<scp>I5.0‐MM</scp> : Beyond Automation Toward Human‐Centric Sustainable Manufacturing

ABSTRACT Human‐centricity, a core tenet of Industry 5.0, underscores the incorporation of human necessities and societal values into industrial transformation. Maturity models in Industry 4.0 have been extensively used to evaluate digital readiness; they focus on technological aspects, inadequately addressing sustainability, collaboration, and socio‐technical dimensions. This paper addresses this gap by introducing I5.0‐MM, a maturity framework that repositions human‐centricity and sustainability alongside digitalization and collaboration as core pillars of assessment. The framework was supported through application in three organizations, a precision manufacturing SME, a multinational corporation, and an innovation hub, using a layered methodology that combined self‐assessments, operational key performance indicators, AI‐enabled dashboards, fuzzy‐logic scoring, expert validation, robust testing, and benchmarking against Industry 4.0 ranges. Findings show consistent improvements across cases, with perceptual data converging with operational outcomes, dashboards capturing sustained progression, fuzzy‐logic assessments reflecting advances in inclusion and ethical governance, and expert validation confirming reliability. Robust testing illustrated stable rankings, while benchmarking placed all organizations above conventional Industry 4.0 maturity levels. By extending maturity assessment beyond digital readiness, I5.0‐MM contributes theoretically and practically, providing a supported tool to guide organizational and policy transformation in the era of Industry 5.0.