the human factor in digitalization, such as technology providers and organizational consultants.