Characteristics of IoT in the Logistics Sector

Digital twins are frequently referred to as a promising approach for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in industrial production; however, robust empirical evidence of their benefits under real-world conditions is largely lacking. In this case study, the emission reduction potential of a digital twin—as a conceptually described target system—is quantified ex-ante via the example of a test bench for hydraulic pumps. To this end, the GHG emissions of the original test plan for the year 2025 are determined based on actual measured energy consumption of the tested pumps and time-resolved grid electricity emission intensities. This is followed by a rule-based rescheduling, in which energy-intensive test processes are shifted to time intervals with lower emissions. The rescheduling takes operational constraints into account so that processes and equipment remain unchanged. The savings potential is determined by comparing the GHG emissions of the reference and the optimized case.

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers significant potential to enhance industrial quality control, yet successful implementation requires careful consideration of ethical and human factors. This article examines how automated surface inspection systems can be deployed to augment human capabilities while ensuring ethical integration into workflows. Through design science research, twelve stakeholders from six organizations across three continents are interviewed and twelve sociotechnical design requirements are derived. These are organized into pre-implementation and implementation/operation phases, addressing human agency, employee participation, and responsible knowledge management. Key findings include the critical importance of meaningful employee participation during pre-implementation, and maintaining human agency through experiential learning, building on existing expertise. This research contributes to ethical AI workplace implementation by providing guidelines that preserve human ...

With the rapid spread of assistive AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot, companies are being challenged to address the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence. Based on two practical examples, this article provides insight into how companies can use company-specific risk and potential analyses to develop guidelines for the fair and responsible use of AI.

The rehumanization of industrial work has emerged as a key focus in Industry 4.0 research, emphasizing the empowerment of human workers amidst advancing automation. Within this re-search, supporting workers with disabilities through digital assistance technologies serves as a prime example of a human-centric approach to industrial engineering. These technologies often claim to enhance productivity, which aims to promote the integration of workers with disabili-ties in industrial roles. But can they genuinely improve their work experience? This ethnograph-ic study presents insights from two years of developing and deploying augmented reality in a sheltered woodworking workshop. Over this period, we engaged in conversations and facilitat-ed over 30 technology sessions with workers with diverse disabilities. Our experiences chal-lenge the narrative of industrial research, in particular with digital instructional systems serving as “enabler technology” to help them work “better.” ...