In the last decade, manufacturing has witnessed an unprecedented disruption as digitisation, Artificial Intelligence and collaborative robotics spread in production systems.

However, it is only in the recent years that researchers have fully realised the essential role of humans in this transformation and how critical it is to unleash their unexpressed potential in terms of skills, experience, and creativity.

The SPS-Lab facilitates companies in creating smart working environments where humans and factory automation collaborate synergistically in such a way enhanced efficiency of the production system and quality of processes are achieved at the same time of well-being and valorisation of operators. Research is carried out combining all the intertwined levels that make this revolution possible.

At paradigmatic level, a framework for human-centred smart manufacturing is shaped making explicit all those facets, such as worker representation and monitoring, which compose this change of perspective. Every scenario is analysed at strategic level to guarantee alignment between expected results and company’s needs and priorities. Change management is facilitated, at managerial level, by introducing methodologies and tools for the assessment of company’s readiness for the uptake of a human-centred smart transformation.

The selection of needed technologies is supported as well as the definition of workforce upskilling paths required to make them usable. The enabling technologies of this paradigm shift are developed focusing, among others, on human digital twin, AI solutions for manufacturing targeting quality and reconfigurability and hybrid decision-makers.  Digital platforms are developed, at single company level, to match company’s needs with multi-vendor solutions that are specifically tailored and, at the value network level, to balance use of tangible and intangible resources.