Accelerated technology developments caused by Industry 4.0 create problems in its implementation. One of the most important factors that hinder the transition of companies is ignorance and, therefore, the fear of new technologies present among employees. Learning factories have proven to be one of the best solutions for introducing employees to the technologies of Industry 4.0. Croatia is significantly behind in implementing the features of Industry 4.0, especially compared to more developed countries. To facilitate the transition of the Croatian industry to Industry 4.0, it is necessary to acquaint existing and future employees with its technologies through learning factories. There is currently only one learning factory in Croatia, which is too few. This paper presents the process of design and establishment of a learning factory at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Zagreb, which facilitates research work and education of students and employees with Industry 4.0.
The concept of Industry 5.0 provides a human-centered, sustainable, and resilient manufacturing system with a high emphasis on green technologies. This paper will examine the current use and perception of the green and digital technologies in the internal and external transport systems of Croatian manufacturing companies, relying on the continuous work of the authors in the field of local manufacturing industry development and digitalization. On a sample of 112 companies, statistical analysis of the results has shown that the greatest challenge in the digital technologies implementation is the unavailability of the technology on the market and employee resistance to change. The companies perceive benefits of renewable resource usage in internal transport in the rise in environmental awareness and increased flexibility, while the productivity increase and human safety improvement are the crucial reasons for the digitalization of internal transport in Croatian manufacturing companies. In external transport, the use of renewable energy sources is very rare, due to high price and low endurance of the vehicles, but the main reasons for its future possible implementation are environmental awareness, profitability, and sustainability. The majority of the companies in Croatia are still not familiar with Industry 4.0 or 5.0 concept but have shown a high interest for digital and green technology implementation to enable sustainable future development.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.