Ageing workforce management in manufacturing systems: state of the art and future research agenda

The workforce ageing phenomenon is recently affecting most of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries, due to a general ageing of their populations and a higher average retirement age of the workforce. In this paper, the topic of ageing workforce management is addressed from a production research standpoint, with the aim of understanding how older workers can be supported and involved in a manufacturing system. First, the current state of the art related to the ageing workforce in production systems is presented. This is structured according to four main topics: (1) analysis and evaluation of ageing workers’ functional capacities, (2) consideration of ageing workers’ capacities in industrial system modelling and management, (3) analysis and exploitation of ageing workers’ expertise, (4) acknowledgement, analysis, design and integration of supporting technologies. Next, the discussion on the impact of the ageing workforce on manufacturing systems’ performances leads to the comparison of some technological advances that are related to the Industry 4.0 paradigms. Finally, a future research agenda on this topic is proposed, based on the same topics classification proposed for the literature analysis. Five different research areas are derived, suggesting future directions for appropriate research concerning the employ of older workers in production environments.     

Investigation into the Influence of Sodium Lignosulfonate,Anionic Surfactants,and Their Mixtures on the Copper Cementation Rate by Zinc

Russian Journal of Non-Ferrous Metals - This article is devoted to the influence of sodium lignosulfonate (SL), anionic surfactants (sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS), sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate...     

The Possibility of Dense Materials Based on Obtaining an AlN–SiC Solid Solution by Self-Propagating High-Temperature Synthesis Gasostating

Russian Journal of Non-Ferrous Metals - The synthesis and sintering of the (AlN)x(SiC)1 – x solid solution have been studied under conditions of self-propagating high-temperature synthesis...     

Temperature and frequency characteristics of composites with semiconductor fillers

The paper describes the results of a study on the temperature and frequency dependences of the dielectric permeability and dielectric loss tangent of composite materials composed of low density polyethylene filled with cadmium sulfide (LDPE/CdS) and indium(III) selenide (LDPE/In₂Se₃) in the temperature range of 300–450 K and a frequency range of 0–10¹⁴ Hz. It is revealed that a variation in the filler content and the effect of external factors can yield novel composite materials with desired dielectric characteristics.