What is Industry 5.0 and what does it mean?

What is Industry 5.0  

Since the first Industrial Revolution, with the advent of machines and mass production, we have seen successive waves of innovation that have been changing the business landscape and shaping what we call 'progress'. Today we are talking about the fifth of these revolutions, one more so far in the 21st century. It is Industry 5.0, and it is marked by a return to the value of the human, without losing one iota of all the technology that has been incorporated into our lives, or rather, by the collaboration between these machines-robots-artificial intelligence and people.

It is true that Industry 4.0 is very recent, from the first decade of the 2000s, and that it is marked by digital transformation also in the world of manufacturing and industry: cloud technologies, big data, IoT, extended realities, machine learning... So, are we leaving all that behind to start something new, so soon? Actually, no. This new concept of Industry 5.0 delves, as we were saying, into the relationship between humans and these machines, in a model of collaboration, of symbiosis if you will, to achieve new levels of productivity and efficiency.

In this new era, robots, of course, are destined to take care of mechanical, dangerous and repetitive tasks, while human professionals contribute something that, for the moment, is exclusive to our species: creativity. This is where the figure of 'cobots' or collaborative robots arises - these are robots created to interact physically with humans, such as the robotic arms used in assembly lines for screwing or welding parts. The idea, in short, is to put mechanical intelligence at the service of human intelligence so that, together, they can go much further.

Characteristics of Industry 5.0 

We would say that the main objective of Industry 5.0 is to put human intelligence back at the center of this environment that perhaps in recent times has been becoming a means of mass production 'without thinking'. A new shift is now required to try to somehow adapt to the changing and demanding demand and allow these industrial companies to offer higher quality products, more adapted to the needs of their customers and, above all, differentiated and customizable.

The characteristics of Industry 5.0 would therefore be people, but also two other fundamental pillars such as resilience (understood as the ability to maintain and evolve whatever the changing market conditions) and sustainability. The latter is, in fact, key, as companies face a major challenge in this area: the shift towards 'green' policies and sustainable practices not only to reduce the carbon footprint, but also to contribute proactively to the recovery and protection of the planet will undoubtedly mark the coming decades.

Therefore, among the benefits expected from Industry 5.0 are the improvement of working conditions, the customization of production to adapt it to a much more demanding and differentiated demand, and a sustainable vision that should have an impact on society as a whole and on the globalized economic fabric. According to the European Union, this is "a vision of industry that goes beyond efficiency and productivity as the sole objectives, and reinforces the role and contribution of industry to society".

Differences between Industry 5.0 and Industry 4.0 

Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things could be considered the three great technological pillars of Industry 4.0, all applied to robotics as a new workforce in production lines. For some years now, these technologies (either at an incipient stage or more advanced) have been being incorporated and used in the industrial sector to the point of becoming, today, practically indispensable in any factory anywhere in the world. However, the pandemic has changed this as well. Now, in the aftermath of one of the world events with the greatest impact in recent decades, we see that the ways of consuming (and therefore the products we consume) and the ways of working (teleworking, social distance, new reality) have changed. Neither consumers nor workers are the same, they now demand different things and all this means putting the focus back on people, without neglecting innovation and the business fabric.

Thus, industry 5.0 is not, in reality, a replacement for 4.0, but rather a complement to the technological industrial revolution that is 4.0. It is true that it represents an evolution towards a model, as we have seen, that is more sustainable, more humane and more resilient. According to the report Industry 5.0 Towards a sustainable, human-centric and resilient European industry, rather than a technical or technological change, as in previous industrial revolutions, this leap to 5.0 consists of moving from the 'shareholder' to the 'stakeholder' (understood as each of those involved in the manufacturing process, from the sales process to the end customer), seeking the benefit of all of them. In other words, it tries to go a step beyond the world of work and economic growth, and at the same time cover the aspects of sustainability and well-being. And it will be Edge Computing that will enable this latest digital transformation, and therefore the technological and qualitative leap that is needed for it. By bringing the intelligence of data closer to its point of origin, this technology can process and send information in real time, making communication between man and machine even more fluid and immediate. 

