An Industrial Metaverse Platform for Collaborative and Sustainable Manufacturing in Industry 5.0

ABSTRACT

The transition towards Industry 5.0 demands manufacturing systems that seamlessly integrate digital technologies with human‐centric and sustainability objectives, enabling resilient and data‐driven operations. This paper introduces an integrated industrial metaverse platform that unifies real‐time Internet of things (IoT) sensing, dynamic digital twin modelling and immersive collaborative environments to support multistakeholder interaction, operational awareness and sustainability monitoring in manufacturing systems. The platform enables users to interact with a realistic 3D virtual representation of the factory via desktop and extended reality (XR) interfaces, accessing contextualised data on machine performance, energy use, environmental conditions and emissions. By embedding sustainability key performance indicators—such as energy consumption, CO ₂ emissions and waste metrics—directly within the immersive environment, the platform moves beyond conceptual frameworks and offers an operational solution that supports predictive maintenance, process optimisation and collaborative decision‐making aligned with human‐centric manufacturing goals. A pilot implementation in a textile manufacturing setting demonstrates improvements in operational transparency, reduced downtime, enhanced remote collaboration and greater energy efficiency. Results illustrate the potential of industrial metaverse technologies to advance sustainable, resilient and human‐centric manufacturing, providing a scalable framework suitable for broader industrial adoption.