Industry 4.0 is at the center of the current debate among manufacturing leaders, industrial practitioners, policy makers and researchers. Despite the increasing attention paid to changes in jobs and skills generated by Industry 4.0, research in this domain is still scarce. Our study focuses on the evolution of technical skills in the context of Industry 4.0 and it provides qualitative insights gained from an on-going collaborative research project involving a variety of manufacturing stakeholders in Northern Italy (e.g., manufacturing companies, industrial associations, academic and education experts, recruiting companies, IT providers, consultants, etc.). Our findings contributes to shed light on manufacturing skill needs linked to Industry 4.0, setting the stage for future research on the topic and providing companies, policy makers and education stakeholders with first indications to detect skill gaps and initiate competence development.

In Industry 4.0 the optimal allocation of a pool of available workers is a very important issue. Solving this problem can improve the performance of the company and the life of workers with positive returns on productivity. Moreover, from a computational perspective, this problem is extremely interesting because it could have a combinatorial explosion and become very hard to solve. In this paper, a mathematical model applied to a real business case is presented. Some preliminary tests and results are discussed.

Advanced manufacturing research for sustainable battery life cycles is of utmost importance to reach net zero carbon emissions (European Commission, 2023a) as well as several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), for example: 30% reduction of CO₂ emission, 10 million job opportunities and access to electricity for 600 million people (World Economic Forum, 2019). This editorial paper highlights international motivations for pursuing more sustainable manufacturing practices and discusses key research topics in battery manufacturing. Batteries will be central to our sustainable future as generation and storage become key components to on-demand energy supply. Four underlying themes are identified to address industrial needs in this field: 1. Digitalizing and automating production capabilities: data-driven solutions for production quality, smart maintenance, automation, and human factors, 2. Human-centric production: extended reality for operator support and skills development, 3. Circular battery life cycles: circular battery systems supported by service-based and other novel business models, 4. Future topics for battery value chains: increased industrial resilience and transparency with digital product passports, and next-generation battery chemistries. Challenges and opportunities along these themes are highlighted for transforming battery value chains through circularity and more sustainable production, with a particular emphasis on lithium-ion batteries (LIB). The paper concludes with directions for further research to advance a circular and sustainable battery value chain through utilizing the full potential of digitalization realising a cleaner, more energy-efficient society.