NEXT POINT ZERO - Preface

NOTE TO THE READER: This is a book chapter draft. Feel free to comment and propose ideas to improve and continue it.

Why this book

There has been a lot of writing and talking about Industry 4.0 in these last few years. If you have a look around the internet on the topic you will find an endless list of articles and white papers about cyber-physical systems, AI, Industrial IoT and the other so-called “enabling technologies”. But after a while you’ll start noticing that much of the content consists of shallow discussions on a specific innovation, general macro-trends, self-promotion of products and services, and even mindless copy-paste from other sources.

You can indeed find interesting practical case studies and competent pieces of analysis among the clutter, if you look hard enough. Even then, most of it is centered on the technology or on highly specific use cases, and very little on how to implement the Industry 4.0 paradigm in your company products and processes.

What’s more, you might have been surprised to see or hear about Industry 5.0 when the 4.0 still feels like a cloudy dream. We will talk in the introduction about what 4.0 and 5.0 mean, but for now, just keep in mind they’re like close brothers and doing one is linked to doing the other.

If you would like to take advantage of these highly touted opportunities (and it’s worth to do it), this book has been written for you. It’s about technology, yes, but it’s also about:

• how to identify the best opportunities in your business
• how to design and implement a change program that will generate the best return on investment with the lowest risk possible
• how to create a culture of continuous improvement and becoming a leader in the market by sustaining the competitive advantage over time
• how to understand the overarching themes linked to this trend and exploit them for your professional growth

In other words, the main purpose of this book is to help you become a leader of change and an active part in this or any Industrial Revolution. Whether you are an Entrepreneur seeking to overtake and outlast your competition, a C-level executive looking to reach new performance heights, an ICT leader tasked with innovating processes, or an Industrial Engineer responsible for the efficiency of a production line, this book will give you a bird’s eye view of what Industry 5.0 mean in society and for your company, and how to make it a reality in your own professional context, reaping benefits for both your business and you personally.

How to use this book

It’s always difficult to explain a change before it’s over. Hindsight helps to identify patterns and cause-effect relationship, but it is much harder to see clearly when things are still moving. That’s why this book is structured as a quick go-to reference to be useful at any point in time during a transformation or change program. It provides a brief analysis of relevant technologies, a comprehensive roadmap to help you navigate the journey from ideation to completion, and it also lists several hints and tips that can be useful throughout to increase the chances of success. You can read it back to back or simply jump to a specific topic you find more interesting and skip those you feel you are already confident in.

Bear in mind that Industry 5.0 is a theme that requires knowledge in multiple fields: IT, production, HR, R&D etc. It’s not possible for a single book to discuss in depth the connections of this trend with each subject without becoming excessively cumbersome and dispersive. Instead the book will touch on selected topics providing a few actionable items and the basic context required to put them in practice. It will also explain the dynamics between each subject area, so you can better navigate the complex scenarios of organizational change linked to technological innovation.?If you will need deeper understanding on any issue, you can reference the additional resources indicated for further study.

Book Structure

Introduction: The meaning of Industry 5.0?provides a background about Industry 5.0 as a global trend, its historical origins and economic drivers, and defines how the term is used in this book.

Part 1: Seeing the big picture?explains in more details the dynamics of disruptive innovation and how you and your company can best exploit them.

Part 2: A Framework for Digital Transformation?explores the knowledge domains touched by an Industry 5.0 transformation program, namely: People, Data, Process, Technology, Change, and outlines the steps for a successful implementation of a transformation program, from ideation, to planning and execution.

Part 3: Achieving and Sustaining?focuses on some management principles to maintain control of the outcomes of the transformation program and ensure long-term advantage.

In the end you will find a series of?Appendixes:

• a quick self assessment about Industry 5.0 readiness with suggestions about next steps;
• a glossary on Industry 5.0 buzzwords and a primer on each main enabling technology with pros and cons, specific use cases and additional references to explore further;
• additional information on the theoretical foundations for the book.

Lean and Industry 5.0

If you have had experience with Lean principles and techniques, some of topics in this book will be familiar to you. If you have never heard about Lean or don’t know much about it don’t worry, you can still fully benefit from reading on. I do suggest you to learn about it, however. Lean Thinking is a powerful approach to value creation and could serve you and your company very well in the long term, especially if used in conjunction with the principles outlined here[1].

I want to point out that the Industry 5.0 approach presented in this book and the Lean approach are not mutually exclusive. They are in fact complementary and can be seen as two sides of the same coin. Some lean professionals argue that without applying lean principles first it’s pointless and even harmful to invest in automation. That is true when considering automation from the perspective of physical production. Automating a process that generates waste will only lead to more waste, not less. But Industry 5.0 is much more than physical automation. In fact the careful digitalization of processes can be instrumental to identifying and eliminating waste, and may lead to additional improvements that could not be achieved without it.

I encourage you, whether you are a lean novice or seasoned professional, to read on and find how Industry 5.0 can foster critical thinking, pull strategies, waste reduction and continuous improvement, even without an established lean culture in place.

Getting help

As said, Industry 4.0 is an overarching theme encompassing multiple knowledge domains. Do not think you need to know everything. Nobody does. The successful implementation of change programs, especially those involving technological innovations, will require the support of a network of trusted partners and suppliers. The book provides some suggestions on how to find the most appropriate support in part 2 and 3.

Realizing the revolution: be the change and change your world

A few years ago I was working in a company producing warehouse automation technology. During that time I had the chance to be involved in projects with customers and partners throughout the world, from the US to Japan and New Zealand, passing through UK, Europe, Russia and India. I learned that many issues related to technology-enabled process innovation are common regardless of market and culture, and one of them is the relationship between people and technology.

Some people are keen on it, and are willing to experiment and work through temporary roadblocks without impacting their enthusiasm. Others fear it, usually due to lack of confidence in using it, and tend to judge any tech a failure as soon as they find an issue and abandon it at the first chance. The same person may even shift from one attitude to the other in time, depending on various factors, such as stress levels and sensitivity to risk.

This is critical in a change program: unless the change leader can effectively reduce risks and resistances in advance and manage them when they do arise, the change is doomed to suffocate for lack of support from the frontlines, the top management, or both.

For this reason a good part of this book will focus on how to manage risk and reduce resistance to change. To accomplish this, the book proposes an approach that places people front and center in every activity, to both increase the chances of success and maximize the output of your projects.

As a primer, you can think of it this way: a revolution happens only when people are driven by passion and are willing to put their best effort in the change. Nobody is willing to take risks if they don’t believe in a higher cause or at least understand there will be something in it for them.

Here you will find specific guidance not just on technology, but also on how to tap into that passion and truly bring about change. You will not find everything you need to do to realize it, but you should be able to complement the instructions given here with your own skills and knowledge of your business context to become a successful change agent; to carry your company, function or team to a new level of performance; and take yourself to a new level of success.

Ready? Let’s start.

1. I suggest two books as an introduction to the topic:

• The Lean Turnaround, by Art Byrne. He is the protagonists of one of the case studies in?Lean Thinking?(see below), who later successfully applied lean strategies in several other companies. The book is a short, down-to-earth essay explaining from a C-level leader’s perspective the strategic value of lean and the key success factors that enable a lean transformation.
• Lean Thinking, by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones, is the seminal book that popularized the term “Lean” worldwide.

Go to chapter 1: The meaning f Industry5.0