‘NATION ON RIGHT PATH TO INDUSTRY 4.0’

Productivity a key factor to breach frontiers, says MPC chairman

MALAYSIA is on the right path to become a productivity-driven economy as it seeks to fully utilise the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0).

Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC) chairman Tan Sri Azman Hashim said productivity was the key factor to breach the frontiers towards Industry 4.0.

“This will equip our citizens to face a new era of industrialisation,” he said in his speech at MPC’s International Forum on Productivity here yesterday.

He said Malaysia’s gross domestic product growth of 4.2 per cent last year was driven by labour productivity of 3.5 per cent.

“This encouraging trend has been observed since 2014, indicating the country’s economic growth is gradually moving away from being labour intensive towards digital and technologydriven factors.”

The two-day forum, held in collaboration with the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), is themed “Challenging the Frontier, Empowering People”.

It aimed to provide opportunities for stakeholders with global perspectives to share their experience.

The forum will also address policy challenges for higher productivity growth and discuss the implementation of productivity-enh an c i n g p r ogrammes.

Azman said to boost and sustain Malaysia’s productivity, the government launched the Malaysia Productivity Blueprint (MPB) with the objective of achieving a 3.7 per cent productivity growth target, as set in the 11th Malaysia Plan.

The blueprint presented a holistic approach towards unlocking the potential of productivity of the nation by addressing productivity challenges at the national, sectoral and enterprise levels, he said.

“To transform the economy, the government is implementing the recommendations of the MPB through five strategic thrusts.

“The thrusts are to create manpower for the future, spearhead the digital drive and innovation, ensure industry accountability towards productivity, build a strong ecosystem and put in place a strong implementation mechanism.”

The forum is expected to see 300 participants comprising industry representatives, trade associations, government officials and academicians from 14 APO countries.

A series of knowledge sharing sessions will also be held, featuring productivity experts from the United States, Taiwan, Germany, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia.

Azman hoped the forum, which would gather the best minds from various fields and cultures, would generate new ideas to address policy challenges and implementation towards achieving higher productivity growth.

“The APO collaboration has enabled MPC to continuously serve the country’s public and private organisations by introducing various productivity improvement programmes.

“It is hoped that through this forum, knowledge and best practices shared could be adopted for increasing efficiency of the government and business in the respective countries.”

Present was MPC directorgeneral Datuk Mohd Razali Hussain.

This will equip our citizens to face a new era of industrialisation.

TAN SRI AZMAN HASHIM Malaysian Productivity Corporation chairman