The transition from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0 represents a fundamental shift in the evolution of manufacturing systems, moving beyond digital connectivity and automation toward cognitive, human-centric production environments. This paper examines the conceptual and structural progression from digitalization and cybernation to cognitization, highlighting how these phases redefine the interaction between technological systems and human actors. Digitalization establishes the informational foundation of modern manufacturing through data acquisition, connectivity, and transparency. Cybernation builds upon this foundation by integrating physical and digital systems into cyber-physical production systems (CPPS), enabling adaptive, autonomous, and data-driven control. The emerging phase of cognitization extends these capabilities by incorporating learning, semantic interpretation, and context-aware reasoning into production systems, giving rise to cognitive cyber-physical production systems (C-CPPS). Particular attention is devoted to the role of human–machine synergy, where human cognition, ethical reasoning, and contextual understanding complement machine intelligence. This integration leads to the development of Human–Cyber–Physical Systems (HCPS), in which decision-making is distributed across human and artificial agents. The paper provides a structured interpretation of this three-phase evolution and discusses its implications for the design of resilient, sustainable, and human-centric manufacturing systems. The findings suggest that the future of industrial development will depend not only on technological advancement, but on the ability to harmonize autonomy, cognition, and human values within integrated industrial ecosystems, as envisioned in the Industry 5.0 paradigm.