1. In just a decade, Industry 4.0 has revolutionized the day-to-day operations of many companies in the manufacturing sector. Thanks to the technological advances that have emerged over the last few years, these organizations have been able to increase their efficiency and productivity. Now experts are opening the door to a new concept: Industry 5.0.
2. Manufacturing is one of the biggest drivers of the European economy. Proof of this is that, between 2009 and 2019, it accounted for around 20% of the EU’s GDP. Moreover, according to 2020 data, it is a sector that employs more than 35 million people.
3. Yet, while European industry has decades of experience and is one of the most competitive in the world, it is exposed to an increasingly complex and volatile geopolitical and economic landscape. It is these constant challenges that push it to continually innovate, to further improve its efficiency at different points in the value chain; to be more flexible to the changing demands of the global consumer, and to work to maintain its leadership as a global benchmark for quality.
4. To a large extent, this innovation effort is reflected in the intensive use of new technologies, essential tools for automating, interconnecting and optimizing industrial processes. Indeed, the fourth industrial revolution represents the sector’s ambition to adopt and implement technological advances to cope with an increasingly changing world and economy.
5. Now, after a decade in vogue, it seems that what we know as Industry 4.0 is clearing the way for a new concept that goes beyond pure technological change in the factory. We are referring to Industry 5.0, a vision that is beginning to gain prominence and that has come to place, at the center of the industrial revolution, its capacity to have a positive impact on society.
INDUSTRY 5.0
1. Although it is a relatively new concept, some institutions are already working to agree on the main characteristics of Industry 5.0. One of them is the European Commission, which in early 2021 published the report Industry 5.0: Towards a sustainable, human-centric and resilient European industry, which advocates this definition:
2. “Industry 5.0 recognises the power of industry to achieve societal goals beyond jobs and growth to become a resilient provider of prosperity, by making production respect the boundaries of our planet and placing the wellbeing of the industry worker at the center of the production process.”
3. As we will see below, it is clear that human empowerment, sustainability and resilience are the three fundamental pillars of Industry 5.0 for this European organization.
TECHNOLOGY AT THE SERVICE OF THE ORGANIZATIONS
1. For the European Commission, in this fifth industrial revolution, we must ask ourselves what technology can do for us (instead of obsessing about what we can do with it) and use it to adapt the production process to the needs of workers.
2. In this sense, advances such as the digitisation of factories and mobility solutions have been more than beneficial in times of pandemic. The ability to remotely access information has not only increased the security of industrial companies, but has also increased their resilience.
3. On the other hand, tools such as production control systems that are increasingly intuitive and user-friendly are helping organizations to address the challenge posed by the lack of skilled professionals in the manufacturing sector.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SUSTAINABILITY
1. The Industry 5.0 concept promotes the economic performance of industries while respecting the needs and interests of workers, and without leaving behind the growing concern for climate change.
2. According to the study, it is this combination that makes the new model attractive “not only to entrepreneurs, but also to potential investors and consumers, who can benefit from the availability of more competitive products, in the broadest sense of the word.”
3. For industry to respect the limits of the planet, it has to be sustainable. This means optimizing energy consumption as much as possible; let’s not forget that industry is responsible for about 7% of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU.
4. In addition, curbing the negative impact on the environment with the help of technology also has a positive impact on the economy of industrial companies, especially nowadays. For example, monitoring a factory’s energy consumption in real time using an MES system such as Mapex is key to reducing unnecessary costs.
A RESILIENT INDUSTRY
1. The last cornerstone of Industry 5.0 is resilience or, in other words, the ability of the manufacturing sector to deal with changes and crises of geopolitical (Brexit, trade wars, protectionism, etc.) or natural origin (pandemics, impact of climate change, etc.) with flexibility and agility.
2. The European Commission’s report states that these “resilience technologies” include systems that enable real-time process monitoring; that give companies the ability to react in the field to shorten production times; and that extract value from data to improve decision-making.
INDUSTRY 4.0 AND 5.0: WHAT IS THEIR RELATIONSHIP?
1. Now that we know the main characteristics and elements of Industry 5.0, it is important to explain how it relates to Industry 4.0. Is it an evolution, an alternative or a different approach?
2. The European Commission is clear that Industry 5.0 complements and extends the current Industry 4.0 paradigm, putting the advances in digitisation, information systems and automation of the last decade at the service of society.
3. In short, it is a transition towards a more global, integrated and innovative long-term vision, towards an ecosystem in which hyper-connectivity and automation can only be fully exploited if there is real collaboration between machines, people and companies.
Source:
https://mapex.io/en/news/industry-5-0-towards-a-more-collaborative-industrial-environment/#:~:text=The%20importance%20of%20sustainability,growing%20concern%20for%20climate%20change.
