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One of the most hyped concepts in the manufacturing industry is ‘Industry 4.0’. The ‘Industry 4.0’ concept is grabbing the attention of every manufacturing industry across the globe because of its immense applications. This phenomenon is an advanced version of Industry 3.0, combining manufacturing processes and the latest Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. The main advantage of this paradigm shift is efficiency and efficacy in the manufacturing process with the help of advanced automated technologies. The concept of ‘Industry 4.0’ is contemporary, so it falls under exploratory study. Therefore, the research methodology is thematic narration grounded on secondary data (online) analysis. In this light, this chapter aims to explain ‘Industry 4.0’ in terms of concepts, theories and models based on the Web of Science (WoS) database. The data include research manuscripts, book chapters, blogs, white papers, news items and proceedings. The study details the latest technologies behind the ‘Industry 4.0’ phenomenon, different business intelligence technologies and their practical implications in some manufacturing industries. This chapter mainly elaborates on Industry 4.0 frameworks designed by (1) PwC (2) IBM (3) Frost & Sullivan.

Manufacturing in Mauritius is mostly export-oriented. Any supply chain (SC) failure or resilience deficit may result in cancellation of orders and loss of customers, market share and revenue and reduce capability to compete globally. Addressing this challenge is complex, although digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) models can improve resilience by assisting decision-making and mitigate risks, thus infusing greater predictability across the SC.

Supply chains are facing increasing disruptions and uncertainties owing to extreme weather events, the war in Ukraine, market volatility and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, among other factors. Manufacturing industries and their supply chains essentially create thousands of jobs that enable economic growth and sustain export capability. In addition, they need to maintain or increase both productivity and efficiency and recover quickly from unforeseen or unexpected challenges – that is they need to be resilient. Transformation initiatives, whether in production or supply chain management (SCM), are never easy. Process changes not supported by data or hurried human decisions can sometimes have unintended consequences, mainly adverse. However, in times of greater uncertainty (war and pandemic), setbacks can have greater consequences on the business. Manufacturers are already apprehensive and report slowing exports as recession concerns have caused consumers and businesses to pull back on spending. There is therefore a need to reduce uncertainty and augment resilience by unlocking and synthesising insights that emanate from the power of data analytics, AI and machine learning to improve the resilience efficiency balance.

This chapter will discuss the opportunities arising from the adoption and implementation of digital technologies and AI in SCM, leading to better value creation, less greenhouse gas emissions and resilience. The hurdles that enterprises are facing to integrate AI in their logistics and SCs will also be highlighted. This work comments on initiatives that uphold the objectives of SDG 8 – decent work and economic growth, SDG 9 – industry, innovation & infrastructure and SDG 13 – climate action.

Purpose: This chapter aims to enlighten the stakeholders on the role and contribution and the issues and challenges of large-scale industries in the wake of the globally unified economies.

Need for the study: Large-scale industries are one of the pillars of any nation and can exercise an immense impact on the numerous facets of the economy of any country. Their role and contribution can benefit all the stakeholders, especially in today’s integrated and interdependent world economies. Hence, there is an absolute need to highlight the issues and challenges and suggest measures to overcome them to promote a resilient global economy.

Methodology: The study gathered data from secondary sources like textbooks, articles, and the internet.

Findings: The findings of the study state that large-scale industries are enormous contributors to employment creation, development of the economy, growth of revenue, research and development (R&D) and innovation, export promotion, and infrastructure. The significant challenges include regulatory compliance, workforce management, economic volatility, political instability, supply chain management, environmental compliance, and technology and infrastructure.

Protectionism, deregulation, public–private partnership, privatisation, and environmental regulation are significant government decisions that affect large-scale industries. The study identifies tax incentives, easy access to financing, and domestic and international trade policies to safeguard large-scale industries’ interests.

Practical implications: Large-scale industries contribute towards the growth of global economic resilience in terms of employment generation, technological advancements, and innovation, fostering international trade in today’s interconnected world.

The emerging industrial revolution referred to as Industry 5.0 is focusing on leveraging human creativity with intelligent and autonomous systems to derive user-friendly work environment for the businesses. Industry 5.0 stresses on people centric work ecosystem, zero accident policy and the well-being of labour within the production processes. This approach of Industry 5.0 to obtain human-centric safety solutions through the deployment of digital technologies deduces workplace accidents and costs leading to the development of Safety 4.0. This chapter aims to investigate the opportunities and challenges of Safety 4.0 and its enabling technologies aspiring towards the greater impact on safety management. Further, we have proposed a framework for the role of human centric digital transformations concerning safety in the manufacturing industry propelling Safety 4.0. Concluding, we discuss the implications for managers and practitioners. We found that Safety 4.0 will strengthen industrial safety, and instead of reacting to accidents, the concept evolved towards a preventive and proactive approach for a healthy industrial ecosystem.

