‘Industrie 4.0’and an Aging Workforce--A Discussion from a Psychological and a Managerial Perspective

Abstract

The aging workforce is already impacting on companies, particularly those in countries of the industrialized Western world. Furthermore, Western companies are coming under the increasing influence of technological developments, such as ‘Industrie 4.0’, which are in the process of completely changing traditional working environments. In order to maintain their industrial competitiveness, companies need to synchronize these technological developments with their own organizational requirements and in particular with the requirements of an aging workforce. We show how different types of competencies may be categorized in order to enable a successful synchronization. In addition, we take a look at recent developments in the domain of ‘Industrie 4.0’ and derive future research areas for solving the challenges involved.