New approach to Industry 5.0

My key message

My initial motivaition for the topic comes from the themanufacturer.com interview How human centric industry 5.0 has accelerated in manufacturing posted in November 2021.

My article will address specific Industry 5.0 aspects: What is the impact of frontline workers participation in our company digital collaboration space ? Or in other words, what do we loose if we do not actively utilize the technology advances enabling this collaboration? Why is collaboration is reduced mainly to white collar staff, as this is dominantly discussed today in the era of the New Normal (remote, hybrid work, etc.)?

A. Setting the scene

For those, who are not very familiar with the topic, we start with an example video showing a typical use-case how a maintenance manager digitally and remotely collaborates with an industrial plant worker.

You can find many similar apps and tools for communication with frontline workers. Recently, Microsoft made an announcement on Walkie Talkie.

My takeaway from Manufacturing predictions 2022: Prediction #1 Manufacturers will ramp up digital initiatives as remote working becomes the norm. Remote-first operations empowers manufacturers to utilise a localised, less skilled workforce that can perform a wider scope of tasks under the remote guidance of trained professionals, helping to address the acute labour shortage facing manufacturers, among many other organisations.

This is true, but what else (if I do not count other obvious technology predictions as transition to cloud and AI)? At this point I started to search how the public understanding of I5.0 for manufacturingchanged in the past 2-3 years.

B. What industry 5.0 means for manufacturing?

1. by Google: Industry 5.0 is?a new production model where the focus lies on the interaction between humans and machines. ... Industry 5.0 takes the next step, which involves leveraging the collaboration between increasingly powerful and accurate machinery and the unique creative potential of the human being.
2. by EU Commission: Human-centric, sustainable and resilient, shifts the focus from the shareholder value to stakeholder value and reinforces the role and the contribution of industry to society. It places the well-being of the worker at the centre of the production process and uses new technologies to provide prosperity beyond jobs and growth while respecting the?production limits of the planet.

I have found that these, and several other definitions are not reflecting with the current situation and with my views as senior CEO. Therefore, I developed a more up-to-date scope and approach to I5.0.

C. The new approach to Industry 5.0

In this newsletter edition I would like to add a more future-proof definition which I am glad to develop it further with you: Industry 5.0 is the extension of collaboration among all actors of the manufacturing process. The aim of this collaboration should improve productivity of the process and resilience of the company to external societal challenges. Let me to explain this definition in detail:

1. Extension of collaboration: The human-machine collaboration indicated ny Google definition is not enough. The collaboration must be enabled among all actors of the process: human, technical and virtual (e.g. IoT or AI service actors). Collaboration means sharing information and knowledge created by other actors.
2. Productivity: availability and services to access to new knowledge enables new ways of process improvement opportunities. To improve or at least sustain the productivity in a turbulent external business and societal environment is a key business survival criterion.
3. Societal challenges: climate change, COVID-19, future of work. There are still enough room to confront these challenges. However, these must be win-win solutions not jeopardising the sustainability of productivity. Some of these challenges can have even positive impact on productivity: save commuting time, cost and CO2 footprint of the company.

Now I will provide an outline how to apply this new approach to I5.0 in a manufacturing company

D. Implementation of the new I5.0 approach

The approach presented here is part of the Telework Process Manager (TPM) collaborative learning portal developed by our Telework EU LinkedIn working group. This portal provides an operations roadmap for remote-first companies. If you are interested in more details of this approach, please enrol as Co-creator for free and let us to know here in posts below your opinion. The highligths I consider as the most relevant.

• Extension of you existing digital collaboration space (transition from Industry 4.0). Below is a typical stakeholder structure of a company. In this article we focus to involvement of frontline employees incl. of partners ( e.g suppliers, truck drivers) Details: Learning Module M2
• New content and knowledge creation and sharing services: Enable frontline workers on demand learning (new workers), access to remote assistance and to share their results of providing records of their activities. Create shopfloor intranet with multimedia database where line managers can analyse the results of human-centric activities. Design digital twins of human-centric processes. Measurements of actual cost of processes. (TPM Module M5)

Intensity and volume of new operational knowledge has indirect impact on the quality of manufacturing processes. Important: circular effect of re-use of knowledge (TPM Module M6)

Provide frontline workers online collaboration devices: VR/AR wearables (e. g. industrial smart glasses) preferably with free hands voice controlled devices equiped with object recognition and IoT sensors. Today there is a wide choice of apps and tools you can select for affordable price. (TPM Module M7)

E. Six recommendations of themanufacturer.com

with my comments added in capital letters

1. Involve all stakeholders?throughout the hierarchy of your manufacturing organisation. Their perspective may differ, but only if assistive technology is accepted can it be successful. AGREE.
2. Communicate the joint value of assistive technology and human skills to your staff.?Operators might fear that assistive technology could be the last step before being made redundant. QUESTION OF COMMUNICATION
3. Develop your staff.?To cope with rising complexity and use, assistive technology operators will need a more sophisticated skills portfolio. FULLY AGREE.
4. Choose the right applications.?Variety and exception handling, support of complex standard operating procedures, and digital instructions for standard operating procedures might by beneficial starting points. FULLY AGREE
5. Focus on cognitive abilities and support systems. Operators tend to reject assistive technology enhancing their physical strengths. DEPENDS ON TYPE OF PROCESS

F. My summary

1. Benefits of digitalization of each human-centric process must be measured according to KPIs set before process design. Partial benefits for each stakeholder of the process (workflow) must be justified and communicated.
2. Here is an example of benefits for the I3D industrial services, a platform for design of workflows and their execution (multimedia workorder reports).
3. Holistic evaluation: In addition to the tangible benefits of the process additional intangible benefits (and value) of information collected and enabled for further company level improvement analysis shall be taken into account as well.

I am awaiting your comments below or in our regular Wednesday Telework EU group meetings.

Additional resources: 10 AR Trends for 2022, Extended Reality: Market forecasts and opportunities 2021-2028