Industrial progress has historically been measured by the amount of technology applied to minimize, curtail or eliminate human involvement across industrial processes.
Early industrial innovations focused on solutions aimed at getting humans to work more like machines. Later solutions positioned automation and robotics to operate independently from humans, with workers being viewed as a poor and costly alternative. These outdated beliefs have been reinforced by human versus machine matchups in popular culture, which often condition humans to fear and compete with automation. Since the dawn of industry, the psychological role new technology and industrial-age thinking plays in shaping culture and changing patterns of human thought and behavior has continually been marginalized. Industry 5.0 offers organizations a framework to rid themselves of the outdated thinking and practices that stand in the way of evolving human autonomy, innovation and creativity.
The "holy grail" of industrial transformation has been the idea of "smart," in terms of the autonomous "lights out" factory of the future. Even prior to the start of the 21st century, Warren Bennis said, "The factory of the future will have only two employees: a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment."
It's no wonder that "smart" has not yet included a systemic focus on evolving the intellectual, creative and social facets of the "smart" worker. Industry 5.0 is not about developing humans to become better pet sitters. It's about taking deliberate steps to upskill and reskill an industry for jobs that reposition workers within the smart factory. At its core, Industry 5.0 is a revolution to not simply connect workers but get them a prime seat at the "smart" factory table.
As the current spectrum of industrial IoT (IIoT) technologies has rolled out, the focus has been on de-risking, scaling and proving the utility of each individual technology. Today, most industrial workers are performing jobs within the context of some form of an evolving connected IIoT-enabled environment. The seamless flow of information across IIoT environments, such as real-time data-rich insights from the field, are offering industry new levels of product and process transparency, flexibility and agility. Evolving levels of insights achievable from connected data such as predictive and prescriptive analytics are opening new doors of opportunity for humans. Humancentric IIoT architectures enable workers to become more involved in the design, execution and improvement of industrial products and work processes.
The Industry 5.0 model is based on the belief that every worker wants to stand out and express themselves through their actions, insights, decisions, effort and unique contributions. Industry 5.0 workflows leverage the power of IIoT technologies to recast work in ways that provide workers freedom to unleash and express what it means to be uniquely and exclusively human.
Those serious about sustainable humanity will replace the prestige of adopting the most innovative automation technologies with the prestige of successfully applying human-centric design. When intelligent IIoT technologies are deployed using human-centric design principles, workers are engaged, motivated and empowered. This is because workers can apply their skills and abilities in ways that enable greater levels of personal accountability, choice, effort control and outcome influence. The next greatest value to industrial products and processes will come from optimizing the human-machine mix. This means looking to where IIoT lowers cost, improves productivity and safety, and where higher levels of human intellect, creativity and collaboration add value. Industry 5.0 will transcend traditional work environments and enable workers to grow and become their unique and better selves in an increasingly complex and connected world.
Brent A. Kedzierski is the former head of learning strategy and innovation for Shell International. While at Shell, Kedzierski was an award-winning, innovative learning and development executive who envisioned, designed and operationalized many of Royal Dutch Shell's most critical global learning transformations of the 21st century.
For more information, contact Brent Kedzierski at Brent@HumanWRKS.com.
