Abstract

Digitalisation has significant impacts on the traditional configuration of the production process as a set of functions that follow a sequential order, whereas the different business units are called upon to respond to quantitatively greater and qualitatively different demands than in the past. The aim of this work is to analyse, through a case study conducted by means of interviews and field visits, the functional reconfiguration induced by digitisation and its consequences on working conditions and the new skills required of workers. The focus of the research is the production department, where the consequences of technological and organisational transformations emerge with particular force. This analysis is complemented with a reflection on the innovations contained in the 2021 national collective bargaining agreement for metalworkers, to understand the way in which this reform is aligned to the transformations taking place and what critical issues arise