The ‘new’ manufacturing philosophy of Industry 5.0 seems to be gaining much attention, and it is sparking much debate across the manufacturing world.
Some are claiming that it will "radically alter your business strategy." Others see Industry 5.0 as more of a natural progression of Industry 4.0, more like Industry 4.1.
But as Industry 4.0 is still being rolled out, is there really a need for 5.0?
Manufacturing isn’t against progress … but our industry doesn’t need more buzzwords so lets break this new terminology down so that you can draw your own conclusions.
What does Industry 5.0 entail and does it differ much from Industry 4.0?
The Industry 5.0 concept was originally coined by the European Commission.
While the technological backbone remains largely the same, they suggest that this approach provides a vision of industry that aims beyond efficiency and productivity as the sole goals and reinforces the role and the contribution of industry to society.
According to TWI, Industry 5.0 sees humans working alongside advanced technology and A.I. powered robots to enhance workplace processes, aiming to enhance human creativity and critical thinking rather than simply replacing human labour with automation.
This more human-centric focus is coupled with more resilient supply chains and production systems, as well as an improved focus on sustainability.
But this description of Industry 5.0 is nothing new to many of the UK manufacturing companies we support.
Does Industry 5.0 include anything that isn't already covered in Industry 4.0?
Arguably, isn’t a lot of this old news apart from furthering deployment of AI on the shopfloor?
Many manufacturers are already focusing on improving their sustainability efforts and have certainly made ample strides to strengthen the resilience of their supply chains following on from the aftermath of COVID-19.
If you speak to companies that are in the manufacturing trenches each day, they already place much emphasis on human-centric operations.
Many of them are continuously investing in training & upskilling their personnel as a way to address the current skills gap that the manufacturing industry is currently suffering from.
It’s not surprising that Industry 5.0 has been met with limited approval, with some industry experts and advisory councils voicing scepticism about the need for a new label.
They argue that the vision of Industry 4.0 already includes human-centricity, sustainability, and societal impact.
For example, The Industry 4.0 Research Advisory Council and the Industry 4.0 platform issued a critical statement on the use of the term Industry 5.0 at the start of Hannover Messe 2024.
It indicated that the industrial vision conveyed by Industry 4.0 is still highly topical. The use of the term Industry 5.0 is frivolous and unnecessary.
According to these critics, introducing “Industry 5.0” as a separate concept risks confusion and dilutes the momentum of ongoing digital transformation efforts.
While we don’t know what the future holds for development of Industry 5.0, what is clear is that the lines between Industry 4.0 and 5.0 are undeniably blurred. Does this new terminology hold any merit while Industry 4.0 is still ongoing?
Let’s be honest, most manufacturers don’t stop to ask whether they’re operating in Industry 4.0 or 5.0. What matters is what’s changing on the ground. Many of Industry 5.0’s ideas, like human-machine collaboration and sustainable processes, are already in motion. From what we’ve seen, manufacturers are already moving in this direction, not because of this new label, but because building smarter, safer, and more sustainable systems just makes sense.