Podcast: From lean tools to problem solvers — the new role of leadership in Industry 5.0

Key takeaways

• Industry 5.0 blends lean with human-centered innovation, shifting focus from efficiency to engagement and purpose.
• Tech tools like AI aid training, but leaders must coach critical thinking and real-world application.
• Lean success hinges on building problem solvers, not just teaching tools—mindset matters more.
• Underutilized talent is waste; empowering workers unlocks true continuous improvement potential..

Industry 4.0 advocates talk about the need to manage workers differently, but the thrust of the movement is machine learning, data collection, data-based decision modeling and data-driven process improvement.

So, where do people have a say? To Sarah Tilkens, a former GE Healthcare lean guru who now runs the KPI Lab, that’s why we need Industry 5.0. “The problem (with Industry 4.0) is with the focus so much on productivity and efficiency. People became really, really burned out and disengaged,” Tilkens said. “So, a lot of the systems became very rigid. They weren’t as flexible. They weren’t as creative. And I think that’s what led to… Industry 5.0, which again is all around human led innovation.”

Tilkens shared her thoughts with IndustryWeek editor Jill Jusko, someone who’s spent 25 years writing about continuous improvement and operational excellence.

Below is an excerpt from the podcast:

IW: What does Industry 5.0 look like to you, Sarah?

ST: I have to give credit—I went to a conference in Milwaukee, WI, which is where I’m from—a couple weeks ago. It was put on by Summerfest, it’s our big music festival, but they had a tech and AI conference, and that’s where I learned about Industry 5.0. I hadn’t even realized that we had arrived.

So the way that I think about the difference—because I got super excited and dug in a little bit, like you mentioned—is: Industry 4.0 was all about machines, all about productivity and efficiency, and honestly, getting humans out of places where they’re not creating value.

Some of that is lean, right? Like, we want people to create high value. So if you can get people creating better value by getting them out of monotonous tasks—cool.

I think the problem is, with the focus so much on productivity and efficiency, people became really, really burnt out and disengaged. So a lot of the systems became very rigid. They weren’t as flexible. They weren’t as creative. And I think that’s what led to the birth or the recognition of Industry 5.0, which, again, is all around human-led innovation.

So: focusing on purpose and value, and putting humans back in the driver’s seat of the process instead of machines in the driver’s seat of the process.