Onze leef- en werkomgeving heeft invloed op onze gezondheid, maar het nauwkeurig bepalen van persoonlijke blootstelling aan verschillende milieufactoren blijft een uitdaging. Toch is dit wel van belang, omdat bijvoorbeeld de blootstelling aan fijnstof, stikstofdioxide en ozon jaarlijks al leidt tot 12.000 vroegtijdige sterfgevallen in Nederland (Gezondheidsraad, 2018). In werkomgevingen zijn er behalve voor de genoemde stoffen ook nog andere vluchtig organische stoffen en chemicalen waarvan de blootstelling op de korte of lange termijn tot negatieve gezondheidseffecten kan leiden. Ook fysische blootstellingen kunnen negatieve gezondheidseffecten hebben, zoals geluid, UV-straling, elektromagnetische velden en trillingen.
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Many companies struggle with their workplace strategy and corporate real-estate strategy, especially when they have a high percentage of knowledge workers. How to balance employee satisfaction and productivity with the cost of offices.This project focused on developing methods and tools to design customer journeys and predict the impact of investments and changes on user satisfaction with the work environment. The tools, including a game and simulation tool, allowed to focus on the needs of particular subgroups of employees while at the same time keeping an overview on the satisfaction and perceived productivity of all employees and guests. We applied Quality Function Deployment techniques to understand how needs of different types of users of (activity-based) office environments can catered for in smart customer-centric office design.
Manual labour is an important cornerstone in manufacturing and considering human factors and ergonomics is a crucial field of action from both social and economic perspective. Diverse approaches are available in research and practice, ranging from guidelines, ergonomic assessment sheets over to digitally supported workplace design or hardware oriented support technologies like exoskeletons. However, in the end those technologies, methods and tools put the working task in focus and just aim to make manufacturing “less bad” with reducing ergonomic loads as much as possible. The proposed project “Human Centered Smart Factories: design for wellbeing for future manufacturing” wants to overcome this conventional paradigm and considers a more proactive and future oriented perspective. The underlying vision of the project is a workplace design for wellbeing that makes labor intensive manufacturing not just less bad but aims to provide positive contributions to physiological and mental health of workers. This shall be achieved through a human centered technology approach and utilizing advanced opportunities of smart industry technologies and methods within a cyber physical system setup. Finally, the goal is to develop smart, shape-changing workstations that self-adapt to the unique and personal, physical and cognitive needs of a worker. The workstations are responsive, they interact in real time, and promote dynamic activities and varying physical exertion through understanding the context of work. Consequently, the project follows a clear interdisciplinary approach and brings together disciplines like production engineering, human interaction design, creative design techniques and social impact assessment. Developments take place in an industrial scale test bed at the University of Twente but also within an industrial manufacturing factory. Through the human centered design of adaptive workplaces, the project contributes to a more inclusive and healthier society. This has also positive effects from both national (e.g. relieve of health system) as well as individual company perspective (e.g. less costs due to worker illness, higher motivation and productivity). Even more, the proposal offers new business opportunities through selling products and/or services related to the developed approach. To tap those potentials, an appropriate utilization of the results is a key concern . The involved manufacturing company van Raam will be the prototypical implementation partner and serve as critical proof of concept partner. Given their openness, connections and broad range of processes they are also an ideal role model for further manufacturing companies. ErgoS and Ergo Design are involved as methodological/technological partners that deal with industrial engineering and ergonomic design of workplace on a daily base. Thus, they are crucial to critically reflect wider applicability and innovativeness of the developed solutions. Both companies also serve as multiplicator while utilizing promising technologies and methods in their work. Universities and universities of applied sciences utilize results through scientific publications and as base for further research. They also ensure the transfer to education as an important leverage to inspire and train future engineers towards wellbeing design of workplaces.
The hospitality industry in the Netherlands has been slow to adopt artificial intelligence (AI), despite its potential to improve service efficiency and address workforce challenges. While some industries have embraced AI agents—automated systems interacting with users—for customer service, hospitality adoption remains limited. Many hotels struggle to integrate AI in ways that enhance guest experiences while ensuring workforce sustainability, a paradox. Workforce sustainability means keeping employees skilled and adaptable. This research addresses this paradox observed in professional practice, focusing on three key gaps in AI integration: • Hotel employees lack the skills and knowledge to adapt to AI-enhanced workplaces. • Hotel managers lack clear AI strategies that maintain service quality and employee well-being, ensuring AI complements rather than replaces human service. • AI developers often lack a clear understanding of the hospitality industry’s specific needs, hindering the development of effective solutions. This leads to the central question: How can AI agents be co-developed by hotel professionals and technical experts to enhance service efficiency while supporting a sustainable hospitality workforce? A one-year KIEM project provides the ideal framework for an agile, practice-based investigation in real hospitality environments. The project will unfold in four phases: (1) co-developing conversational AI chatbots with hotel businesses and technology providers, (2) testing the chatbot integration in hotels, (3) evaluating the impact on service efficiency and workforce sustainability, and (4) initiating a community of AI agent practice in service industry. Conducted in collaboration with industry partners, the research ensures findings are directly applicable to real-world hospitality challenges. By bridging academic research and industry needs, this project will generate insights into AI-driven service innovations that benefit hotel operations, employees, and AI developers. Beyond hospitality, its findings will offer scalable strategies for responsible AI adoption in sectors like healthcare, banking, and retail, fostering a more sustainable future of work.
