Navigating the 5G-powered transition from Industry 4.0 to 5.0

The adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies has marked a transformative shift in the Indian manufacturing sector. It offers immense potential to enhance productivity, sustainability, and, more importantly, global competitiveness. In fact, if India aspires to establish itself as a global manufacturing hub, it must build a highly competitive manufacturing ecosystem capable of competing with nations like Vietnam and China.

The integration of Industry 4.0 technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), advanced analytics, Artificial intelligence (AI), intelligent process automation, and robotics—powered by high-speed, low-latency networks like 5G will play a crucial role in enabling manufacturers to optimise operations, improve efficiencies, enhance quality, and drive innovation at an unprecedented pace.

However, Industry 4.0 adoption in India remains low and uneven, with significant variations in digital maturity across sectors and company sizes. According to a CII-KPMG report released in December 2024, the pace of adoption varies significantly across industries. Automotive, electronics, and pharmaceuticals lead digital adoption, leveraging precision and automation to meet global standards. Oil & gas and F&B sectors demonstrate moderate adoption, primarily focusing on compliance and operational improvements.

India must accelerate Industry 4.0 adoption while preparing for Industry 5.0 to become a global manufacturing hub and raise the sector’s GDP share to 25%.

In contrast, textiles, metals and mining, and heavy equipment manufacturing face major hurdles, including financial and technical challenges, which negatively impact their digital transformation journey.

Transitioning to Industry 5.0

For India to truly become a global manufacturing hub, increase the value of its manufacturing output, and ensure the sector’s contribution to GDP reaches 25%, it must not only accelerate its Industry 4.0 journey but also prepare for the transition to Industry 5.0. This next phase of industrial evolution is centred around three core pillars—human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience. Overall, Industry 5.0 goes beyond efficiency to build resilience and sustainability with human-centric technology.

While Industry 4.0 primarily focuses on automation and efficiency, Industry 5.0 aims to build resilience and sustainability through human-centric technology. It promotes meaningful collaboration between humans and technology, ensuring manufacturing systems can withstand external shocks—including geopolitical disruptions that could impact supply chains—and respond to business challenges with agility.

Industry 5.0 fosters a symbiotic relationship between humans and advanced technologies such as IoT, AI, and robotics, enhancing human productivity while unlocking new production possibilities that are automated, sustainable, and resilient.

Key Transformational Shifts

To achieve near-term financial and business goals while building a sustainable, resilient, and productive enterprise, manufacturers must make four critical transformational shifts that will pave the way for a successful transition to Industry 5.0.

#1

Personalisation moves beyond products to experiences

In the past, enterprises focused on personalising products and workflows. Now, they are customising entire experiences, including services, interactions, and user experiences, to meet evolving customer and workforce needs.

A case in point is a prominent Indian auto OEM that piloted a GenAI-powered product campaign targeting the Gen Z segment via an instant messaging platform. After scaling up the campaign for key products, they successfully recovered 30% of lost leads.

#2

From predictive insights to proactive intelligence

Predictive analytics has long been a hallmark of Industry 4.0, enabling businesses to anticipate trends and make data-driven decisions. Industry 5.0 takes this further, shifting from prediction to pre-emption—even proactive and prescriptive—using intelligent AI algorithms and real-time data to simulate multiple corrective scenarios. This proactive approach enhances operational and supply chain efficiency, reduces downtime, and improves shop floor safety and workforce well-being.

Industry 5.0 prioritises a human-machine symbiosis that delivers safer, more sustainable experiences for workers, consumers, and the entire value chain.

A key enabler of this transformation is Digital Twin technology, which replicates components, products, processes, or entire systems using IoT, big data analytics, cloud computing, immersive technologies, and high-speed connectivity. 5G wireless networks, with very low latency, faster data speeds, and extremely high reliability, are revolutionising Digital twin technology.

One of India’s largest steel manufacturers has been using Digital Twins as part of its initiative to build an AI-powered integrated asset performance management platform. They have built Digital Twins for conveyor belts on their shop floor and the coke oven exhausters used in the steel manufacturing process. This has reduced the cost of manufacturing operations and improved productivity, and the company has achieved a payback within two years.

#3

From basic safety to holistic sustainability

While manufacturing environments have traditionally focused on basic safety measures, such as PPE compliance, efficiency has often been the primary driver. Industry 5.0 prioritises a human-machine symbiosis that delivers safer, more sustainable experiences for workers, consumers, and the environment across the entire value chain.

The private 5G deployment at Sundaram Clayton showcases how next-gen connectivity can enhance manufacturing efficiency, automation, and sustainability.

A leading Indian automotive OEM, well into its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) journey, has intensively leveraged technology in its paint shops, press, and assembly areas. It has significantly lowered energy costs and achieved payback within a year by deploying AI-driven energy optimisation.

#4

Reimagining value creation as continuous reinvention

Traditional value creation focuses on identifying and exploiting opportunities within existing frameworks. Industry 5.0, however, calls for continuous value reinvention, where businesses constantly explore new ways to generate value in response to market dynamics and technological advancements.

A notable example is a leading manufacturer crafting circular supply chains for strategic minerals like cobalt, lithium, and tungsten. Instead of merely improving efficiency through sustainable mining, the company pursued an unconventional approach to resilience and sustainability of the strategic mineral value chain.

By combining human expertise with digital intelligence, it developed digitally enabled solutions to reclaim value from industrial waste. It also collaborated with catalyst companies to eliminate its products’ end-of-life impact.

