Getting ready for Industry 4.0 takeoff

MANUFACTURING remains a key driver of Singapore's economy, at close to 20 per cent of the country's GDP. However, given its position among high-growth economies and low-cost production centres, Singapore is turning to Industry 4.0 to preserve and enhance the competitiveness of its manufacturing industries, and maintain its attractiveness as an energy and chemicals hub within the region. According to a study conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Accenture, digital transformation has the potential to add between US$310 billion and US$550 billion of economic value to the global chemicals and advanced materials industry. However, a fundamental barrier to digital adoption is talent.

In recent years, Singapore has crystallised its Smart Nation vision through a cohesive national strategy for digitalisation. This has been supported by national scale projects targeted at building stronger digital capabilities in Singapore, such as the recent announcement of AI.SG and a data science consortium. Research by Accenture on Industry 4.0 and the local talent landscape, supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board, confirms that digitalisation will be pervasive by 2020 across Singapore's strategic energy, chemicals and utilities industries. In fact, 70 per cent of manufacturers interviewed during the study regard Industry 4.0 as a lever to drive competitive advantage and enhance both organisational efficiency and business productivity, demonstrating a clear orientation towards the new. All the manufacturers surveyed have already begun to adopt Industry 4.0 solutions and show no signs of slowing down. Seven in 10 intend to increase the deployment of Industry 4.0 solutions by 2020, with mobility and devices, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) and information and operational technology (IT/OT) convergence reflecting the most significant growth opportunities.

But what impact will Industry 4.0 have on the manufacturing workforce? According to the WEF Future of Jobs report, the rise of Industry 4.0 will contribute to a widening skills gap, among other changes, given that the most in-demand skillsets or specialisations today did not even exist a decade ago. The report estimates that 65 per cent of children entering primary school today will end up pursuing completely new careers that have yet to exist.