On the Concept of Industry 5.0: The Digital Nature of Industry 5.0 Meeting the Physical Nature of Producing Industry

Industry 4.0 saw its limitations when approaching to the textile- and clothing industry. This resource, logistics and labour intense sector struggles with the principles of atomization and technological innovation. Industry 5.0 should help every human being working in this field to relieve the workload and find a balance between hand work and automation. Next to this it encourages the sustainable and circular aspects in sourcing and recycling textile products. Unsing the concept of Industry 5.0 should prepare companies for possible drawbacks and empower them for an uncertain future.

Since the textile and clothing industry is a labour intense segment which needs a lot of human work force human centricity plays an important role to the future of this sector. Companies search for the cheapest work force abroad and once inherent knowledge gets lost in the home countries of such companies. But companies have to see that always searching for a cheaper manufacturer is no option for a long-lasting enterprise. Automation drives forward but the assembling of a garment has its pitfalls. Using a human centric approach leads to the combination of work force and automation. It helps that the work of employees is not that intense anymore, it should be safer and keep their workplace because the machines have to be operated and all this without losing knowledge.

The cultivation of cotton, the converting of woods to viscose and the chemical heavy production of man-made fibres is one of the biggest polluters of the environment in our world. The new strategy of Industry 5.0 is not to foster even more of those raw materials, it is a way to track the consume of resources (e.g. water, chemicals, etc.) and the life cycle of products and even their end-of-life. A holistic view from the beginning of a textile product with all its inputs and the end of a textile product with possible recycle possibilities should help companies creating a circular economy which knows its impact on the planet and is less dependent on it.

Summarizing all this it is clear that Industry 5.0 will not replace Industry 4.0 as its predecessors did with theirs. Industry 5.0 will complete its predecessor. It shifts the focus of ceaseless growth to an approach of binding employees with focusing on their needs and demands, keeping the world a liveable place and improving current matters of pollution, endless waste and an exploitation of resources and establish companies which are persistent and more flexible when it comes to shortages. The current project of prospects 5.0 will help finding KPIs and levers to help every sector, industry and company implementing an Industry 5.0 to withstand the challenges of the future.