A Case for Digital Transformation

Reliable, high-speed, and secure connectivity is the backbone of any digital solution and a key enabler for digital transformation. The private 5G deployment at Sundaram Clayton Limited (SCL) is a prime example of how next-generation connectivity can enhance manufacturing efficiency, automation, and sustainability.

SCL is one of the world’s largest aluminium die-casting companies, catering to heavy vehicle segments in Europe and North America. With six manufacturing plants (five in India and one in the USA), it serves major global clients like Volvo, Daimler, and Hyundai. The company is focused on sustainable aluminium die-casting and lightweight innovation as key differentiators in its business.

SCL embarked on a digital transformation journey a few years ago. The initial phase involved connecting critical equipment to extract machine telemetry  data. In the next phase, plant-wide connectivity became a priority.

A large steel manufacturer has been using Digital Twins as part of its initiative to build an AI-powered integrated asset performance management platform.

Traditionally, manufacturers have struggled with maintaining miles of cabling, passive components, routers, access points, and network switches on the shop floor. Managing such an extensive network infrastructure requires constant attention to minimise downtime. The launch of 5G services in India in late 2022 prompted SCL to evaluate private 5G network solutions for its current factories and future expansion plans.

Evaluating Private 5G for

Plant Connectivity

To explore the viability of 5G, Sundaram Clayton Limited (SCL) collaborated with system integrators and telecom service providers for an initial evaluation and pilot deployment at its Oragadam plant. The primary objective was to assess whether a wired connectivity infrastructure or a private 5G wireless network would better support its digital transformation journey.

Configuring the equipment and extracting data during the pilot phase presented challenges, particularly in integrating existing machinery with the new platform. However, once the 5G system stabilised, SCL successfully tested its performance across multiple use cases. Real-time machine telemetry data extraction was among the first applications, enabling more efficient machine performance monitoring.

The deployment of Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) for material handling further streamlined shopfloor operations by reducing manual interventions and improving logistics. In addition, immersive technologies such as Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality were introduced to enhance workforce training and remote troubleshooting.

The availability of real-time machine telemetry data can improve predictive maintenance, minimise unexpected breakdowns and enhance overall process efficiency.

Besides, 5G-powered video surveillance systems were implemented to strengthen plant security, providing high-resolution, real-time monitoring capabilities. The success of these test cases established a strong business case for using 5G as the IT infrastructure backbone for future plant deployments.

Building a Digitally Enabled

Smart Factory

SCL’s vision for a lean, green, and digitally enabled smart factory was centred on integrating advanced manufacturing technologies with seamless connectivity. Managing heavy-duty engineering facilities across a vast plant area required a robust and scalable network, and private 5G offered a promising solution.

The company could optimise material storage and retrieval processes by enabling efficient, automated plant operations while integrating AMRs for streamlined logistics. Additionally, aligning ESG requirements, including energy and water management, with core manufacturing processes helped create a more sustainable and resource-efficient production ecosystem.

The transition to a fully digital manufacturing ecosystem necessitated a secure, real-time connected infrastructure spanning Operational Technology (OT) systems and subsystems. With the integration of Industry 4.0 technologies, SCL gained real-time operational insights into machines, workforce, and material flow, laying the groundwork for future adoption of Industry 5.0.

The deployment of AI-powered video surveillance played a key role in tracking personnel movement and monitoring materials, while AI-based safety hazard detection systems enhanced shopfloor security. Cybersecurity was also critical, ensuring protection across both OT and IT environments to safeguard sensitive operational data.

Driving Cost Savings and

Operational Efficiencies

The pilot assessment highlighted significant cost savings and efficiency improvements across various operational areas. SCL significantly lowered infrastructure maintenance costs by securely connecting over 1,000 machines while reducing cabling complexity. The availability of real-time machine telemetry data improved predictive maintenance, minimising unexpected breakdowns and enhancing overall process efficiency. Automation also played a crucial role in optimising material movement, with fail-safe AMRs reducing human intervention and ensuring smoother plant operations.

The return on investment from automated material handling proved substantial, leading to better Work-in-Progress inventory management and reduced downtime. Additionally, AI-powered machine vision inspection systems contributed to higher throughput and precision in quality control, achieving high accuracy in defect detection. Enhancing workforce and plant security, AI-driven shopfloor and perimeter safety alerts provided foolproof monitoring mechanisms, ensuring compliance with safety protocols.

These benefits are progressively realised as new use cases continue to be onboarded onto the 5G platform, reinforcing the role of private 5G as a foundational technology for SCL’s future-ready manufacturing infrastructure.

Embracing Industry 5.0 for a Sustainable Future

As the Indian manufacturing industry transitions from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0, the focus must extend beyond operational efficiency to building a human-centric, sustainable, and resilient manufacturing ecosystem. This evolution demands technological advancements and a fundamental shift in business strategy, aligning with changing market dynamics and societal expectations.

The roadmap to Industry 5.0 is about creating synergy between human ingenuity and technological innovation. India can position itself as a global manufacturing hub by adopting personalisation, proactive approaches, sustainability-focused initiatives, and rapid value reinvention. This transition is not just about economic competitiveness but also about ensuring that manufacturing contributes to a better future—one where resilience, sustainability, and human well-being are at the core.

Driven by 5G and emerging technologies, Industry 5.0 represents a new era of possibilities, and the time to embrace it is now.

By Sunil David

The author is a Digital Technology Consultant and former AT&T Regional Director of IoT (India and ASEAN region).

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