Industry 5.0 is a concept at the crossroads of new technologies and a broader reflection on the interactions between industry, society and the environment.
Formulated by the European Commission in the early 2020s, it encourages a new way of producing, more sustainable, more resilient and more human-centric. To achieve this, Industry 5.0 relies on technologies, some of which emerged as part of Industry 4.0. So what is Industry 5.0? What benefits and challenges does it represent for manufacturers?
Definition of Industry 5.0: emergence and paradigm
Industry 4.0 as a starting point
Industrial history has been built on successive evolutions, from the advent of steam to, more recently, the arrival of digitalization in workshops.
Industry 4.0 technologies emerged in the 2010s. They aim to improve production efficiency and reduce costs. The arrival of these technologies marks the advent of a smart, connected factory, where consumption, equipment and processes are monitored in real time. Decision-making is accelerated and financial gains increased.
These technologies form the foundation of Industry 5.0: the latter uses these technological advances to sustainably transform industry. It emerged in the context of an unprecedented crisis, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 3 pillars of Industry 5.0 or the emergence of a new industrial paradigm
In 2021, the European Commission published the report “Industry 5.0: Towards a sustainable, human-centric and resilient European industry” in which it established that industry must transform following the health crisis the world had just experienced.
It then presented the concept of Industry 5.0. This new form of industry uses Industry 4.0 technologies to move towards a more sustainable and resilient model, capable of facing future crises. It also aims to reconcile industrial performance with the social and environmental objectives of the European Green Deal.
According to the European Commission, Industry 5.0 has three important pillars:
- Human expertise, which returns to the heart of processes supported by technological development.
- The adoption of eco-responsible practices, promoting the circular economy, resource optimization, waste reduction and carbon
emissions. - The emergence of a resilient production system, with value chains designed to withstand potential economic, health or geopolitical crises.
The objective is therefore to develop an industrial strategy that reconciles competitiveness and decarbonization. To achieve this, it encourages the adoption of new performance indicators that are no longer limited to economic criteria alone, but also take into account social and environmental dimensions. To begin this transformation, several technologies are available to manufacturers.
Industry 5.0 in practice: technologies, benefits and challenges
Technologies serving industrial transformation
Industry 5.0 relies on a set of technologies building on the advances of Industry 4.0.
Among them, artificial intelligence occupies a growing place. By exploiting information from equipment and production lines, it enables the automation of certain decision-making, the detection of anomalies, and the optimization of production flows and energy consumption.
Software is also at the heart of this transformation. Digital twins, EMS software (Energy Management Software) or EMOS software (Energy Management and Optimisation Software) are major technologies.
Digital twins virtually represent equipment, a production line or a factory to simulate different scenarios.
Beyond this simulation capability, EMS provide real-time visibility and alert manufacturers in case of deviation. They can then implement more relevant improvement actions.
Finally, EMOS take a new step: they predict consumption, define a scheduling plan for teams and promote optimal use of equipment. Now, thanks to integrated AI, this software is capable of arbitrating in real time the energies used within the process, becoming true prediction tools.
The integration of these technologies in factories presents numerous benefits for manufacturers, but also challenges to facilitate their proper integration.
Benefits and challenges for the industrial sector
The first benefit lies in more resilient and flexible production. Thanks to real-time management of facilities, manufacturers can better anticipate uncertainties and move towards customized production to meet customer demands with better responsiveness.
Industry 5.0 also contributes to improving the environmental performance of production units. Monitoring tools precisely measure energy and water consumption or CO₂ emissions. This data becomes valuable at a time when carbon accounting is being implemented, or energy prices are fluctuating.
Industry 5.0 technologies also contribute to improving operational performance.
According to a McKinsey study, Industry 5.0 could reduce downtime by 30 to 50% and decrease costs related to product quality by 10 to 20%.
Finally, Industry 5.0 promotes better collaboration between humans and technology by entrusting repetitive or dangerous tasks to automated systems. It thus enhances operators’ skills on analysis, control and continuous improvement missions.
These developments raise several challenges, however. The first concerns supporting teams and training them to use these new technologies. Next, their deployment costs can represent a significant challenge. They must be evaluated against the expected gains in terms of productivity, quality, energy consumption reduction. Finally, like all connected industrial systems, Industry 5.0 technologies are subject to cybersecurity risks.
In conclusion, Industry 5.0 represents a significant evolution in industrial history. It puts new technologies at the service of a more sustainable industry, with numerous benefits for the sector.
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