Industry 5.0 presented in Miami

Fabian Lindner, a research assistant in the Faculty of Business Administration and Engineering Management at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, recently presented in Miami, as part of the Factory4Future project, presented initial approaches to human-centered design of modern production systems at the IEEE Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS) workshop on Management for Industry 5.0 (MFI5.0).

In his concluding remarks, Fabian Lindner emphasized the importance of people in modern production environments, despite—or perhaps precisely because of—new technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), collaborative robots, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI). He explained how these technologies can provide targeted support at work by adapting to employees and taking into account individual characteristics such as prior knowledge, skills, preferences, and states while tasks are being performed. This enables both ergonomic (mental and physical) and process-related improvements in terms of time and quality.

Some areas of application for these technologies include, for example, personalized VR training programs to train employees without disrupting ongoing production, as well as the use of wearables such as smartwatches that can detect potential fatigue and injury risks and prevent employees from performing certain tasks.

In the workshop, Fabian Lindner led a discussion with the participating researchers from the field of production informatics. They discussed issues relating to the human-centered design of digital twins, their successful introduction and use by employees and the necessary ethical and legal framework conditions. One concern was, for example, the meaningful individualization with the help of these technologies without endangering the privacy of employees.

The exchange between experts in the information technology design of modern production systems and their application to improve human-centered processes proved to be extremely valuable. Both sides were able to learn from each other and promising synergies for future cooperation were identified. The Factory4Future project is dedicated to an internationally topical research subject that can offer promising solutions, particularly for small and medium-sized regional companies facing major demographic challenges.