Government Initiatives to Promote Adoption of IR4.0 Technologies in Manufacturing

Abstract

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) is centred on technology-induced productivity by using digitalisation, virtualisation (cloud operations), and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance operational intelligence, including empowering production machines to guide decision making and adopting an agile production configuration. This chapter examines the role taken up by the Malaysian government to assist and guide companies, especially small and medium enterprises in making that first step into digitalisation before embarking on more expansive initiatives leading to smart operations. The challenges facing Malaysian industries are also examined, especially for companies which are dependent to foreign labour and have minimal technology savviness, including minimal awareness in proper cybersecurity procedures, poor network connectivity, and lack of the skills to analyse and monetise data. Finally, the chapter discusses the experience and the plans laid out by the Malaysian government in specific Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) and productivity Nexuses to boost adoption of digitalisation and smart operations.