Section 5

Purpose

The 5th Section aims on the one hand to improve the working conditions and the safety of the operators, and on the other to optimize the management of the company and its organization, through the use of tools for planning operations in the field and of logistics with a system approach. The 5th Section of the AIIA represents the national reference platform for technicians and all operators connected to these activities. It provides the latest developments in terms of tools and methodologies for work organization and logistics in the agricultural, forestry and agro-food sectors, ergonomics and operator safety, through coordination and cooperation in organizing conferences, seminars, workshops related to these issues.

Topics of interest

Work organization: advancement of knowledge for the optimized management of processes with the aim of improving the technical and economic sustainability of the agro-food, agro-energy and forestry sectors, including that of the public and private green sector. Logistics: optimization of transport operations and product distribution with techniques borrowed from industrial applications (Management Resource Planning, Just in Time, Lean Thinking, Simulation models, Linear programming, etc.), with the aim of improving technical sustainability -economic and the quality of the agro-food, forestry and agro-energy chains and to allow the traceability of the supply chain. Systems management: development and improvement of decision support systems for operations and logistics planning at strategic, tactical and operational level. Ergonomics: study of ergonomics as an integral part of the management of processes for agricultural, agro-industrial and forestry production, which provide for different levels of physical and mental fatigue. Safety and health of operators: improving the assessment of risks and accidents for workers in the agricultural, forestry and agro-food sectors, promoting the safety of workers and processes even within integrated quality management systems. The topics addressed in the 5th section of the AIIA help to improve production efficiency in the agricultural sector and its supply chains - labour savings, improvement of working conditions, fuel savings and input of factors deriving from the application of agriculture of precision - also through the introduction of new information and computer technologies. The improvements concern the development of adequate operations management strategies both at a tactical and an operational level to optimize the use of the new machines and to comply with the regulations and constraints that make process management more complex. A particularly important issue is supply chain logistics, which extends beyond the company boundaries to reach the end user, be it the biomass processing plant, the packaging and processing plant of the agricultural product, or retail distribution of the product. In particular, the challenges relate to the efficient and effective flow of goods, services and information from the point of origin to the point of consumption, with the aim of satisfying stakeholders' requests. Logistics concerns important aspects such as the traceability of production and their quality, the optimization of collection and transport operations, the optimized management of zoo-technical waste, the segregation of genetically modified products, electronic commerce in agriculture and the distribution of local product . The 5th section actively collaborates in disseminating research topics both nationally and internationally, participating with its representatives in conferences organized every two years by the CIOSTA 'Commission Internationale de l'Organisation Scientifique du Travail en Agriculture' which has as a purpose, the organization of work, ergonomics and worker safety.