Smart manufacturing and tasks automation in the steel industry: Reflecting on routine work and skills in Industry 4.0

Antonazzo, Luca, Stroud, Dean ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9174-8967 and Weinel, Martin 2023. Smart manufacturing and tasks automation in the steel industry: Reflecting on routine work and skills in Industry 4.0. Economic and Industrial Democracy 10.1177/0143831X231201002

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Abstract

This article presents the findings of research on the European steel industry as it transitions toward Industry 4.0. Drawing on data generated through semi-structured interviews, the authors reflect on the distinction between routine and non-routine work which has informed much recent research on technology effects on jobs. First, they propose to distinguish between ‘deterministic’ and ‘probabilistic’ technological approaches, the latter illustrative of the Industry 4.0 model and characterised by the use of algorithms and statistical learning. Next, the authors maintain that jobs that have been labelled as ‘routine’ may entail a range of tasks that Industry 4.0 technologies remain unable to entirely automatise, which has led to broadening skillsets and a prominence acquired by transversal skills. Hence, the authors suggest overcoming the routine/non-routine dichotomy and deterministic assumptions on workers’ substitution in favour of a continuum-based conceptualisation of tasks and a more nuanced investigation of technology effects.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
ISSN:	0143-831X
Funders:	European Union
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 August 2023
Date of Acceptance:	25 August 2023
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2023 12:36
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/162045

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