Aiding local firms with maintenance cost

LARGE companies as well as small-and-medium-enterprises (SMEs) can now tap into the Smart Manufacturing Toolkit to reduce the maintenance cost of their production machinery.

Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC) chief executive officer Muhamed Ali Hajah Mydin said PSDC has been working with Microsoft, Moxa Inc and Omron Electronics to provide companies with access to this facility, which was developed by Microsoft.

“Moxa and Omron are the partners providing the hardware connectivity for the manufacturing companies to tap into the Smart Manufacturing Toolkit, which enables manufacturing companies to perform predictive maintenance that would save them at least 15% on maintenance cost.

“With the savings, these companies can invest into enhancing their competitive edge instead,” he said.

Microsoft is also setting up a Federated Lab at PSDC to help train local manufacturing companies in using newer technologies through cloud solutions.

He told a press conference after the launch of 2017 PSDC Industry 4.0 Week by Special Adviser to Prime Minister Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Osman.

Also present was Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) chief executive Datuk Redza Rafiq.

The event also saw an exchange of MoU between PSDC and Microsoft Malaysia, Moxa, Omron, Hexagon Measurement Technologies, and Malaysia Productivity Corp.

Meanwhile, Zainal said the NCER had attracted RM79.9bil worth of investments and created 103,597 jobs as at end last year.

The NCER Development Blueprint 2016-2025 (Blueprint 2.0), launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak recently, is set to transform Peninsular Malaysia’s four northern states into a worldclass economic region with an economic worth of RM300bil by 2025.

“Focusing on seven catalytic growth node projects, 28 transcending border projects and 45 localised high impact projects, it will create 161,197 jobs across Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak.

“As an enabler in the implementation of Industry 4.0, the government plays the major role to initiate joint efforts in facilitating and supporting enterprises, besides setting up education and research centres to support the workforce in adopting Industry 4.0,” he said.

According to Zainal, the uptake by SMEs is still low due to perceived high cost and uncertainty in venturing into the unknown.

Hence, he notes the NCIA and PSDC are in the best position to play an active role in the deployment of Industry 4.0, especially for the SMEs.