By Terry Smagh, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Asia-Pacific and Japan at Infor

The manufacturing and distribution industries are no strangers to innovation. Over the past decade, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has played out, bringing to bear powerful new technologies including the IoT, advanced analytics, process automation, and AI. Today, factories are “smart”, hyper-connected, and data-centric.

They’re more efficient than ever, and operators are empowered to make the best possible decisions based on data-driven insights.

 This story is not yet complete, however. In 2024, manufacturing and distribution companies stand on the cusp of yet another operational paradigm shift. This Fifth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 5.0, will encompass a dramatic pivot towards more intelligent technology, to empower human employees to work at their most productive.

Over the next few years, we will see manufacturing and distribution leaders looking to embrace AI, robotics, and IoT. They will focus on the nexus of man and machine to drive sustainability, efficiency, and more agile approaches to production.

This trend has been accelerated by the advent of generative AI (GenAI). Manufacturers are already looking to integrate innovations in their factories to boost productivity and revenues. According to recent research, 35% of organisations in France use AI technologies. 72% reporting a positive impact on employee performance.

How AI-Human Collaboration Solves Crucial Challenges for Manufacturing Businesses
By thinking of AI as a means of empowering employees and turbocharging their productivity, rather than as a low-cost alternative for low-value tasks, manufacturers will be able to solve some of their most intractable challenges.

Supply Chain
Supply chain resilience is a case in point. This is an issue that has never been far from the headlines in recent years. Remember the pandemic, drought affecting the Panama Canal, or the recent attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

With the right AI solutions in place, human decision-makers can use real-time data analytics and AI-derived insights to fuel their decisions. This will help them predict and mitigate supply-chain shocks. IoT sensors and devices play a key role in this use case.

They help businesses continuously monitor supply chain events and provide early warning on any delays or shortages.

Meanwhile, advanced algorithms can analyse historical and current data to predict demand and improve how manufacturers manage their inventories and just-in-time production processes.

Labour Shortage, Health & Safety
Human-AI collaboration will also help solve the perennial issue of labour shortages. Each element of the collaboration augments the other. Human employees bring to bear their adaptability, creativity, and problem-solving abilities. AI models and robotics deliver speed and precision in task handling.

There are many benefits to this approach including enhanced job satisfaction and increased productivity, and overall production errors can be slashed.

Another significant benefit is that the greater use of intelligent machines can reduce health and safety risks, as robots can be used in hazardous environments or to undertake physically demanding or risky tasks.

Industry 5.0 therefore promises to transform manufacturing and distribution, driving breakthrough productivity and unleashing the full potential of workers.

Building the Right Technology Backbone
However, the game-changing benefits of human-AI collaboration will only be realised if businesses put in place the right, integrated management systems. This technology “backbone” is fundamental to success in the manufacturing and distribution sector that’s emerging today.

GenAI
What does this backbone look like? For one, it is scalable and flexible by design, enabling factories and distribution centres to adapt as circumstances demand. The backbone works as an organisation-wide platform to facilitate real-time visibility into operations while promoting collaboration between various teams.

Leveraging GenAI algorithms, agility and responsiveness run through the entire system and help smooth crucial operations through simple task management and scheduling.

The Cloud

The cloud will also be a critical technology enabler, removing the need for manufacturers and distributors to invest in capital-intensive hardware. As a result, IT resources that had previously been used for maintaining the data infrastructure can be put to work on higher-value projects that have tangible benefits in terms of the customer experience, operational productivity, or cost efficiency (indeed, when it comes to the latter the AI itself can recommend cost-saving opportunities, helping businesses recoup their investments rapidly).

The cloud will also prove vital in implementing security measures to protect sensitive factory and distribution data.

As with anything, human-AI collaboration will only be as strong as its foundations. The Fifth Industrial Revolution will only reap its full benefits to organisations that understand this fact and make their technology decisions accordingly.

These businesses will be able to move beyond efficiency savings and unlock groundbreaking innovation and adaptability that the rest will struggle to mimic. They will in short become the success stories of tomorrow.