1. Assessing the awareness and readiness of the Malaysian furniture industry for Industry 4.0
- Author
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Maria Victoria Bueno, Albert Khoo, Lim Choon Liat, Jegatheswaran Ratnasingam, Muhamad Muhaizi Mat Daud, Sarani Zakaria, Maria Victoria Gómez Gómez, Hazirah Ab Latib, Abdul Latib Senin, Marcin Zbiec, Josefina Garrido, Juanjo Ortega, Lee Y. Yi, Amir Affan Abdul Azim, Mohd Nor Zamri Mat Amin, Shahriman Zainal Abidin, Rokiah Hashim, and Rasmina Halis
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Environmental Engineering ,Industry 4.0 ,Furniture industry ,Bioengineering ,01 natural sciences ,Order (business) ,010608 biotechnology ,Workforce ,Production (economics) ,Business ,Marketing ,Wood industry ,Waste Management and Disposal ,Erasmus+ ,Productivity - Abstract
The lack of knowledgeable and skilled workers is a major challenge faced by the Malaysian furniture sector. It hinders industrial productivity and its ability to move up the value-chain by adopting high technology. Therefore, in order to assess the awareness and readiness of the Malaysian furniture industry for Industry 4.0, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted with a sample of 778 large-, medium-, and small-sized furniture manufacturers throughout Malaysia. This study is part of an on-going Erasmus+ program funded by the European Commission, initiated in 2018 to develop a university-level education program to train workers capable of handling Industry 4.0 technologies for the furniture and wood industry in Malaysia. The results revealed that manufacturers of wood-based panel and metal furniture were more prepared to adopt automation and Industry 4.0 technologies compared to solid-wood and leather furniture manufacturers. The benefits from Industry 4.0 technologies include increased production capacity, product diversity, cost competitiveness, and workforce reduction. Further, the results of this study suggest that the lack of knowledgeable and skilled workers to handle Industry 4.0 technology is a concern among furniture manufacturers, and possibly the proposed university-level Industry 4.0 program may be beneficial to train workers for the future of the industry.
- Published
- 2020
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