During the launch of National Policy on Industry 4.0 (Industry4WRD), the prime minister addressed the plans to have a high-tech manufacturing sector by 2025

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced at the launch of the National Policy on Industry 4.0 (Industry4WRD) that Malaysia will focus to ensure a higher productivity, contribution, innovation, and to increase the number of high-skilled workers in manufacturing sector in order to become a high-tech industry destination for the next six years.

In this SMEs dominated sector, a total of 23 per cent contribution has been made to the gross domestic product, as reported by The Star.

With innovation as the heart of his speech, the prime minister envisioned the country that currently holds 35th rank to be among the top 30 nations in the Global Innovation Index by 2025.

“The fourth industrial revolution (IR4.0) is a crucial step to leap forward for the manufacturing industry. Bring the technology to exhibitions and show the companies how they can increase production and lower the cost. When you know the exact formula, the companies will save money to buy the new technology,” the prime minister said in the press conference.

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The prime minister also addressed the corrupt mentality from the previous administration, stating that the SMEs industry shouldn’t be motivated by incentives. He noted the danger of dependency to reward system that can be crippling for the people.

To solve the issue, Datuk Soh Thian Lai, the president of Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) that represents more than 10,000 manufacturing supply chain companies suggested that SME manufacturers could instead benefit through soft loans with low interest rates by banks.

“This hopefully will enhance the willingness of the SMEs to break and embrace Industry 4.0 because other ASEAN countries are embarking on it aggressively,” said Datuk Soh Thian Lai, highlighting the fact that Malaysian SMEs have no choice but to adopt the fourth industrial revolution.

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The government is said to summon the help from International Trade and Industry Ministry and other government agencies.

Dr Mahathir admitted that currently, Malaysian manufacturing SMEs lags behind in digitisation. It needs to be at the forefront of their competitors to promote technology growth.

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Image Credit: Proplegacy

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