Analysis of the Workforce Skills for the Factories of the Future

Industry 4.0 is promoting the digitisation of manufacturing sector towards smart and more efficient factories, seen worldwide as the fourth industrial revolution. However, its complete adoption strongly depends on the skills that existing workforce and future professionals can have in the different dimensions of this multidisciplinary vision, contributing to increase the digital maturity level of companies from the industrial sector. Additionally, new job profiles are emerging to face the implementation of these innovative approaches, which implies the need for the re-qualification and up-skilling of existing workforce, particularly focusing the digital skills. In this context, this paper analyses the gap and impact in the non-technical and technical skills required for the successful transition into digitisation, particularly across six manufacturing areas covering the collaborative robotics (cobots), additive manufacturing, mechatronics and machine automation, data analytics, cybersecurity and humanmachine interface.