THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) plans to build a facility to test Industry 4.0 technologies, which could facilitate adoption of these methods.
At the “2022 Manufacturing Summit” held last Tuesday, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said the DTI is conducting a feasibility study to construct a sustainable “Fourth Industrial Revolution” pilot factory that will host demonstrations and case applications of Industry 4.0 technologies that enterprises, especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), can access to facilitate the adoption of these technologies.
DTI Undersecretary for Competitiveness and Innovation Group Rafaelita M. Aldaba said the factory is “actually being funded by the DTI and the work is being carried out by” Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems Philippines Inc.
Aldaba said at a virtual business forum on Thursday that based on initial findings of the report, the results are positive and they are hoping to be able to raise the funds necessary for the DTI to be able to procure the equipment such as robots, machines, and computers, which she said will be used to support particularly the MSMEs.
The Trade undersecretary said the department will be able to support the MSMEs “in terms of explaining to them, allowing them to enjoy and experience what these new technologies could mean to their businesses.”
“Because by themselves, they won’t be able to invest [in] these [technologies],” Aldaba added.
She emphasized that the idea is to put up the facility as a shared services facility and at the same time the large companies could also utilize it along with university researchers as a place where they can do their prototyping, the validation of their projects, and for the startups to make it as their co-working or co-maker space.
The DTI, Aldaba said, is hoping the factory could be put up by late next year as they are still completing the feasibility study this year and undergoing the construction process.
“So hopefully later next year hopefully we’ll be able to put up the country’s first industry 4.0 pilot factory,” Aldaba said.
Along with this, the Trade undersecretary divulged that there is already a location for the said facility and “there are also companies who are interested to house or to provide the land.” She emphasized that the location was purposefully chosen as it is the center of the manufacturing industry in the Philippines.
“Based on the initial work that the Siemens team has carried out, the best place would really be in the Calabarzon area because that’s the center of our manufacturing industry so it’s in the Laguna, Batangas area,” Aldaba said.
She hinted that the company that is interested to house it is also located within the vicinity, “where most of the manufacturers in the electronics and automotive sector are located.”
In a nutshell, Industry 4.0 technology is the introduction of new systems to the manufacturing and traditional process introduced in the third industrial revolution. Industry 4.0 transforms the way companies manufacture, improve and distribute their products. In addition, companies also revolutionize the way they conduct their business.
Industry 4.0 introduces how companies can utilize technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) to transform itself, as illustrated by the digital transformation pyramid.