The corporate solutions that are used by businesses today can no longer disregard attention to employee well-being, an element that is increasingly recognized as strategic for the growth and sustainability of companies. A healthy work environment that is attentive to people’s needs not only fosters productivity but also motivation, collaboration, and talent retention.
Today, thanks to artificial intelligence, it is possible to implement advanced corporate solutions capable of monitoring various parameters related to employee well-being in real-time.
Revelis, as a company that offers corporate solutions created using artificial intelligence, has always provided businesses with targeted solutions to achieve various goals, including employee well-being, thanks to the monitoring made possible by AI solutions.
In this article, we will therefore discuss InCoP, a platform for Industry 5.0, used for this purpose and validated in the context of Target S.p.A., a company that produces baked goods. We will analyze the reference context to understand the needs of the recipient company and the objectives to be achieved, up to seeing the planned activities and the functioning of the AI solution implemented by Revelis.
InCoP: the corporate solution for manufacturing companies
Within the scope of the public call “Future Artificial Intelligence Research – FAIR,” Revelis was selected for its project proposal “Industry 5.0 Collaborative Platform – InCoP.”
This proposal represents a corporate solution for manufacturing companies. The project involves the creation of a platform (which utilizes the framework described in WP9.6 of the call) for Industry 5.0, validated in a company that produces baked goods.
For this solution, methodologies based on AI, Internet of Everything (IoE), and intelligent industrial automation will be used.
The project proposes several aspects of innovation:
- IoE paradigm to address people, processes, and data;
- Module for intelligent task execution, supporting workers and their safety;
- Mass customization module, for the benefit of the customer and for the reduction of resource waste.
InCoP and Target S.p.A.: the reference context
An Industry 5.0 platform will be created as a customized corporate solution for Target S.p.A., a company operating in the Catanzaro area and specializing in the production of baked goods such as bread, pizza, focaccia, and snacks. In recent years, the company has invested heavily in innovative machinery to make its production process efficient and automated.
Revelis has various experiences in Industry 4.0 solutions, both with Target S.p.A. and with other important industrial clients, and therefore possesses the right skills to enable Target S.p.A.’s transition to Industry 5.0.
The state-of-the-art techniques used in the project fall into the following areas:
- Internet of Everything (IoE), an evolution of IoT, with the aim of connecting people, processes, information, and objects in a single and interoperable ecosystem. The complexity and heterogeneity of resources in the IoE require architectures capable of managing interoperability at a technical, syntactic, semantic, and structural level. Data repositories, based on NoSQL technologies, store heterogeneous data in a common and accessible format. These architectures also support the analysis and extraction of useful information for decision-making.
- Machine Learning and Deep Learning. Through descriptive and predictive algorithms for mass customization, Target will receive decision support in the creation of products and services tailored to each customer.
- Automated Reasoning. The use of logic programs and Answer Set Programming techniques will support Target S.p.A.’s personnel in the execution of tasks, through personalized indications and suggestions to optimize the performance of their duties, reducing working times, improving operational efficiency, and decreasing production costs as well as the risk of workplace accidents.
Project objectives
The general objectives of the project, in which customized corporate solutions are applied, are articulated within a broader vision that aims to achieve several goals, including:
- Develop an innovative platform for Industry 5.0: The aim is to create a versatile and scalable technological platform capable of supporting the implementation of Industry 5.0 principles in various industrial sectors. The platform will be designed to be modular and adaptable, allowing the integration of new functionalities and technologies based on the specific needs of each application context.
- Validate the platform in a real-world context: The baked goods manufacturing company will serve as an initial testing ground to assess the effectiveness and applicability of the platform in a concrete industrial environment. However, the long-term goal is to extend validation to other sectors and production contexts, demonstrating the platform’s versatility and potential impact in different areas.
- Improve the efficiency and flexibility of the production process: Through detailed analysis of the production process and manual activities, areas for improvement will be identified, and corporate solutions based on Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), and Reasoning techniques will be designed to optimize operations and increase the ability to adapt to market demands. The goal is to create a more intelligent production system capable of learning from data and continuously improving its performance.
- Enable mass customization of products: The platform will be equipped with a specific module to enable the large-scale production of personalized products, responding to individual customer requests and creating new business opportunities. This objective aims to revolutionize the way products are conceived and manufactured, moving from a standardized production model to one based on personalization and customer satisfaction.
- Demonstrate the potential impact of Industry 5.0: Through the definition of metrics and the evaluation of results obtained in the pilot company and other application contexts, the tangible benefits brought by the platform in terms of efficiency, quality, flexibility, sustainability, and customer satisfaction will be quantified.
- Create an innovation ecosystem: The project aims to foster collaboration between companies, technology providers, research institutions, and universities, creating an open and dynamic innovation ecosystem. This ecosystem will allow for the sharing of knowledge, experiences, and resources, accelerating the development and adoption of innovative corporate solutions for Industry 5.0.
Planned activities
The activities planned in the project are grouped into three main phases:
Feasibility Analysis. This includes the following activities:
- Analysis of the production process and manual activities;
- Verification of the applicability of the WP9.6 framework with respect to the analyzed production process;
Use Case Specification. This includes the following activities:
- Definition of expected results, metrics to evaluate them, and quantification of potential impact;
- Design of ML techniques for mass personalization, and (Stream) Reasoning techniques to support personnel in task execution;
- Platform design for the use case;
Platform Development and Validation. This includes the following activities:
- Module for intelligent task execution, based on the analysis of employee behavior;
- Module for mass customization of products, to ensure organizational efficiency.
Operation of the application solution
Regarding the Industry 5.0 theme, a Software Component for worker support will be defined. This component will receive information from the IoE (Internet of Everything) system to monitor:
- the psychophysical parameters of workers;
- environmental parameters;
- production-related parameters.
It will process all this information to decide which tasks to assign to workers, with the dual objective of optimizing production without overloading workers. The reference scheme of what is to be achieved is shown in the following figure.
Specifically, the IoE system will consist of:
- Smartwatches, worn by workers, which measure: stress level; blood pressure; heart rate; blood oxygen level; and body temperature;
- Environmental temperature and humidity sensors installed in the various departments.
This data will be stored in an Elasticsearch database. Data from a suitable algorithm for predicting worker stress will also be fed into Elasticsearch. This data will then be used by appropriate Reasoning algorithms that will calculate the optimal scheduling of resources.
To calculate the optimal scheduling, the following will be taken into account: the bakery operates 24 hours a day from Monday to Friday, and workers cover shifts divided into morning, afternoon, and night. Workers must adhere to a weekly shift rotation to ensure that: those who work at night for one week, work in the morning the following week, and then in the afternoon.
The departments (in which tasks are performed) of the bakery are as follows: ovens, production, and packaging. The following diagram shows the production structure of Target S.p.a.
Regarding the theme of mass customization, it will be taken into account that the bakery produces different types of products, and every day a production order is created that indicates to the workers which types of products to produce and in what quantities.
The historical analysis of data relating to production orders will allow for the definition of ML algorithms that will support Target S.p.a. in the creation of new products personalized for each individual customer.
Conclusions
Today, in an increasingly competitive and constantly evolving world of work, employee well-being is no longer an option: it is a strategic priority. Companies that invest in healthy and positive work environments achieve better results in terms of productivity, engagement, and staff retention. For this reason, relying on companies like Revelis, specialized in corporate solutions created using artificial intelligence that allow for the collection of real-time data and the analysis of various data points to intervene promptly with targeted actions, is an increasingly essential choice for businesses aiming for long-term success.
Author Massimiliano Ruffolo
