Shaping Labor Expectations in Industry 4.0: Automation, Policy, and Workforce Dynamics in Turkey’s Food Industry [before doctoral defense]

Kivonat, rövid leírás

Industry 4.0 refers to the integration of interconnected, automated, and data-driven technologies into industrial production and represents the manufacturing dimension of the broader Fourth Industrial Revolution (Schwab, 2016; Özyıldırım & Özbay, 2019). Technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, intelligent machinery, and digital monitoring systems are associated with improvements in productivity, efficiency, and quality control. Their implications for labor extend beyond job creation or displacement to changes in tasks, skill requirements, the value of different forms of knowledge, and employees’ expectations about their future occupational positions. These changes do not depend on technology alone. They also depend on decisions made within organizations, workforce conditions, public policies, and access to training and technological resources. In Turkey, where parts of manufacturing have historically relied on labor-intensive production and cost-based competitiveness, these questions are particularly relevant (TÜSİAD, 2016; Yılmaz, 2016). The introduction of new technologies therefore raises questions about how responsibilities change and how workers prepare for and adapt to these changes.