Industry 4.0 is not enough. Businesses must face a new challenge.

• Alventa is a key supplier of ultra-pure phosphoric acid in Europe (including to companies producing chips and semiconductors). Maintaining production quality and protecting it from external interference is therefore crucial. Modern digital solutions are key to this.
• In recent years, the company has focused on the digitization of production and Industry 4.0 transformations. Barbara Augustynek, Head of IT, and Marcin Cholewa, Management Board Representative for ESG, tell us about this.
• The conversation is part of a series of interviews that will serve as the basis for the report "From Tape to Algorithm. How Digitalization Shapes the Future of Industry," prepared by WNP Economic Trends in connection with the New Industry Forum (Katowice, October 14-15, 2025).

What investments in the field of digitalization have you made in the last five years?

Over the last five years, we have completed numerous digital investments that, step by step, bring us closer to the concept of Industry 4.0. We have implemented an ERP system supporting production and management processes, launched electronic document flow, and in selected areas, implemented robotics.

At the same time, we are modernizing our IT infrastructure, preparing it to handle increasingly larger data volumes and IT/OT integration.

How do you assess the digital maturity of your organization?

- At the intermediate level – we've implemented basic solutions, but we consciously see potential for further optimization. We see the greatest opportunities in IT/OT integration, the use of AI and machine learning, and the development of monitoring and data analytics.

What digitalization projects, especially those related to Industry 4.0, are you planning for the next few years?

Looking ahead, we plan for continued growth. Key initiatives include further process automation, strengthening cybersecurity, and implementing AI/ML optimization tools. We are also considering investing in energy and emissions monitoring systems to support our ESG goals and CSRD reporting requirements.

In order to meet the regulations, an important element will be the implementation of the ISO 50001 energy management system, based on digital solutions.

Our goal is to achieve the level of organization that fully utilizes the potential of Industry 4.0.

Digitization must be profitable for the company - and reduce costs

What criteria dominate when making decisions about such investments?

We base our investment decisions on several factors. The most important are cost reduction, increased competitiveness and production efficiency, and ensuring quality and process predictability.

Regulatory requirements and customer expectations are also crucial, increasingly determining development directions. We also see that automation helps compensate for staff shortages, which is invaluable in the current labor market.

Who are you collaborating with in implementing digitalization – what barriers do you see at a national level?

When implementing digitalization, we collaborate with IT/OT providers, universities, and research and development centers. We also value collaboration with startups that bring innovative solutions and a fresh perspective.

The biggest barriers to digitizing companies include costs and complex financing processes, limited availability of IT/OT and AI specialists, and insufficient digital literacy among some employees. All of this undoubtedly slows down the adoption of new technologies.

What are the reasons for the low use of AI in Poland? In which areas does AI have the greatest industrial potential?

In my opinion, there are three main reasons for the low use of AI in Poland: lack of data maturity (dispersed and not harmonized with ERP/MES), cost barriers and uncertain return on investment – ​​especially in SMEs – as well as a shortage of AI/OT specialists and a limited culture of experimentation. Furthermore, regulatory caution and lengthy procurement processes are key. Organizing data is crucial , because without a solid foundation , AI implementations are fragmented and ineffective.

AI has the greatest potential in process optimization — reducing energy consumption, fine-tuning production parameters, logistics, and supply chain management. Prediction and planning also hold promise: demand forecasting, production planning, and predictive maintenance.

What investments have you made or are planning in the field of AI?

What have we done so far? We've automated selected processes and are organizing the data layer. What are we planning? Developing AI/ML tools for production planning, collaborating with suppliers and research institutes, and building analytical solutions (dashboards, KPIs) to support faster and better business decisions.

Our goal is to gradually increase digital maturity so that AI becomes an integral part of processes, not just an add-on.

Polish business is digitizing, although the pace varies

To what extent does the digitalization of the Polish state and its production and management processes support the implementation of sustainable development goals (ESG)? To what extent are the digital solutions you implement related to, for example, energy optimization, carbon footprint, reporting transparency, and social responsibility?

Digitalization is increasingly supporting the implementation of ESG goals, although the pace of change in Poland is uneven. On the one hand, we have the dynamic development of e-government, which facilitates reporting and contact with institutions, but on the other, many companies still demonstrate a low level of digital maturity.

In industry, digitalization is bringing real results: automation allows for better monitoring of energy and utility consumption, and advanced analytics supports carbon footprint reduction and process optimization.

We are increasingly implementing energy management systems, product carbon footprint calculations, and solutions enabling CSRD-compliant reporting. Digital tools also have a social dimension – they facilitate communication with employees and increase transparency towards stakeholders.

Ultimately, we see digitalization becoming the foundation for ESG – it combines the environment, society, and governance in a single system of data and processes, and this allows us to translate declarations into concrete actions.

How are digitalization and the broader transformations of Industry 4.0 impacting and will impact management and organizational culture in your company? Has your company implemented personnel changes, retrained employees, or appointed transformation leaders?

- The concept of Industry 4.0 is not limited only to technologies in the field of automation, robotization and the use of artificial intelligence, but to a large extent concerns people management and organizational culture.

It influences the way of management through decentralization and agile management, more distributed , e.g. at the level of engineers or the "apparatus" themselves running production processes.

Managers are tasked with supporting transformation, leading it, building digital awareness among teams, and facilitating human-machine collaboration.

We place emphasis on innovation, both through the search for quick solutions, experimenting at the "bottom" of the organization (for example through the Kaizen Program), and by searching for innovative solutions within research and development activities.

