IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i1p280-d1559014.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Metaverse for Manufacturing: Leveraging Extended Reality Technology for Human-Centric Production Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Vivian Egbengwu

    (Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK)

  • Wolfgang Garn

    (Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK)

  • Chris J. Turner

    (Surrey Business School, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK)

Abstract

As we progress towards Industry 5.0, technological advancements are converging; this movement is realised by the increasing collaboration between humans and intelligent digital platforms and further enabled by the interactive visualisation modes provided by Metaverse technology. This research examines the practical applications and limitations of Metaverse technology providing insights into the transformative possibilities it offers for the manufacturing sector. Specifically, the research was guided by the core objective to trace the evolution of Metaverse technology within manufacturing. This study provides a comprehensive and state-of-the-art analysis of the adoption and impact of Metaverse technologies in the manufacturing sector. While previous research has explored aspects of Industry 4.0 and digital transformation, this study specifically focuses on human-centric manufacturing (human-in-the-loop) applications of Metaverse technology, including augmented reality, virtual reality, digital twins, and cyber-physical robotic systems. Findings from the systematic literature review indicate that Metaverse technologies, primarily augmented reality and virtual reality, have evolved into powerful tools in manufacturing. They are widely adopted across sectors in the industry, transforming processes such as product design, quality control, and maintenance. Augmented reality and virtual reality offer intuitive ways to visualise data and interact with digital twins, bridging the gap between physical and virtual realms in manufacturing. A roadmap and scenarios for the introduction of Metaverse technology in manufacturing are provided with suggested adoption timespans. Furthermore, the systematic literature review identified barriers hindering the wider adoption of Metaverse technology in manufacturing.

Suggested Citation

  • Vivian Egbengwu & Wolfgang Garn & Chris J. Turner, 2025. "Metaverse for Manufacturing: Leveraging Extended Reality Technology for Human-Centric Production Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-23, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:1:p:280-:d:1559014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/1/280/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/1/280/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Weiran Cao & Zengjie Cai & Xu Yao & Lifeng Chen, 2023. "Digital Transformation to Help Carbon Neutrality and Green Sustainable Development Based on the Metaverse," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-15, April.
    2. Zaheer Allam & Ayyoob Sharifi & Simon Elias Bibri & David Sydney Jones & John Krogstie, 2022. "The Metaverse as a Virtual Form of Smart Cities: Opportunities and Challenges for Environmental, Economic, and Social Sustainability in Urban Futures," Post-Print hal-03997438, HAL.
    3. Saeed, Abubakr & Ali, Ashiq & Ashfaq, Saira, 2024. "Employees' training experience in a metaverse environment? Feedback analysis using structural topic modeling," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhong, Ziqi & Zhao, Elena Yifei, 2024. "Collaborative driving mode of sustainable marketing and supply chain management supported by metaverse technology," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121160, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Robertas Damaševičius, 2023. "From E-commerce to V-commerce: Understanding the impact of virtual reality and metaverse on economic activities," Journal of Information Economics, Anser Press, vol. 1(3), pages 55-79, October.
    3. Park, Gain & Park, YounJung & Lee, Seyoung, 2024. "Compliance-gaining in metaverse: A moderated parallel mediation model testing the interaction between legitimization of paltry favors technique and victim identification," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    4. Saveria Olga Murielle Boulanger, 2024. "Smart City and Energy: A Bibliometric Review of the Smart City and Smart Energy Concept from the Perspective of the Bioclimatic Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-21, May.
    5. Li, Sihong & Chen, Jinglong, 2024. "Virtual human on social media: Text mining and sentiment analysis," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    6. Stefano Mottura, 2024. "Does Anyone Care about the Opinion of People on Participating in a “Social” Metaverse? A Review and a Draft Proposal for a Surveying Tool," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-27, July.
    7. Khalid K. Naji & Murat Gunduz & Fahid Al-Henzab, 2024. "Evaluating the Digital Transformation Potential in Pre-Construction for Sustainable Practices Using Structural Equation Modeling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-33, August.
    8. Nikola Vangelov, 2023. "Ambient Advertising in Metaverse Smart Cities," Smart Cities and Regional Development (SCRD) Journal, Smart-EDU Hub, Faculty of Public Administration, National University of Political Studies & Public Administration, vol. 7(1), pages 43-55, March.
    9. Shaohui Zou & Xiangbo Fan & Lei Wang & Yuanzheng Cui, 2024. "High-speed rail new towns and their impacts on urban sustainable development: a spatial analysis based on satellite remote sensing data," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    10. Daniel G. Costa & João Carlos N. Bittencourt & Franklin Oliveira & João Paulo Just Peixoto & Thiago C. Jesus, 2024. "Achieving Sustainable Smart Cities through Geospatial Data-Driven Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-30, January.
    11. Tara Vanli, 2024. "Can systemic governance of smart cities catalyse urban sustainability?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(9), pages 23327-23384, September.
    12. Mohsen Hatami & Qian Qu & Yu Chen & Hisham Kholidy & Erik Blasch & Erika Ardiles-Cruz, 2024. "A Survey of the Real-Time Metaverse: Challenges and Opportunities," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-52, October.
    13. Kumar, Aman & Shankar, Amit, 2024. "Building a sustainable future with enterprise metaverse in a data-driven era: A technology-organization-environment (TOE) perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    14. Pietro De Giovanni, 2023. "Sustainability of the Metaverse: A Transition to Industry 5.0," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-29, March.
    15. Eun Joung Kim & Jung Yoon Kim, 2023. "Exploring the Online News Trends of the Metaverse in South Korea: A Data-Mining-Driven Semantic Network Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-19, November.
    16. Luis Alberto Laurens-Arredondo & Lilibeth Laurens, 2023. "Metaversity: Beyond Emerging Educational Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-18, November.
    17. Kumar, Satish & Sureka, Riya & Lucey, Brian M. & Dowling, Michael & Vigne, Samuel & Lim, Weng Marc, 2024. "MetaMoney: Exploring the intersection of financial systems and virtual worlds," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    18. Lnenicka, Martin & Rizun, Nina & Alexopoulos, Charalampos & Janssen, Marijn, 2024. "Government in the metaverse: Requirements and suitability for providing digital public services," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    19. Ștefan Vlăduțescu & Georgiana Camelia Stănescu, 2023. "Environmental Sustainability of Metaverse: Perspectives from Romanian Developers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-20, July.
    20. Mr. Vivek Dubey, 2022. "Metaverse and Banking Industry – 2023 The Year of Metaverse Adoption," Technium, Technium Science, vol. 4(1), pages 62-73.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:1:p:280-:d:1559014. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.