Is it time to talk about industry 5.0?

Industry 4.0, involving the widespread use and processing of advanced data and artificial intelligence in productive processes, is still not mature in Latin America. Yet, there is already talk of industry 5.0. 

US giant Rockwell Automation says industry 5.0 is all about having the individual at the forefront of digital transformation processes, as an orchestrator of the technologies, as well as a hyper-customization of production process.

“The focus of industry 5.0 is putting the individual at the center of this [digital transformation] process, both from the point of view of companies and also from their end-customers,” Rockwell's regional technology manager Cristiano Bonanno tells BNamericas

In this interview, Bonanno talks about the company's vision for new technologies, the adoption of industry 4.0 in the region and industrial investments in tech in the face of a more challenging macroeconomic scenario.

BNamericas: What is industry 5.0 for Rockwell? Why is it important and what is the company doing in this regard?

Bonanno: It's a new concept, which is not yet widespread. We’re still discussing a lot about industry 4.0 in the region, with different levels of maturity among the productive sectors. We understand the concept of 5.0 as one in which we’ll have a greater interaction of the individual with the environment of digital transformation.

Machine learning, augmented reality, all are themes that were present in the transition from industry 3.0 to 4.0, if we can put it that way, driven by the overall necessity to increase business efficiency. And as such we’ve seen the exponential growth of data and of the use of IoT sensors in different applications.

The focus of industry 5.0 is to put the individual at the center of this process, both from the point of view of individuals at companies, and also from the point of view of end-customers.

BNamericas: How? Is it less a question of new technologies and more a question of new processes in relation to them?

Bonanno: Correct. Human beings, far from being replaced or becoming less important, will improve the whole process. 

A lot of data is emerging. There is so much information in the data lakes that we have to work with algorithms running on analytical platforms to be able to better consume it and have benefits in terms of the production improvement.

The idea is for the individual to be able to better interface with this data so that we can take further advantage of the insights. New technologies will be incorporated, of course, but the idea is to have the human better orchestrating and operating all this for the benefit of the business.

Furthermore, there is a lot of talk today about customization of products and services. Customizing in the manufacturing process means modifying the manufacturing process so that you have different forms of product.

In industry 5.0, we discuss hyper-customization, an ability to meet different market-dictated product variations in a more assertive way.

Now, it’s worth mentioning that we’re talking about industry 5.0 but industry 4.0 is still underway and incomplete. The cloud, the integration of IT and OT, they’re still taking place. 

We have clients that are on [industry] 3.0. We have clients that have part of their productive processes in 3.0 and other parts in 4.0. This evolution of the manufacturing process is linked to a matter of competitiveness and of market demand, of necessity. So it won’t be an even process, but uneven.

BNamericas: From a technological point of view, and while the exact concept of metaverse is currently not completely determined, being at present much more linked to existing applications such as virtual reality and advanced reality, does it make sense to talk about the new format within the scope of industry 5.0?

Bonanno: It does. I have nothing to lay out on the table here that we at Rockwell are doing something specific in metaverse.

But looking at the complexity and the need to correlate the virtual and the real environments, for example in terms of equipment maintenance, it makes sense thinking of that and it’s something we’re looking at.

If you have a plant that’s in a very remote place, in a very remote environment, and there’s a need to carry out maintenance of very complex equipment, and the company also lacks specialists for that, ultimately you could provide remote assistance to these professionals, all from a distance, crossing a physical reality with a virtual one.

At the limit you could have a virtual avatar, correlated with a robot, doing work in a factory built in a virtual environment.

BNamericas: How has the company been working with its current investments and partnerships, considering the 4.0 technologies but also the perspectives for novel technologies?

Bonanno: Our latest investments, our partnerships and acquisitions, have all been in the technology sector. 

We recently had the acquisition of Plex [a provider of cloud-based smart manufacturing solutions, completed in September].

In cloud, a classic partner of ours is Microsoft. All of our analytics are based on Microsoft. When we talk about the cloud, we’re talking about a cloud initially designed for Microsoft.

In terms of software, we have [a strategic alliance with] PTC, which is a gigantic company, with which we work on virtual and augmented reality projects, data analysis, among others. 

We’re investing a lot in all this. We currently have more than 400,000 items in the portfolio for customers. But we’re also very concerned about how all this will be applied on the factory floor.

You cannot imagine today a productive line operating without uploading data to some platform that will be processing and consuming it. And most of the solutions that we bring to the market are based on developments that are being driven by technology-born companies.

BNamericas: How about digital twins? Before talking about the metaverse, about avatars in virtualized factories, wouldn't it be better to think about the maturation of digital twins? What is the next step for them?

Bonanno: The next step for the digital twin would be to… apply the digital twin. We have software and know-how for that. But we see that there’s still a lack of dissemination of this tool among industries that could make use of it. 

Today we already see projects towards the digital twin in the auto industry. But in general, the application of the digital twin could be much better explored. 

There are many customers who are aware that these digital replicas could bring results for them, but that also have limitations around training or even about maintaining something that’s not in the physical world.

Another important point is the shortage of a specialized workforce. One can hire a vendor like us or others to build the digital twin, but the company might not have a professional to operate the technology.

Often what we see is not the industry refusing to implement a certain project but struggling to find professionals in the market to work with these technologies.

BNamericas: And how is Rockwell addressing the issue?

Bonanno: In many ways. In one way, we’re helping the client with training so that that it can take advantage of the technology we’re providing.

Another way is to work with educational and tech institutions, targeting professionals at the undergraduate level.

In the past, it was said that there was a lack of engineers in the market to meet the expansion of economies, of GDP. Now there’s no longer so much talk of a shortage of engineers, but rather a shortage of data scientists and technical professionals.

BNamericas: Since the beginning of the year, there has been a certain tide-reversal in the tech sector, especially regarding software and startups, in terms of investor appetite. There has also been a slight deterioration in the general macroeconomic environment. Has Rockwell felt that?

Bonanno: During the pandemic, we saw several incentives that made investment in technology more pronounced. On the other hand, some industries suffered. One case is the auto one. We see car sales falling quarter after quarter. In Brazil, some auto factories closed. This, therefore, weighed negatively on us. And all in all, there was a counterbalance, an offsetting. 

The outlook is still for growth. Because we’re talking about a curve no one can go back from. It has become very clear that everyone needs to invest in efficiency gains, in cost improvements. Competitiveness has increased among companies, the need for a slightly more sophisticated product has become more exacerbated. As a result, the price of technology has become more expensive.

But what we see on the side of our customers is that despite uncertainties with FX, with political issues and elections, their growth-based plans remain in place.

The prospect is now a little warier, but we see investments getting off the ground.

BNamericas: And how does the global scenario play out?

Bonanno: It impacts a lot. There are a number of sanctions and contingencies underway [with respect to the Ukraine war] that affect our operations. 

We work with fertilizer companies that are being impacted by restrictions. Commodities are oscillating, and the mining sector is a strong customer for us.

We depend on microchips, and we’re having difficulty meeting deliveries on time because of this [scarcity]. 

We have all the imbalances in terms of energy. In logistics, the container that at the onset of the pandemic cost US$1,000 is now at US$4,000. Also, fuels are rising. 

All these issues come to play in the investment decision of a business owner.

But what we see is that the manufacturing sector we serve had been at a standstill for a long time in terms of investments in technology. And now they have to catch up.

Again, one cannot think of a sector that is not computerized, of a production line that does not have a controller. And this keeps our outlook as a technology and automation provider company on a more optimistic note.