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Malaysia menyasarkan 3,000 kilang pintar di bawah NIMP 2030, namun kekangan bakat, kos dan sistem legasi menimbulkan persoalan sejauh mana transformasi ini boleh direalisasikan.
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00:00Foreign Belize's manufacturing sector is at pivotal moment under the new Industrial Master Plan or NIMP 2030,
00:06targeting 3,000 smart factories and shift to high-value tech-driven industries.
00:11While the sector contributes over 20% to the GDP, many manufacturers, especially SMEs, are still at different stages of
00:19digital readiness.
00:20Key challenges remain, from skill gaps and legacy systems to high transformation costs.
00:25And at the same time, global disruptions and rising global pressures are accelerating the move towards smarter, more resilient operations.
00:33The question is not if, but how fast manufacturers can adapt.
00:37So where are the biggest gaps and where are the opportunities?
00:40So joining us today is Ben Lim, the Regional Sales Director for Malaysia and Singapore LP Corp,
00:45to share industry insights from the front lines of this transformation.
00:48Thank you so much, Ben Lim, for coming all the way to our studio to join us on Yagawani.
00:53And I hope you're doing well.
00:55So to start off, let's go on the bigger picture.
00:58We see that Malaysia has now set ambitious targets under their new NIMP 2030, which includes 3,000 smart factories.
01:06So from your own perspective at Epicor, what are the most common barriers Malaysian manufacturers face now when trying to
01:13adopt smart manufacturing?
01:15Good morning, Nabila. Thank you for having me.
01:18I guess today's topic is very interesting for us in Epicor.
01:22And to start with, NIMP 2030 having this agenda of setting up 3,000 smart factories is a very strong
01:30vision.
01:31And I will have to emphasize it's an achievable vision for Malaysia.
01:35If I were to look at and relate Malaysian manufacturers, the common challenges and barriers that we see in the
01:43past few years, especially these recent past few years,
01:46is first of all, there's a lot of data silos happening, still persistent, happening across the Malaysian manufacturers' working environment.
01:54Apart from that, we see also a lot of fragmented system, disconnected system across the shop floor, disconnected to the
02:03top floor.
02:04And the other part that we also see is local manufacturers or Malaysian manufacturers, the stakeholders have a mindset of
02:12thinking digital transformations or smart manufacturing roadmap is a big-scale project.
02:18It requires a lot of resources, be it the workforce, be it the talent, and of course the financial meaning.
02:29The truth here is a lot of manufacturers that have succeeded, this smart manufacturing factory recognition, they often start with
02:40smaller scale.
02:41You have the options to start with smaller scale and then scale across to what you need.
02:45At the end of the day, you have to be able to achieve your bigger vision.
02:49Think big and you can always start small.
02:52And the third point, I really want to also emphasize the barrier that we often see, typically in Malaysia.
02:59Malaysian manufacturers typically see talent gap as one of the challenges.
03:06Talent mismatch is one of the key things here.
03:09We may have younger generations which are equipped with this sort of talent or skill set because they will be
03:15given and educated with technologies.
03:17And they are very eagerly want to, you know, input their technology skill set to manufacturing environment.
03:23But in a lot of cases, manufacturing environment is not so attractive to these younger talents.
03:29And then the other side of this talent mismatch is existing workforce.
03:35It is not, you know, being equipped with sufficient training and upskilling to move them towards bringing more value back
03:44to the organizations.
03:45So the question here is more not on the tech issue, not on the readiness of the tech.
03:51But in fact, it's a readiness and approach that the local manufacturers, how they see it.
03:57So now that you mentioned all the challenges like data silos, fragmented systems, mindset of big scale projects.
04:04And also last one is this talent mismatch, which is the most important and leads to my next question as
04:10well.
04:10Well, we think that the talent will be a key challenge.
04:13But what can actually Malaysian manufacturers do to actually address these challenges?
04:18Where should we start?
