ECERDC teams up with TUM to boost Industry 4.0 adoption

By Siti Radziah Hamzah

KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 (Bernama) — The Asia Centre of Excellence for Smart Technologies (ACES), to be located at the Cybercentre in the Pahang Technology Park, will begin operations in June 2018, in a move that will take the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) into the forefront of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0).

From right to left: Datuk Seri Jebasingam Issace John, Chief Executive Officer of East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC) – Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, Minister of International Trade and Industry – Bernhard Schutte, Chairman of TAPiO Management Advisory – Daniel A. Gottschald, Managing Director of TUM International GMBH

East Coast Economic Region Development Council (ECERDC) Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Seri Jebasingam Issace John, said the centre aimed to accelerate the adoption of Industry 4.0 in the ECER.

He said the move was part of the overall strategy to facilitate the region’s transition into a productivity-driven and technology-intensive economy as outlined in the soon to be unveiled ECER Master Plan 2.0.

“We are now working on a 20-month first phase. The Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the ECERDC will be investing RM1 million and RM1.5 million respectively, to set up ACES.

“We have a key performance indicator to reach at least 15 companies within this period. We have started discussions with several parties including the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park and the East Coast Rail,” he told Bernama after signing a cooperation agreement with TUM International GMBH here today.

The agreement was signed with TUM International GMBH Managing Director Daniel A. Gottschald.

Also present was Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

TUM International GMBH is a wholly-owned unit of TUM, Germany’s top-ranking university based on QS World University Rankings.

ECERDC said it would leverage on TUM’s experience and expertise to obtain technical blueprints and roadmaps on Industry 4.0, as well as training and certification.

“TUM will provide advisory and consulting services on the introduction and upscaling of technology in various fields within the private and public sectors on Industry 4.0, and other innovative and smart technologies.

“It will also assign technical experts to ACES to conduct one-on-one workshops and seminars for companies, as well as providing training courses for graduates and working professionals from Malaysia and Asia,” ECERDC said.

It said ACES was envisioned to be the nucleus of the competency centre for the development of Industry 4.0 through strategic industry-academia-government initiatives and partnerships, and also aimed to offer relevant technologies to build new value chains in Asia.