Alventa boasts a century-old tradition, but in order to match or overtake market leaders, the company focuses on constantly improving its qualifications, especially in data analysis, handling new technologies, and quality monitoring.

The role of the employee is constantly expanding, moving away from routine, repetitive tasks that can be performed by machines, towards analytical, supervisory, and creative tasks. Employees are engaged in interdisciplinary project teams.

Theory is not everything, staff also need practice

How do you assess the current system of educating staff in specialties used in digitalization and Industry 4.0 in general? What changes are needed, and what role should the state play, and what role should companies play?

- Education - both at technical universities and in vocational and secondary technical schools - remains too theoretical, often lagging behind technological changes and needs.

This has been changing in recent years, but there's still a lack of modern laboratories, simulators, and insight into the realities of industry. This is particularly noticeable during internships and placements, as well as when hiring graduates – young people often have an idealized image of working in an industrial company, one that differs from reality. It's only in a company that they encounter real-world problems and tasks, and have the opportunity to use modern laboratory equipment for the first time. They themselves say that studies and industrial work are two different worlds; when they start working, they learn the profession anew.

In industrial companies (but not only), soft skills are very important, such as the ability to work in a team and cooperate with other organizational units, the development of which during education does not always go hand in hand with the acquisition of specialist knowledge.

The state's role should be to support educational infrastructure, particularly that focused on acquiring practical skills, promoting cooperation between science and business, and subsidizing training. Companies, in turn, should participate in co-creating educational programs, offer internships and apprenticeships, and invest in training for their employees, providing opportunities for retraining and enhancing competencies.

Is the new concept of Industry 5.0—combining technology, sustainable development, and a focus on people, along with companies' resilience to crises—an inevitable direction? Expectations for businesses and companies are rising exponentially, becoming more challenging to meet—both organizationally and financially. Will businesses be able to meet these expectations?

- Unlike the Industry 4.0 concept, which primarily aims to automate, robotize and digitize production, maximizing efficiency and productivity, in the Industry 5.0 concept the role of humans, social responsibility, and employee well-being become crucial, going hand in hand with efficiency and long-term resilience to crises.

This direction - Industry 5.0 - seems inevitable - also due to the introduced legal requirements, such as ESG reporting, but also the expectations of customers, employees and investors.

While emerging difficulties for companies related to ESG reporting may initially ease or postpone legal requirements, companies—especially international ones— have been actively pursuing sustainable development initiatives for some time now, regardless of legal requirements, and require the same from their suppliers. An example is the introduction of mechanisms into online tenders that—in addition to price—evaluate other aspects of supplier performance, primarily related to reducing their carbon footprint.

Implementing the Industry 5.0 concept will pose a significant challenge for companies on various levels, primarily financial, as investing in decarbonization, environmentally friendly technologies, and crisis resilience requires significant investment. Investing in this concept will take years to pay off, while companies are currently struggling with profitability due to the state of the European economy, the economic slowdown, and Asian competition.

The problem also occurs at the competence level: companies lack people with skills in the areas of ESG, change management, AI implementation and cybersecurity.

As the transformation towards Industry 5.0 is inevitable, companies that find it harder to adapt to this concept may lose markets and employees, not to mention the ability to recruit those most needed to implement the changes. This will lead to even greater differentiation, with larger companies gaining additional strength, while weaker companies with fewer capabilities may go out of business entirely or be acquired.

Obtaining and exchanging data with partners may also be dangerous.

How do you assess the potential and risks associated with acquiring and exchanging data with B2B partners (suppliers, customers)?

- Acquiring and exchanging data with B2B partners is very important in building effective supply chains and cost optimization.

Information about market demand and inventory levels at your trading partners provides additional opportunities for production planning, minimizing inventories, and avoiding downtime and disruptions.

Moreover, data exchange enables better product tailoring for customers, development of innovative solutions, and can contribute to the introduction of greater automation of purchasing/sales processes, as well as increasing resilience to crisis situations.

Collaboration between business partners on ESG and sustainable development is crucial. Sharing data on carbon footprint reduction, initiatives, targets, and calculation methodologies is crucial for compliance with legal regulations and building value chains.

However, acquiring and exchanging data with B2B partners may also involve risks such as disclosing sensitive data, acquiring knowledge about products, processes, costs, margins, and inventories, and thus worsening the negotiating and competitive position of companies.

These concerns and distrust of deep collaboration can be an obstacle to sharing data, which is why this type of collaboration is more likely to occur between companies operating on the basis of close partnership, joint development while maintaining data security principles and legal requirements, including NDAs (non-disclosure agreements - editor's note).

How do you assess the level of awareness and protection against cyberattacks in industry? What actions should the government take in this regard?

This level is rising, but it remains insufficient and highly variable. Large corporations, especially international ones, are implementing high standards in line with ISO and the NIS2 directive.

The problem arises in smaller companies, and even in some large enterprises – they often lack financial and personnel resources, or cybersecurity is perceived as a cost. As a result, these companies are most often targeted by attacks, and consequences like ransomware or SCADA system hijackings can paralyze entire processes. Integrating IT with OT networks further increases the risk.

In our opinion, the government should not only impose obligations but also provide real support to companies. Minimum standards and mandatory audits are needed, but also—in parallel—support tools : grant programs, tax breaks, central monitoring platforms (SOC-as-a-Service), and databases of incident response procedures.

Education is also crucial: training, campaigns, and simulation exercises. Without comprehensive measures combining prevention, prevention, education, and technological support, Polish industry will be increasingly vulnerable to incidents, the effects of which may extend beyond individual plants and impact the stability of the economy.