The main difference between Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 would therefore be the value of people. While in industry 4.0 it is the machines and their operating systems that are the protagonists (and the fear that these would replace humans completely, with the social and even economic problems that this would entail), in industry 5.0 the value of collaboration between men and machines and the symbiosis that they can perform stands out. The result is that Industry 5.0 is destined to empower the transformation of the industrial sector into intelligent spaces based on IoT and cognitive computing under the command of human professionals. As a link between the two, Edge Computing will have to be present and patent, so that devices can communicate with each other in environments that are increasingly geographically distributed and virtually 'closer'.

Predictive maintenance in industry 5.0 

In this new context, and both in Industry 4.0 and in this new Industry 5.0, the maintenance of technological systems and devices (in the broadest sense) is key to ensuring that production is not interrupted and that the pace is maintained at the maximum. The concept of predictive maintenance therefore arises, which consists of anticipating problems that may arise in order to anticipate possible interruptions or downtime and, at the same time, extend the useful life of machines. This is not new. There are sectors such as energy or transportation (rail or maritime lines) that have been investigating the potential of smart grids for years and are beginning to take their first steps with them. The enormous cost of any service interruption makes them interesting and desirable.

Predictive maintenance is, therefore, anticipating what might happen and preventing it before it happens - is it magic? No, more like an even smarter use of technology. In increasingly mechanized and technological factories, it is also the technology itself that helps in this surveillance and monitoring of systems through sensors (IoT), automated alerts, predictive systems, etc., both within the facilities and in the supply chain, online systems, the cloud or Edge technology. In the latter case, we consider Edge to the level closest to the physical world, i.e., the set of sensors and actuators that interact with the physical world (gateways, hubs, IoT nodes, etc.). There is even talk of the IoE (Internet of Everything) as an evolution of the IoT, which means that practically any device or object will be connected by sensors, so that the monitoring of any system, whether domestic or industrial, will be absolutely exhaustive, and artificial intelligence and machine learning will help to manage, sort and analyze all the information received so that humans can make informed and appropriate decisions at all times.

And let's remember that, in this industry 5.0, every aspect (also maintenance), will have to have a more people-centered approach, i.e., people will be part of the process along with machines and systems. They will be able to control and monitor, but they will be able to do so remotely. In addition to the obvious efficiency advantages that all this implies, we must not lose sight of others that must also be taken into account, such as the physical safety of workers in the field (by anticipating potential problems it will be possible to avoid accidents or minimize the risk) or sustainability (predictive maintenance means fewer 'breaks' or production stoppages, which increases the life cycles and reuse of systems).

How does Barbara apply her knowledge in Industry 5.0?

Water management

At Barbara, we are aware of the challenge facing water management companies. More than ever these companies need to optimize the use and distribution of an increasingly scarce resource, saving energy and making intelligent and autonomous decisions that allow them to remain competitive.

Challenges such as high bandwidth cost, hardware heterogeneity, knowledge barriers for the integration of artificial intelligence models or low availability make the use of Industry 5.0 even more essential.

At Barbara, we have created a unique platform to digitally manage the entire water cycle by automating all its phases:

• Catchment: incorporating remote control and predictive maintenance.
• Treatment: incorporating chemical detection algorithms for more efficient water purification.
• Distribution: monitoring the entire distribution network and detecting any leak, however small it may be (avoiding losses).
• Purification: integrating the detection of the supply and sewage network.
• Sanitation: reducing energy consumption and optimizing processes thanks to AI.
• Reuse: detecting incidents in real time.

And not only this. Other segments such as Smart Grid or Smart Manufacturing may also benefit from these technological advances and this leap to the fifth industrial revolution.

At Barbara we can help you implement conscious and comprehensive technology for both industrial processes and predictive maintenance. Contact us for more information.