Do we need the term Industry 5.0? Is it perhaps even misleading and could jeopardize companies and cooperations in the implementation of Industry 4.0? Two associations think so.
Industry 5.0 puts people at the center. But is this term even necessary?
PaulShlykov / Generated with AI / Stock.adobe.com
The term Industry 4.0 is now 13 years old. It was invented by former SAP CEO Henning Kagermann, the former CEO of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, Wolfgang Wahlster, and Wolf-Dieter Lukas, Head of Department and later State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The public first heard about Industry 4.0 at the Hannover Messe 2011, where the term was used to express the need to usher in a fourth industrial revolution - after water and steam power, mass production using assembly lines and electrical energy, and the use of electronics and information technology. As a result, the term has become established and Industry 4.0 is taking place.
However, a new, related term is now doing the rounds, Industry 5.0, which Birgit Vogel-Heuser and Klaus Bengler from the Technical University of Munich explain by saying that industrial automation is facing a paradigm shift towards a more collaborative and human-centered approach. According to the two professors, human skills will remain central in the future. Specifically: the training of robots through human demonstration, the development of business models based on the principle of production-as-a-service, the planning and development of agile manufacturing environments, the planning of complex production environments and cooperation between science and industry.
Criticism of the Term Industry 5.0
However, the term has only met with limited approval. The Industry 4.0 Research Advisory Council and the Industry 4.0 platform recently even felt compelled to issue a critical statement on the use of the term Industry 5.0 at the start of the Hannover Messe 2024. It states that the industrial vision conveyed by Industry 4.0 is still highly topical. The use of the term Industry 5.0 is frivolous and unnecessary. It does not express any new content. What's more, it creates uncertainty. Industry 4.0 already encompasses all areas of society - and therefore also human-centeredness.
Another point of criticism is that the term Industry 4.0 stands for the fourth industrial revolution, which, like all previous revolutions, will take a long time to be fully implemented. This includes the use of new technologies and value creation models involving the people involved. The typical software abbreviation 4.0 symbolizes the importance of software in this process, but should not be understood as a version number and replaced by 5.0.
"The Term Industry 5.0 Confuses and Unsettles"
"The fourth industrial revolution - i.e. Industry 4.0 - encompasses a wide range of aspects," explains Peter Liggesmeyer from Fraunhofer IESE, who is also the scientific spokesperson on the Industry 4.0 Research Advisory Board. "The content that is currently being discussed as Industry 5.0 is fully included in it. There is therefore a risk that the unnecessary term will lead to confusion."
Harald Schöning, Vice President Research at Software AG and industry spokesperson on the Industry 4.0 Research Advisory Board, replies: "Small and medium-sized companies are now also aware of the importance of Industry 4.0." Implementation has also begun there. These companies are confused and unsettled by the term Industry 5.0. "They must not lose momentum on their way to Industry 4.0 as a result."
Industry 4.0 is Not Yet Complete
Meanwhile, the Industry 4.0 Research Advisory Board and the Industry 4.0 Platform also state in their statement that the desire to design work processes in the best possible way for people, together with the best possible support in the new production processes, cannot be criticized. However, this does not require a new term. Ultimately, Industry 4.0 is anything but complete. Companies and international cooperations are in the middle of implementing it.
The view of the Industry 4.0 Research Advisory Council and the Industry 4.0 Platform cannot be dismissed out of hand. Nevertheless, the term Industry 5.0 could replace the term Industry 4.0. It has long been established in political circles, as evidenced by a European Commission document over three years old entitled "Industry 5.0: Towards a Sustainable, Human-centric, and Resilient European Industry". It states that the vision for the future of European industry under the name Industry 5.0 complements the existing concept of Industry 4.0 by going beyond the goals of growth and job creation to also respect social goals such as the well-being of workers and planetary boundaries in terms of sustainability and placing them at the center of the production process.
Ultimately, the dispute is probably about terminology. Only time will tell whether we will still be talking about Industry 4.0 in the future, or whether the industry is already in the midst of a fifth revolution.
This is a partly automated translation of this german article.