Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

The fourth industrial revolution (known as Industry 4.0) has simplified the access to new smart technologies, which are even more adopted by companies in their manufacturing machines. These technologies (e.g., Internet of Things) open new evolutionary scenarios for industries and the whole production process, such as the use of big data for production process optimization. At the same time, also a Human-Machine Interface (HMI) evolution is required to manage and effectively exploit the new machines advantages. Currently, different industrial HMIs are still physical based (e.g., buttons, levers) and do not properly respond to the new opportunities offered by the 4.0 technologies, limiting the whole production evolution. The HMIs’ evolution requires a proper design approach that considers the new machine possibilities (e.g., real time data analysis), the new interaction requirements and the users’ needs in the new work scenario. However, a lack of indications to guide this redesign process emerged. In this paper is presented a list of design guidelines conceived during a project regarding the HMI redesign of an automatic production line. Specifically, the project focuses on the translation of physical buttons to digital ones in a graphic interface. The case study brought out that there are many aspects to consider during the design process toward new 4.0 HMIs, and specific methodologies are necessary to develop intuitive and clear HMIs. Providing this applicative example, the paper aims to fill the current gap of indication to face the HMIs evolution and redesign. In particular, the developed guidelines are described to make clear how to adopt them to solve similar use cases and as a support for the design teams.

This research explores the importance of sustainability in the ceramic industry, focusing on how companies measure and monitor their sustainability indicators. Economic crises and climate change have led scholars over the years to focus their attention on reducing impacts and monitoring sustainability indicators with particular attention to the energy sphere. In the scientific literature it emerges that there is no set of indicators for the ceramic industries suitable for monitoring company data. To address this emerging gap, the paper takes a ceramic company as a reference and proposes a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) to help manufacturing companies monitor their economic, environmental, and social sustainability performance. The study aims to fill these gaps by underlining the importance of investing in the digitization of processes and in Industry 4.0 digital technologies to obtain constantly updated and real-time information for sustainability monitoring. The research also emphasizes the applicability of these findings to other manufacturing enterprises, offering a methodology for self-monitoring sustainability. The article suggests the development of a "Sustainability Digital Twin" as a tool to help business managers make informed decisions and design products with all aspects of sustainability in mind. The integration of sustainability and digitization is highlighted as a crucial aspect for achieving sustainable ceramic production. The proposed KPIs and the digitization of processes can provide data to implement strategic plans for sustainable production. Therefore, this study has contributed to fill the gaps in the literature by demonstrating that the digitization of production processes allows for a more specific assessment of economic, social and environmental impacts by ensuring transparent communication of performance to stakeholders.

Today, sustainability represents a fundamental concept to be developed and implemented in any industrial context. Therefore, it is essential to be able to measure sustainability performance by proper indicators, along the entire lifecycle and the value chain, considering environmental, economic, and social impacts. Moreover, every manufacturing company should have a specific measuring framework to calculate all the specific parameters. In this direction, the modern digital transition and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies are proposing to transform human–machine relations, with a significant impact on social and organizational aspects. At the same time, digitization can help companies to define and implement sustainability by correlating production with proper evaluation metrics. The aim of this research is to provide a complete overview of sustainability Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based on the Triple Bottom Line concept, referring to the three sustainability areas. Such an overview can be used by companies to set their specific KPIs and metrics to measure their sustainability level, according to their needs.