Abstract
This article addresses the issue of the industrial performance model and its evolution to cope with the context of Industry 4.0. With its digitalisation, intelligent/autonomous systems and wealth of data, Industry 4.0 offers opportunities that can achieve objectives better. It also presents risks and uncertainties that question the autonomy of the systems, their interaction with humans and the use of available data. The hypothesis put forward in this work is that the efficiency–effectiveness–relevance performance triangle can no longer guarantee long-term performance under these conditions and needs to be associated with an ethical dimension that allows for the risks and uncertainties relating to Industry 4.0 to be considered. Ethics is therefore considered to extend the triangle to a tetrahedron. A brief analysis of current performance management will first show the limits of the current practice in the context of Industry 4.0. The frameworks that could overcome these limits in light of new needs are then recalled and discussed, leading to the choice of ethics, whose main definitions and use in the engineering field are also introduced. The proposed (efficiency–effectiveness–relevance–ethics tetrahedron-based methodology is illustrated through a case study related to an aeronautical supplier, regarding the consequences of the implementation of a MES (Manufacturing Execution System) in terms of product traceability and operator autonomy. The discussion and prospects finally conclude this study.
Highlights
This paper has addressed the issue of integrating ethics into the industrial performance model
It focuses on the context of Industry 4.0, which goes beyond the constraints of acceleration and short-term results that characterise the industry from its beginning
It was assumed that integrating ethics into Industry 4.0 management methods in general would ensure that people were protected from the risks of integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into systems while maintaining the focus on performance
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Basing performance on these conditions alone subscribes to a vision that only focuses on the direct and positive impacts It does not consider the short- or long-term risks associated with achieving the objectives set and using the means available. In order to illustrate the idea of using ethics as a way for evolving the current model, the key concepts of performance are presented, as well as a brief analysis of the evolution of this notion and its limits regarding Industry 4.0 risks and uncertainties This presentation will make it possible to draw a trajectory along which principles relevant to performance management can naturally evolve towards the integration of the concept of ethics for adapting to the context of 4.0. The discussion and prospects to the proposal conclude this study
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