07 clarion call FOR ACTION T he Fourth Industrial Revolution was the centrepiece of conversations at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on ASEAN in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in June 2016, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in May 2017 and in Hanoi, Vietnam in September 2018. Numerous forums have heaped on the trend and discussions have been concentrating on how the Fourth Industrial Revolution would impact the businesses and the entire society at large. While some would look at this as a potentially massive opportunity, there are concerns among the majority of firms and industry sectors as to how the Fourth Industrial Revolution would transform both the products and services that will be offered, and the processes or business models that are used to generate them. The Government, business firms and academia are now looking at how best to react towards this trend. With this in mind, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry has taken the proactive measure to develop this National Policy on Industry 4.0, with the objective of transforming the Malaysian manufacturing industry and its related services to be smart, systematic and resilient. The goal for the future of manufacturing industry is not only to “make better things” by creating innovative products and services, but also to “make things better,” by improving design, engineering, service planning and execution, management and production processes. Although this Policy is designed for the manufacturing industry and its related services, the strategies are also applicable and could be replicated in other industries as well, albeit with different sets of priorities and action plans. I am heartened to note that within the Government, the support and cooperation given have been overwhelming where the Technical Working Groups (TWGs) headed by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Communications & Multimedia, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Human Resources, Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change and SME Corp. have worked tirelessly to provide inputs throughout the development of this Policy. Extensive consultations were also undertaken with the industry and other stakeholders. Various initiatives supporting the implementation of this Policy have already been announced. Hence, by the time this publication is in your hand, some of the action plans would have already been rolled out. The key to moving forward is to collaborate. Therefore, I am taking this opportunity to call on all stakeholders to view this Policy objectively and work together with the Government to deliver the strategies and action plans towards strengthening Malaysia’s competitiveness in the long run. The overarching philosophy behind this Policy is A-C-T - Attract, Create and Transform. • Attract stakeholders to Industry 4.0 technologies & processes; • Create the right ecosystem for Industry 4.0 technologies to be adopted and to nurture innovations; and • Transform capabilities of the manufacturing industry to be Industry 4.0-ready. YB DATUK IGNATIUS DARELL LEIKING Minister of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia ATTRACT • CREATE • TRANSFORM