Industry 4.0 has been identified as a key cornerstone to modernise economies where man and machines complement each other seamlessly to achieve synergies in decision-making and productivity for contributing to SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth and SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. The integration of Industry 4.0 remains a challenge for the developing world, depending on their current status in the industrial revolution journey from its predecessors 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. This chapter reviews reported findings in literature to highlight how robotics and automated systems can pave the way to implementing and applying the principles of Industry 4.0 for developing countries like Mauritius, where data collection, processing and analysis for decision-making and prediction are key components to be integrated or designed into industrial processes centred heavily on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning techniques. Robotics has not yet found its way into the various industrial sectors in Mauritius, although it has been an important driver for Industry 4.0 across the world. The inherent barriers and transformations needed as well as the potential application scenarios are discussed.

Industry 5.0 is referred to the subsequent industrialization. The ultimate goal of this transformation is to enable manufacturing solutions through collaboration with man and machine which are more user-friendly and increase work quality in comparison to Industry 4.0. This will be accomplished through the consumption of the creative potential of human specialists in the creation of an industry with more efficient, clever, and precise machines. It is predicted that several exciting breakthroughs and apps will help Industry 5.0 in its plan to gain more productivity and supply personalized goods in an open system. On the other hand, Industry 5.0 has had a greater global and international renown from the very beginning of its existence. Machine learning (ML) technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data will create a collaboration with people, robots, and other intelligent devices. Industry 5.0 continues to serve as an attractive driver for our society's workforce skills and young talent in search of purposeful professional lives. There are some challenges as well, such as working with advanced robots requires people to develop skills. People need to gain proper knowledge about collaboration with smart machines and the robot manufacturers industry. However, this ultimate overhaul is necessary for the industry to certify its reason as a solution provider for our society. These things will unquestionably ensure the long-term sustained development (SD) of any nation's economy.

The fifth industrial revolution, known as Industry 5.0, envisions an industry that is innovative, resilient, socio-centric, and competitive while minimizing negative environmental and social impacts, respecting people, the planet, and prosperity. Industry 5.0 is replacing earlier advancements and it is successful because it reaches the pinnacle of perfection. Additionally, machine work saves human workers time and effort. It is built on the concept of fusing digitalization elements from the fourth industrial revolution with Sustainable Development Goals through human-centric solutions, bio-inspired technologies, and secure data transfer. Industry 5.0 mentions about the various opportunities, constraints, and potential directions for future research. Industry 5.0 places less emphasis on technology and focus on human collaboration for progress, it supposed to have a shift in existing paradigm. Industry 5.0 is necessary in contemporary business with the paid technology advancements in order to get competitive advantages as well as economic growth for the manufacturing and it has three drivers: “green transition”, “digital transition”, and “competitive transition”. The goal of green transition is to prevent climate change and environmental degradation. This necessitates changes to current economic growth strategies. The goal of digital transition is to support the circular economy by modernizing digital strategies in terms of digital skills, data, technologies, and infrastructure. Competitive transition aims to convert marketing policies, regulations, standards to increase people's prosperity and business value. It focuses on business and marketing rules that are fair, competitive, innovative, and adaptable.

Intelligent real-time systems are significantly impacting several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by revolutionising processes in several areas such as Industry 4.0, smart cities, transportation, agriculture, renewable energy, climate change and other economic activities. Given that much of the work to achieve the SDGs relies on information and communication technology, cybersecurity has a potentially immense role to play towards achieving these outcomes. Moreover, cyberattacks have emerged as a new functional threat for interconnected, smart manufacturers and digital supply networks, employed in intelligent real-time systems for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The effects of cyberattacks can be much more widespread than ever before due to the interconnected nature of Industry 4.0-driven operations. Blockchain can be really useful in such situations as it provides edge protection and allows authentication of the machine-to-machine and human–machine operations, stable data share, life cycle management, access control compliance of devices and self-sustaining operations. Moreover, blockchain can be applied for tracking and tracing transactions through devices, which are performed during the operation, as well as to encrypt and transmit data securely. It is vital to establish complete trust in a technology that is being adopted so that its full potential can be exploited. It is consequently critical that the organisational and information technology strategy fully integrates secure, vigilant and resilient cybersecurity strategies such as blockchain. This will ensure that cyber risks are properly managed in the age of Industry 4.0. This chapter, therefore, analyses the application of blockchain in intelligent real-time systems such as Industry 4.0 so that the opportunities these systems present for the SDGs can be exploited safely with minimum risks to society.