The connection to industrial maintenance may not be visible at the first sight, but if you look closer you will see that the impact it will have is more significant.
The reason is that INDUSTRY 5.0 is based on the principles of systematic waste prevention and maintenance. Generally speaking, it is trying to prevent waste, or stop further wastage as soon as possible after it has been discovered.
There is a reason why industrial maintenance cannot be “renamed” to INDUSTRY 5.0 and this is the scope and size of waste that INDUSTRY 5.0 prevents, which is:

• PHYSICAL WASTE
• SOCIAL WASTE
• URBAN WASTE
• PROCESS WASTE

Industrial maintenance covers mainly process waste, but also sometimes (but not always) covers physical waste.
The term INDUSTRY 5.0 is still relatively new for many despite the fact that it was launched already more than six years ago and was adopted officially on January 7, 2021. At the end of 2021 it was also discussed by the European Commission and United Nations.
Let me explain INDUSTRY 5.0 more closely using some real-world case studies to understand its relation to the industrial environment and processes.
Every single industry 5.0 project has to respect the following three principles, all of them, not just one or two.

Transparency, Profit Sharing, and Efficiency
Already here we can understand that all three are equally important to maintenance; it is hard to maintain machinery or buildings for example if you do not know how they work, or how they are interconnected.
This is why one of the tools adopted by INDUSTRY 5.0 is the technology of digital twins, which delivers great results on a small scale, or at the level of management of entire cities. It can help on the level of country governance or industry governance, but its application is limited by the large volume of “SECRETS” that are standard parts of any governing structure.
A second important part of INDUSTRY 5.0 projects is the utilization of the on-the-ground-mines or as some of the clients and partners call them existing resources.
Once again I am sure almost all experts in maintenance know well that if the right tool is not available at the moment of urgent action, it can be temporarily exchanged for another which may not be perfect, but can serve the purpose until the new, original part arrives. At the same time, I am sure all know how “dangerous” such temporary exchange is, especially if everything works fine or even better than it did before, but this is another story.
The third “tool” is the power of touch because no excel sheet or virtual drawing will stop oil from dripping, hands-on is best - experienced hands that have solved similar problems many times before and know exactly what to do. Here we enter into the segment of social waste, thanks to which the most experienced people are wasted because they are too old, or too young, or do not fit into the system.
The entire development and global growth of INDUSTRY 5.0 can be followed thanks to more than 3.000 articles, 964 of them in English. The impact on individual industries has been delivered in the form of more than 200 keynotes delivered to industries, students of more than 180 universities, and schools all over the globe because the industry 5.0 ambassadors’ network is spread over 94 countries (2022.02.22).
Let me pick up just three of many examples indicating how industrial maintenance topics have been solved using INDUSTRY 5.0 0 principles and methodology.

Number One – Missing Crane

A large facility producing metal parts needs for a new project, a 12 MT crane. Standard in the factory were 5–7 MT cranes. At a production meeting in which I participated as an advisor I was asked if the crane being used is on offer. My question was: Why do you need a new crane if you have one?
Because nobody believed me, I took the entire management and showed them that one of their unused cranes in production really has the capacity needed. The only step needed was to transfer it from one location to another one (cost 10.000 Euros). The cost of the new crane on the other hand was 75.000 Euros. This was a project indicated as “REVERSE ROI” because instead of a new purchase, we discovered existing but forgotten technology available to the client.

Number Two – Oil Spills

One industrial client, a producer of industrial machines and machinery systems, struggled with high costs related to dangerous waste clean-up (waste management cost). Regular oil spills and the use of standard sorbents resulted in increasing waste management costs and an impact on the environment, which resulted in a bad rating. Because the spills could not simply be stopped due to the setup of the process, we have found a natural sorbent solution produced in the US, which after application on oil spills does not create dangerous waste, but thanks to microorganisms it turns the oil into fertilizer, without any negative properties. Since that moment the company regularly utilizes the product of https://unireminc.com/, decreasing environmental impact and significantly decreasing waste management costs. At the same time they are able to work on a solution to further reduce the amount of spillage.

Number Three – Single Cable Drums

It may seem like single-use packaging does not affect the industrial maintenance segment, but that is not completely true. It can affect in two ways.
First is the space occupancy, waste volume and cost. Secondly, a lot of single-use packaging can be utilized for maintenance work and storage of components, as well as for the transportation. A good example is the single-use cable drums that serve in most of the factories as single-use packaging and end up in waste containers and on landfill sites.
The application of the 6R methodology helped not only to identify the item but to turn trouble into treasure; from one factory project in one country, this project has expanded and is now available in Czech, Austria and Germany, and it continues to expand. A New OTGM supply chain was created and helped to generate the maintenance department’s first profit, reducing the financial burden of its own waste centre.
INDUSTRY 5.0 is a very broad topic and thanks to the fact that the implementation does not require capital investment at the start, it is spreading globally, helping to deliver palpable sustainable results where circular economy, green deal, and other areas struggle.
To learn more you can watch one of the latest keynotes delivered to an international audience or contact directly the INDUSTRY 5.0 FOUNDER, Michael Rada via LinkedIn.

Michael Rada 

Founder of
INDUSTRY 5.0