Workload and stress evaluation in advanced manufacturing systems

Industry 5.0 emphasizes the development of human-centred work environments, shifting the focus from technologies embedded in manufacturing systems to workers. Efforts in the literature focus on operators’ well-being for workstation configuration or on stress in collaborative environments, but few papers consider stress induced by management practices in advanced manufacturing contexts, although “lean” or “agile” for instance could in principle lead to more stressful workplaces. This paper reviews the literature, evaluating the mental and physical workload of production line operators who perform mentally demanding tasks and experience stress in advanced manufacturing systems. The goal is to design and to perform a pilot test on an innovative and rigorous research protocol, to be adopted in ‘non-fictional’ experiments, and able to compare push vs pull settings and their effects on workers’ workload and stress (WLS). The results will highlight new sources of stress, contributing to the development of human-centred and socially sustainable manufacturing systems.