While industry 4.0 is still living its momentum, we need get ready for the next paradigm beyond the clouds, IoTs and robots. Industry 5.0 will bring people back into the business. Many studies claim that we will see increased human-machine collaboration, resiliency and sustainability becoming the major focus areas especially in manufacturing industry.
Human-machine collaboration in a way, that we use machines to leverage the human capabilities instead of humans serving machines, resiliency in a form that allows to build composable businesses that adapt and navigate fluently in uncertainty and sustainability in all its forms, meaning circular use of resources and high business ethics widely in everything we do.
People in post-Covid19 era will search for meaningfulness in their lives. To support and cope with this, companies are required to change from short-term leadership into more infinite game type of leadership, where the Just Cause, purpose and mission are attractive to appeal the very best talents.
“We have already seen this in talent acquisition. Our mission, just cause, employee well-being and sustainable development targets are now everyday topics in the interviews. These are also on the agenda in business discussions too”, says Ilkka Palola, Prohoc Group CEO.
The green transition will make big money to follow carbon-neutral and sustainable businesses. Being among the companies that have robustness and agility in their operations, and who bring up people instead of see them as a resource will play a major role.
Another Industry 5.0 shift in business is that the boundaries between white-collar and blue-collar workers will be diminishing as the former blue-collar work will focus on tasks requiring creativity, RPA, communication, and co-creation skills. Wide global adoption of robotic automation will decrease the capex required to replace hard manual work with automation in the shop floors. This brings a wave of new competency requirements, and we need to start preparing for that in most businesses already today.
In terms of technology, Industry 5.0 wants to come and grip with the promises of advanced digitalisation, big data, and artificial intelligence, while emphasizing the role these technologies can play to address new, emergent requirements in the industrial, societal, and environmental landscape. This means using data and AI to increase production flexibility in times of disruption and rendering value chains more robust. It also means deploying technology that adapts to the worker, rather than the other way around; and it means using new technologies such as gamification to create higher employee value and drive for circularity and sustainability.
“We believe that we are on the right track here with our approach to manufacturing and project services. Enabling people to move between traditional assembly work to commissioning, maintenance and even site supervisor roles are spot on what Industry 5.0 is all about”, says Ilkka.
Read full article from Scope Stakeholder Magazine edition Winter 2021/2022