04:19Because with curbs on foreign labor, how can manufacturers actually reduce reliance on low skilled workers?
04:26Yeah, I guess if you go down a little bit details on the talent mismatch that I've just mentioned just
04:32now.
04:33In a lot of cases, local manufacturers, when they were to, you know, put up a higher price tag to
04:41hire a talent skill set, they brought in.
04:44But at the end of the day, the foundation of their digital foundation on that company is not ready.
04:50You're bringing a talent that have that kind of technology skill set, but you are not providing the technology tool
04:55set for them to move further.
04:56And the other part of it is the working environment.
05:00How I relate back to just now is the working environment is not so modern for a lot of younger
05:06talents that we can basically nurture further, yeah, to become a very valuable talents to our local manufacturers.
05:13And another part I look at is also the existing workforce in the organizations, especially when it comes to manufacturing
05:22sector.
05:22You definitely have a lot of existing workforce that's doing manual, you know, tasks.
05:30So in a survey that we have with our customers and also focus very much on manufacturing, the workers or
05:37frontliners typically voice out saying that it's close to about 66% who really look forward for a job opportunity
05:44that have technology driven and allow them to innovate with the technology.
05:50So these are something that probably the Malaysian manufacturers can really look at on how to bring that environment to
05:59a much modern working space for the existing workforce, for the younger generations, for the new workforce.
06:04Or if you really look at, you know, getting yourself more competitive in hiring overseas workforce.
06:10These are all prerequisites nowadays for you to grow further and, of course, make up the innovations platform for your
06:18workforce to grow your company further.
06:21So when we talk about readiness, everybody has to play their part to, you know, work hand-in-hand to
06:27make it possible.
06:29But on the leadership itself, what can they do in ensuring successful digital adoption across the supply chain?
06:36Because there's a lot to talk about AI automation and also data analytics at the same time.
06:41So from a practical standpoint, where should manufacturers actually begin their transformation journey?
06:46Yeah, I guess from my experience, local manufacturers, like I mentioned, their mindset of thinking this is a big skill,
06:57right?
06:57First of all, put that away.
07:00There's always approach.
07:01There's always options for you to start small.
07:03But to start with is they have to look at what are the pain points that they have.
07:09With that pain points, are they trying to resolve, let's say, for example, for manufacturing, they try to resolve, reduce
07:14downtime, they try to improve visibility, they try to improve the resilience of their supply chain.
07:21These are some things that they can really identify as a start.
07:25And then followed by what are the business outcomes that you're willing to achieve.
07:31I guess this is important for the leadership, the middle management, and, of course, with a team together to identify
07:38what are the directions that they want to head to.
07:40Then followed by looking at, of course, do they able to deploy these digital foundations, a powerful digital foundations that
07:50help them to collect a lot of data,
07:53synchronize, synchronize all the information that is disconnected now, align everything in a single platform that gives them the opportunity
08:01to achieve, you know, this digital transformation among their organizations.
08:06And then, of course, again, I like to emphasize phase rollout is important.
08:11It's pretty hard for local manufacturers to digest the big scope of going big bang.
08:16We understand that.
08:17Having your current workforce that have to still make sure that your business run and segregating some of their time,
08:26their valuable time to run this or deploy this digital adoption, it takes more effort, honestly speaking.
08:33But looking at the bright side is that this whole journey of digital adoption, be it digital transformation or heading
08:40towards the smart manufacturing,
08:41it's an opportunity to rethink the manufacturing process that you already have, improve your current manual process towards the digitized
08:50model.
08:52And at the same time, it gives the opportunity to go back to retrain your existing workforce and opening up
08:58the whole workspace more modern that can attract more younger generation or skill set to your organization.
09:07I guess that is something that local manufacturers or leadership manufacturers can really take a look into it.
09:14Yeah, because we also understand that digital transformation, especially transitioning towards a smart manufacturing, can be overwhelming sometimes.
