Driving human-centric transformation
Driving the Fifth Industrial Revolution
Our recently released report ‘Decoding the Fifth Industrial Revolution: Marching towards a resilient, sustainable and human-centric future’ stated at the outset that 93% of senior executives across six industries would like to be known for their sustainability initiatives, and yet achieve 2x to 3x profitable growth over the next three to five years.
As the way forward, this edition of Immersive Outlook focuses on ‘how’ that can be achieved through the harmonious partnership between humans and nature, a workforce-first approach and futuristic transformation of the manufacturing shop floor – with sustainability as the sticky glue to bind them all together.
With COP29 having just concluded, underscoring the importance of sustainability as the fulcrum for the Fifth Industrial Revolution is befitting, given that the principles of Industry 5.0 align well with the goals of COP29. Both are directed at promoting efficient resource utilisation, reducing waste and minimising environmental impact through innovation. In addition, Industry 5.0 ensures that there is no trade-off between technological efficiency and human health and safety. Thus, the synergy between COP29’s sustainability goals and Industry 5.0’s technological advancements to create safer work environments offers a promising pathway towards a more sustainable and resilient future.
A few nations have already shown the way. Japan, for instance, took the lead way back in 2016 with its Society 5.0 concept that blurred the lines between cyberspace and physical space using technology – big data, AI, robotics – to build digital twins.1 Society 5.0 is aimed at enhancing the quality of an individual’s life and in turn create a human-centric, smart society.2 An offshoot of this concept, Industry 5.0 proposes a far more enhanced role for humans with resilience at its core – enabled by technology to work in sustainable and safe spaces.
If Industry 4.0 was about automation and efficiency, sparking the fear of job loss, Industry 5.0 is more about human creativity and cobots, alleviating the primary fear of job loss and in its place emphasising the need for high-value jobs that require human involvement.
This edition of Immersive Outlook, accordingly, focuses on the need for this paradigm shift with humans and nature as the mutual beneficiaries.
The first article, ‘Three imperatives to drive human-centricity in the manufacturing landscape’, shows how companies can drive the workforce-first approach of Industry 5.0 by making the transition from smart to cognitive technology, empowering the workforce through upskilling, and taking initiatives to improve workforce safety. These imperatives are substantiated by use cases that highlight the impact of combining advanced analytics models with human ingenuity.
The manufacturing sector's need to embrace technologies such as the internet of things (IoT) and bring in human-centric development is highlighted by B. Thiagarajan, Managing Director of Blue Star Ltd., in our video interview with him on ‘Marrying people and technology can solve current manufacturing challenges of scale, speed and quality’. According to Thiagarajan, this marriage is of utmost importance for the simple reason that there are growing aspirations of the labour force.
Last but by no means the least, the final article, ‘Managing and measuring change on the manufacturing shop floor’, deals with the dynamics of the manufacturing shop floor, the meeting ground of design innovation and engineering on the one hand, and the production processes on the other. Despite changes ushered in by industrial revolutions, companies are at times faced with a significant challenge: the shop floor remains a siloed space. With the Fifth Industrial Revolution, shop floors around the world are set to transform, combining digital twins with AI and GenAI to develop promising solutions to bridge some of the gaps that arise in a traditional shop floor setting.
Our report ‘Decoding the Fifth Industrial Revolution: Marching towards a resilient, sustainable and human-centric future’, which surveyed 180 senior manufacturing executives, indicated how companies clearly acknowledge the need to prioritise employee development and engagement. It also underlined that more than 95% of the respondents in the cement and industrial goods sectors are prioritising investments in real-time inventory tracking to optimise inventory levels, reduce stockouts and minimise excess inventory. Customers too are ready to pay a premium for innovative products and services.
With these findings as the starting point, this edition of Immersive Outlook goes a step forward to show that while Industry 4.0 is transformative, it does not fully align with the urgent needs of our time. Industry 5.0, with its emphasis on the harmonious integration of advanced technologies with human and environmental considerations, is a more suitable model for addressing the current sustainability challenges.
We hope you enjoy reading this edition of Immersive Outlook and gain relevant insights to build a sustainable future for the planet.
Raghav Narsalay and Vishnupriya Sengupta
Varun Dua, Founder and CEO, Acko General Insurance Limited, believes insurance companies need to transition from being complex product companies to trust and brand companies. In an online interview with Joydeep K Roy, Partner and India Financial Services Advisory Leader and Global Health Insurance Leader, he outlines the key factors that could ensure wider reach and lead to enhanced customer experience.
A collaborative approach among stakeholders to mitigate and adapt to climate risks is an absolute necessity, emphasises Deeksha Vats, Chief Sustainability Officer, Aditya Birla Group (ABG), in an online interview with Madhura Mitra, Executive Director, Climate Change and Carbon Markets.
A three-pronged approach – which includes reducing consumption, encouraging use of alternative fuels, and proactively preparing for the future – can drive climate change adaptation and resilience efforts in the country, says Subramanian Sarma, Whole-time Director and Senior Executive Vice President (Energy) at Larsen & Toubro (L&T) in a conversation with PwC India’s ESG Leader Sambitosh Mohapatra.
The Fifth Industrial Revolution places humans at the centre of operational and production processes. Sudipta Ghosh, Ankur Basu and Ajay Deshmukh highlight three imperatives to drive the workforce-first approach of Industry 5.0.
The manufacturing sector has lost its salience to attract people over the years. To change that the need of the hour is to embrace technologies like the internet of things [IoT] and bring in human-centric development, says B. Thiagarajan, Managing Director of Blue Star Ltd. in a conversation with Sudipta Ghosh, Data and Analytics and Industrial Products Leader, PwC India
Transforming the shop floor is central to the Fifth Industrial Revolution to increase operational efficiency, enhance sustainability and improve workforce safety. Ankur Basu and Ajay Deshmukh outline how robust change management strategies can drive this transformation.
As technology advances, the human connection becomes even more important, says Shyam Srinivasan, MD and CEO, Federal Bank. In conversation with Venkata Peri, Partner and Research and Insights Hub Leader at PwC India, Srinivasan throws light on the changing nature of banking.
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Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book.
