Exploring gamification to support manufacturing education on industry 4.0 as an enabler for innovation and sustainability

Abstract

The issue of sustainability in productive processes has become one of the main challenges industries faces in the contemporary era. New industrial paradigms such as the Industry 4.0 point towards the creation of more sustainable processes. The transition process from traditional manufacturing to the Industry 4.0-ready manufacturers, however, presents a range of barriers which organizations must overcome. In this context, we look to the concept of gamification and the opportunities provided by this approach to help tackle such obstacles. In this paper, we expand the discussion on how gamification can be articulated to the Industry 4.0 transition context, aiming to develop a conceptual framework for gamification implementation tackling sustainability awareness issues. We argue that these gamification mechanics can contribute to support manufacturing education on Industry 4.0, enabling innovation and sustainability. Based on a systematic analysis of relevant literature, we verify that the sustainable manufacturing and Industry 4.0 topics were the least reported on having employed gamified applications. The proposed framework articulates gamification elements and sustainability requirements in the Industry 4.0 transition. This contribution may help companies on developing gamified applications to overcome some of the challenges they face regarding the sustainability aspect in the transition towards Industry 4.0.