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Immersive technologies are fundamentally transforming manufacturing. VR, AR, MR, and XR merge physical and digital worlds into interactive work environments. In Industry 4.0, they enable more intuitive access to planning, production, maintenance, and training. This issue of Industry 4.0 Science shows how immersive technologies are becoming a central building block of resilient, flexible, and innovative production systems.

Digitalization projects help users represent complex processes more simply and efficiently. However, there are many obstacles to implementation. Reluctance to implement these projects is palpable. This affects, among others, employers and employees, who may fall behind economically by waiting or avoiding change. These observations can be traced back to an overarching research question: What barriers and systemic challenges hinder sustainable transformation within the context of Industry 4.0, particularly when considering human labor in production engineering? What questions are the affected stakeholders asking? The primary goal of this long-term research project is to define these questions decisively and in detail in order to develop a conceptual foundation that integrates research, teaching, and technological development and thus combines the potential of digital technologies with the experiential and practical knowledge of production workers.

Thread forming requires precise lubricant application because high contact pressures and process temperatures strongly influence tool loading, friction, and process stability. Although minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) systems are widely used, current spray-based approaches can still suffer from spray losses, insufficient wetting of the thread grooves, and unstable droplet transport. This article presents a concept for adaptive precision lubrication in thread forming based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-supported flow analysis, experimental validation, and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted optimization. The focus is on droplet size, spray jet geometry, nozzle position, ambient flow conditions, and their influence on wetting intensity. Preliminary simulation-based investigations indicate that data-driven optimization can help identify wetting deficiencies and support the development of future control strategies for resource-efficient lubricant application.

In the manufacturing industry, the integration of digital human models into the product development and manufacturing process is becoming increasingly important. Particularly in assembly, which is characterized by a high proportion of manual tasks, motion simulations enable a realistic representation of human work and thus make a significant contribution to the evaluation of motion economy, process validation, and efficiency improvement. However, widespread application in production planning faces various challenges, such as the high initial effort required to create human simulations as well as volatile planning conditions. This article presents a practice-oriented solution from the automotive assembly sector that enables the creation of simulations with reduced effort as well as their early and consistent use in the planning process.