Human-Centered Retrofitting

Many of the essential elements of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) are driving the transition to Industry 4.0. It is important for companies and their staff to be flexible in accepting this change and to be ready to upgrade their equipment, structures and processes. In this paper, taking as a case study the Smart Retrofitting process performed applying a Design Thinking approach at a foundry in Livorno, Tuscany, we analyze the relationship between man and machine in the industrial sector and how the introduction of data collections devices, sensors and Machine Learning algorithms in production processes represents an opportunity to redesign this relationship. The solutions proposed aim to allow the plant to increase efficiency and decrease machinery fault. The main contribution of this work is to show how a XX century production machinery can be upgraded through human-centered Retrofitting focusing on specific problems to produce rapid and low-cost technical improvements, as well as the way in which the worker approaches their new or traditional tasks.