In episode 28 of “Diary of a CHRO,” João Ricardo interviews Beata Sawicka, Head of Industry 5.0 Academy at Danone. She leads a global initiative preparing employees for an era of closer human-machine collaboration, and in this conversation, she shares how Danone is driving operational transformation through the digital upskilling of its workforce. 

“Industry 5.0 is the future. It is how we integrate the new technology with the human,” she says. Industry 4.0, by contrast, was about automation — doing things more efficiently and smoothly. “But 5.0 is what is waiting for us (…). The Academy (…) is upskilling, reskilling. We provide the content to the people, but everything is dedicated to the digital transformation — how to equip our people to be ready for the challenges of the future. We equip our people so that they are ready for the future in their personal lives, but of course, in their business lives.” 

“We want to be sure that all our Danoners are equipped for the digital transformation,” she summarizes.

Sawicka is quick to note that training and certification are only half the journey. For her, the real measure of success lies in the business cases employees develop during master classes and hackathons — and then implement on the factory floor. The question she keeps coming back to is one of scale: what productivity gains does a given case deliver, and how can it be extended to other factories? Once a case is validated, it’s added to a shared catalog of solutions — a growing library other factories can draw on, both as practical templates and as inspiration for the range of practices already in motion across Danone. 

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