Innovating human capital in Industry 5.0

2024 – Industry 5.0 holds the promise of humane working conditions and relations as well as responsible management of the environment. Despite many initiatives, the concepts and actions are only adopted in practice by a handful of large industrial companies in the Netherlands.

This lack of adoption among approximately 90% of Dutch industrial companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), is mainly due to the lack of the necessary personnel, capabilities and expertise to effectively embrace Industry 5.0.

This paper describes the skills of production workers required to use the advanced technologies; It also discusses how (SME) organizations can stimulate and facilitate the development of those skills and what SMEs can do to meet the challenges of Industry 5.0.

Insights from the literature are combined with the results of the empirical research conducted by the authors.

 

Some findings

In general, Industry 5.0 requires an operational workforce that is aware of the progress of new technology, understands its practical applications, wants to implement and adapt to it. However, these conditions pose a challenge for SME production workers, who are not regularly exposed to new technologies and are rarely involved in the decisions and implementation of new technology.

Furthermore, the authors conclude among other things:

• that effective job design is essential for harnessing and developing the skills needed for Industry 5.0; defining clear roles, responsibilities and division of labor is crucial,
• that Interorganizational Skills Learning Communities (ISLC) appear to have a lot of potential; ISLCs are public-private partnerships that combine learning, working and innovation in a hybrid environment, aimed at facilitating continuous skills development,
• that production workers should be involved in decisions about the adoption and use of new technologies to ensure that these tools are used effectively and match their skills and job requirements,
• that ‘uniquely human’ skills such as resilience, critical thinking and social skills need to be developed as well as methodological skills such as problem solving and analytical thinking,
• that environmental awareness and sustainable behavior must be ensured in training programs to support the intended vision of Industry 5.0.

 

Reference

Innovating human capital in Industry 5.0. Position paper: Skills challenges in Industry 5.0; techyourfuture.nl, Enschede 2024.

Authors: Dennis Trotta, Koen Nijland, Thomas Stege, Luuk Collou, Marcella Hoogeboom, Stephan Corporaal, Paul Preenen, Nick Goossen, Mireille Post-Hubers, Maaike Endedijk, Jannes Slomp, Lisa Winkelman.

Saxion University of applied sciences, University of Twente, TNO, HAN University of applied sciences.

 

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