In an opinion article in the Malaysian newspaper The Star recently, Malaysian Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong wrote on the importance of Industry 4.0 to the country’s commodities, including rubber.
Industry 4.0 is a name for the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and cognitive computing. Industry 4.0 creates what has been called a “smart factory”.
Industry 4.0 is also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution and has filled many physical systems, such as transportation, water, manufacturing, computing, and so forth.
“Industry 4.0 can help to alleviate productivity challenges both in the upstream and downstream of the rubber industry,” Mah said.
“Our on-going trial of the Automated Rubber Tapping System (ARTS) is already an indication that timed tapping, latex collection and bulking, and use of stimulant can be mechanised while collection and data crunching of gram per tree per tapping (GTT) can help to determine the intervention required to increase yield,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mah said that Industry 4.0 can moderate foreign labour, noting that: “demand for foreign labour can be moderated with great automation in rubber glove production lines, as one of our industry-leading manufacturers, Hartalega, has demonstrated,”
“There is so much more productivity enhancement that can be achieved with greater Internet of Things (IoT) deployment,” he added.
In 2016, Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Razak announced a new initiative called Transformasi Nasional 50 – or TN 50. The initiative seeks to propel Malaysia into greater development by the year 2050.
Mah wrote that Industry 4.0 is crucial for the realisation of TN50.
“In tandem with the current national conversation with all segments of stakeholders under Transformasi Nasional 50 or TN50, we in the plantation industries and commodities space must also start the engagement to determine our way forward,”
“As a sector that accounts for 10% of the GDP, we have the responsibility to ensure that its relevance and sustainability is undiminished.Industry 4.0 is an opportunity for Malaysia to develop the plantation industries and commodities of the future. Plain and simple,” he added.
Mah said that the realisation of Industry 4.0 in Malaysia is not too good to be true. He cited the fact that the embedding of sensing, computing and communicating systems in vehicles, drones and other machinery is entirely achievable today.
He also referred to how the Global Positioning System (GPS) has become commonplace.
“Granted, the deployment of such machineries and systems for annual crops planted on plains are far easier than executing the same for perennial crops planted on more undulating terrains such as oil palm and rubber,” Mah said.
“With proper focus, collaboration and allocation of resources, nothing is impossible,” he added.