Models and Methods for an active ageing workforce: an international academy

Project Information

MAIA

Grant agreement ID: 873077

DOI

10.3030/873077

Project closed

EC signature date 27 November 2019

Start date 1 January 2020

End date 31 October 2025

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 634 800,00

EU contribution

€ 542 800,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MAIA (Models and Methods for an active ageing workforce: an international academy)

Reporting period: 2020-01-01 to 2023-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The project ‘MAIA’ aims to create an innovative and timely ‘Research and Innovation Staff Exchange’ by developing an international academy, comprising of 14 academic partners . The Exchange will focus on active ageing industrial workforce problems and needs. Europe, together with other developed/rapidly developing economies (RDE), such as the USA, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, and China, are experiencing a similar problem: a rapidly increasing proportion of older workers in the industrial workforce. The industry related implications of this phenomena are deep and wide-spread, including concerns involving workforce depletion, irrecoverable loss of experiential knowledge, workforce constraints on adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies and processes, the need to design and develop ergonomic and tech assisted work methods, as well as changes in managerial styles and organizational incentive and improvement programs. Our project will be the first to bring global scope and perspective on the complex phenomena of the interaction of an aging industrial workforce with current and emergent processes and technologies and organizational design and management. The research objective is to develop new knowledge about the interaction of an aging industrial workforce with a range of contextual multi-level factors such as culture, location, workforce demographics, technology type and sophistication, company policies, organizational design, managerial attributes, process type, supervisory styles, and more micro-level variables. Relevant extant industry related theoretical lens such as Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, TAM (technology acceptance models), and Socio-Technical theory shall guide the investigation. The data shall be analysed using a rigorous combinatorial approach, employing analytical, statistical, and qualitative methods. Our deliverables shall consist of theory development, reasoned and study results-based policy recommendations, innovations in production and distribution technology designs, and specific, practical, managerial insights and prescriptions.
The primary objective of MAIA Academy is to establish a distinctive research and innovation staff exchange network focused on the challenges associated with an aging workforce in the manufacturing sector. MAIA project adopts a multidisciplinary approach to achieve the following goals:
-Investigate the needs and requirements of the aging workforce in European production and assembly systems.
-Develop new design methodologies to design assembly and production workspaces for ageing-workers, emphasizing the preservation of productivity, quality, and safety.
-Create new analytical models to support ageing-oriented assembly and production line design, validating them through global case studies.
-Design and test ergonomic devices aimed at assisting aging workers in reducing muscular fatigue and the risk of musculoskeletal disorders during tasks.
-Design and test immersive and virtual reality instruments to guide and support ageing workers in the production process.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The initial activities related to WP1 focus on research activities, including engaging with local companies, collecting real data, and developing age-oriented models and methods. The project has made significant progress regarding WP1, starting with the development of an innovative framework for collecting and studying global aging policies. A standard form for sharing results has been created, and the team conducted research on aging management policies in Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and China performed critical analyses of age-friendly policies, and developed key performance indicators (KPIs) for the aging workforce in manufacturing systems (TASKS 1.1 1.2 and 1.3). In the WP1 8 secondments have been carried out, with a total duration of 16 months. The main results have been presented at two International conferences and published in 5 International Journals.
The activities on WP2 were focused on age-friendly models and methods for operation management; several works on the topic have been produced, highlighting the influence of aging on decision-making (TASKS 2.1 and 2.2). In the WP2 7 secondments have been carried out, with a total duration of 9 months. The main results have been presented in 8 International conferences and published in 7 International Journals.
Furthermore, regarding WP3, the WEM-Platform, a motion caption system, was developed to provide real-time postural risk assessment and feedback in industrial and logistics environments, offering ergonomic evaluations based on motion capture and visual feedback to workers engaged in various operations; the activities also include the laboratory testing report of human-centered workspace design solutions. This activity encompasses the laboratory testing outcomes of human-centered workspace design solutions developed through collaboration between OTH and UNIPD, in partnership with KEYO and UOA (TASKS 3.1 and 3.2). In this work package 4 secondments have been carried out with a total duration of 5 months. The main results have been presented at 3 International conferences and published in 2 International Journals.
Regarding WP4, the consortium focused on the dissemination plan, which was presented in deliverable 4.1. It includes 24 events, mainly international conferences, in which various members of the consortium have participated (15) and will participate to present the results achieved to the scientific community.
WP5 activities focused on building the project website used not only for disseminating results but also for sharing files and documents among consortium members. Additionally, the coordinator worked on the data management plan, which has recently been submitted. Finally, WP6 activities focused on the ethical requirements necessary for conducting project tests, all of which have been developed and approved in the four deliverables of the work package.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

In the near future, the expected results include the completion of scientific tasks. WP1 is now quite complete, and soon the main results will be published in an international scientific journal. On the other hand, WP2, which involves the development of models and methods considering the aging workforce, has already yielded positive outcomes. Several scheduling and production planning models for manufacturing industries have been studied, presented and published. These results are highly significant and relevant not only to the European industry but also to industries worldwide. Regarding WP3, the WEM platform will enable data collection and further studies for ergonomic and age-friendly workstations. In the near future, this tool will be used in both laboratory and industry settings, as planned, to get data and contribute to significant outcomes for the future of European industries.
The project's contribution to improving research and innovation potential extends to its impact on European and global levels, emphasizing the need for long-term strategic cooperation. MAIA places a strong emphasis on the dissemination of research outcomes, employing various channels such as academic journals, conferences, workshops, and public engagement activities. The project aims to make its results accessible to diverse audiences, including peers, potential users, and the wider research and innovation community.

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