09:22So let's talk further on ERP.
09:24How can it actually serve as a smart factory backbone for manufacturers' needs?
09:28Yeah, I have to say, modern ERP is a central hub of a smart factory.
09:37To achieve this is not to say it's tough, but you have to basically understand what are the criteria that
09:45constitute the powerful digital foundations for a smart factory.
09:51First of all, an ERP connected all the departments, all the operations, all the core operations, such as, for example,
10:01your demand, which is from your sales, your procurement, your planning, and your productions, and down towards your shipment.
10:10With this connected ERP, it basically serves the purpose of, as a digital foundation, that seamlessly sync all the data
10:20that you have, minimize all the errors that you may have if you were to do it separately.
10:26Minimize the errors, minimize the, duplicate the tasks, and of course a repetitive task, eliminate these sort of repetitive tasks.
10:34I guess this is one key thing that a modern ERP can really bring to local Malaysian manufacturers.
10:43Apart from that, it gives you the visibility.
10:50Once the digital foundations is being able to power all the data in a single platform, they give you a
10:56single source of truth.
10:57And a single source of truth will give you instant or real-time visibility.
11:02And from that, either, you know, the frontliners, the middle management, or the top management can easily, based on that,
11:12to move forward towards, we call it, a data-driven decision-making.
11:17Yeah, rather than, in a lot of cases, you're based on emotional, you're based on, you know, quickly respond, but
11:24exposed to a lot of human errors.
11:26And these are what a connected or modern ERP, or even a cloud ERP, can provide to Malaysian manufacturers.
11:35Perhaps we have one minute left, looking ahead to 2030, which is about less than five years to go.
11:43What would success realistically look like for Malaysia's manufacturing sector?
11:47And what needs to happen between now and then to get there?
11:52Yeah, like I kickstart with this conversation, I still believe the agenda in NIMP 2030 to achieve 3,000 smart
12:00factories in Malaysia, it's achievable, honestly speaking.
12:04Tracking at a very healthy status, I guess now it's about more than 500 local manufacturers already in a status
12:12of smart factory.
12:13And I truly believe, looking at this agenda, I really want to see Malaysian manufacturers driving away from, they used
12:25to be relying very much on low-cost labour to stand out as a low-cost manufacturing hub in this
12:34region.
12:35Shifting away from this, towards the high-value driven, what does this constitute for high-value manufacturing driven?
12:47First of all, you realize, local manufacturers rely on very powerful digital foundations that give them a very good visibility
12:56of what can be done if any disruptions come up.
13:00Like today, you know, today and tomorrow, the manufacturing landscape can basically fluctuate very, very much.
13:06And building up a lot of strong resilience with this sort of digital foundation that you have.
13:13And of course, moving away from just relying on low-cost, taking away of just focusing on cost factor, but
13:23moving yourself towards high-value driven.
13:26That also means your employees having an opportunity to, apart from automate your processes with the strong digital foundations, to
13:37streamline the processes.
13:38Apart from that, they can innovate.
13:41Nowadays, it's not about you can keep continuing growth of what you're doing best.
13:47Because what you, what Malaysian manufacturers is now, they can do if with these strong digital foundations, they can innovate
13:55further.
13:56While serving this industry, your customers, if I were to build up resilience, yeah, I can serve other industry at
14:03the same time, other region.
14:04So that basically build up a very strong resilience for local manufacturers to drive growth, yeah, towards tomorrow's manufacturing landscape.
14:14And again, like I always like to share, local or Malaysian manufacturers can always start small, think big, and scale
14:22with the right partners.
14:23So indeed, as the world becomes more unpredictable, there's a lot to be done and there's a lot to be
14:27considered to have the manufacturers in Malaysia to remain resilient.
14:32That's what preceded by Ben Lim, the Regional Sales Director for Malaysia and Singapore at EPCO.
14:37Thank you so much, Ben Lim.
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