ir4.0

MYINDUSTRIES 2019: IR4.0 Funding options according to MIDA

Industry 4.0 is a big deal for Malaysia. It is one of the highly anticipated ‘visions’ for Malaysia since the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) launched in 1996.

When the Industry 4.0 national policy was launched last year, and one year later at MYINDUSTRIES 2019, Tun M had stated emphatically there has to be a single, directed emphasis to rejuvenate IR 4.0.

Yes, this is a rejuvenation of our efforts. Malaysia is not starting from scratch.

This rejuvenation refers to the manufacturing skills and expertise that Malaysia has earned for itself the past 40 years.

Industry 4.0 is the next stage, where the industry takes stock of how far we have come, and how much further we need to go to achieve the across-the-board efficiencies touted to come with Industry 4.0.

Some may take this to mean Malaysia has to build flying cars to be seen as truly at the next-level. Others may see it as a direct replication of what Germany is doing with their factories, and so on and so forth.

I’ve discovered IR4.0 technologies isn’t just for manufacturing, but for services sectors and is even applicable in banking and health care.

What does this mean?

IDC had even described IR4.0 as third platform technologies like cloud computing, and information / analytics (big data), and possibly the Internet of Things. Some of the technologies are used in business organisations, and not just in manufacturing.

Whatever Industry 4.0 eventually turns out to be for Malaysia, this is about more than just keeping up appearances.

Funding  

IR 4.0 is going to be expensive.

When the national policy was announced last year, the ministry responsible for driving it, Ministry of International trade and Industry (MITI), announced they were identifying SMEs to be placed under a IR4.0 readiness assessment programme.

According to MITI also, RM210 million was allocated under the programme to encourage transition of businesses to Industry 4.0 technology from 2019 till 2021.

One of its agencies, MIDA or the Malaysian Investment Development Authority, is one of, if not the, main driver for this readiness programme.

In this video, a MIDA rep actually goes through the financing options under the 2019 budget.

In this video, the financing options for the newly announced Budget 2020 is explained.

What does all of this mean?

In a report by The Star earlier this year, Ministry deputy secretary-general (trade) Datuk Seri Norazman Ayob had said, “The ministry had targeted to assist 500 SMEs to undergo the assessment by the end of the year, and support 60 of them by providing a 70:30 matching grant of up to RM500,000 for each firm.”

After the recent 2020 budget announcement, the industry may expect funding efforts to ramp up.

Top Glove, is a popular example of a manufacturing organisation which has successfully embarked upon an Industry 4.0 transformation. This was a journey they undertook in earnest in 2017, however.

This journey comprised of implementing and applying technologies like Internet of Things, robotics and an automated real-time manufacturing system.

Today, it is one of the world’s largest manufacturer of gloves, with 40 factories in three countries, 648 glove production lines and capacity of 60.5 billion pieces of gloves produced, every year.

Malaysia may have many more manufacturers with Top Glove’s potential to successfully deployed IR4.0 technologies and reap benefits from it.

But, they should take the first crucial step of assessing their readiness, to be able to better strategies their next steps moving forward. MIDA offers this, and also funds companies that undergo their readiness assessment programme.