SHAH ALAM: National research and technology development body Sirim Bhd is focusing on Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing research and technology capabilities in line with the trend towards automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies and processes.
“We’re establishing our capabilities to do this (Industry 4.0). We want the local industry to have a competitive advantage in the industry ecosystem and global value chain,” Sirim president & group CEO Prof Dr Ahmad Fadzil Mohamad Hani told SunBiz in an interview recently.
Sirim’s role in Industry 4.0 is to assist companies adopt the right kind of technologies that suit their needs and maximise their performance over a long-term period.
Ahmad Fadzil said every assistance that Sirim provides can be reflected in the productivity increase of companies and SMEs, whether in sales, or measured in specific key performing indicators.
Sirim, through its one-stop resource centre for standards in Shah Alam, has in its collection, more than 100,000 national, international and industry standards. It also builds human resource competencies through training on Industry 4.0 technology pillars and acts as total solution provider, focusing on conducting readiness audit to determine organisation maturity level, provide solutions on how to move up the levels incrementally and build competencies and capabilities through training across all levels.
Sirim has established the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for smart manufacturing with three roles, which are standards for interoperability, competency & capacity building and technology adoption.
The CoE has four programmes, – on routing the future readiness (development of competent and high-skilled workforce), standardisation (development of standards, guidelines, best practices, specifications), innovation accelerators (new smart innovation development programmes based on regulatory/innovation sandbox) and cyber physical progression (retrofitting machines to enable Industry 4.0).
In helping companies to meet the demands, Sirim is planning to develop sectoral-based industry standards and monitor development of Industry 4.0 standards at the international levels.
Industry4WRD, which was launched by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Oct 31, 2018, is Malaysia’s response to call for digital transformation of the manufacturing sector and its related services by facilitating companies to embrace Industry 4.0 in a systematic and comprehensive manner, and be smarter and stronger driven by people, process and technology.
Sirim has been appointed as an assessing body for Industry4WRD Readiness Assessment (Industry4WRD RA) by the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti). Industry4WRD RA is a comprehensive programme to help company assess their capabilities and readiness to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies and processes.
The assessment uses a predetermined set of indicators to understand their present capabilities and gaps, from which will enable company to prepare feasible strategies and plans to move towards Industry 4.0. Sirim has 35 assessors and has been assigned by Miti to evaluate 80 companies in the manufacturing industry.
Ahmad Fadzil said Sirim is trying to provide such technologies and capabilities to SMEs, as 98% of business establishments in Malaysia comprise SMEs.
“A portion of SMEs are involved in manufacturing, which contributes to the economy and the potential (of economic growth) is double of that. We can raise that by having the technology and move to Industry 4.0 capabilities. All these efforts are to gear towards raising the SMEs’ contribution to the economy.”
He said manufacturing will have to be sustainable to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030.
“Material is the biggest issue in manufacturing and Industry 4.0 reduces such waste. In the coming years, SDG goals will be more measured and manufacturing must also look at their sustainability in the use of the material, energy and in the waste they produce.”
For commercialisation, Ahmad Fadzil said Sirim Tech Venture Sdn Bhd carries the mandate of accelerating business commercialisation of innovations generated from any research and development endeavours.
He said products must meet market needs and requirements, have market access and with productisation.
Meanwhile, in line with Miti’s initiatives in growth areas such as aerospace, rail, medical device and shipbuilding, Sirim has also been engaging with these industries to identify their needs and challenges in developing the relevant pro-grammes and services.
