Insights from connected industries and SAIMC breakfast
The SAIMC leadership was very much inspired by the industry and delegate speakers from multiple business sectors in South Africa. We believe that insights gathered throughout the conference will guide us into the future, as we seek to cultivate a much-needed makeover in the automation industry and associated sectors and institutions. These well-attended functions served to remind us how important our work is.
While the connected industry and the SAIMC breakfast functions were overloaded with insights and pearls of wisdom, one unequivocal conclusion was that ignoring industry 4.0 will lead to industry incompetence and result in negative consequences for the South African economy. The following were some of the deliberations that deserve significant attention going forward.
Industrialisation gap and unemployment
It was noted that 11 million South Africans, of which 75% is the youth, have not yet experienced the promise of the second industrial revolution, namely industrialisation. The question that arose was: as the industry and the state, are we ready for the fourth industrial revolution? The paradoxical dilemma is: do we continue to industrialise and build capacity for labour-intensive jobs and absorb the jobless youth in the labour market, or do we re-skill and up-skill to prepare the workforce for the smart future demands? The rising thought in this mooted discourse is that reconciling these seemingly opposing policies can bring about possibilities. The SAIMC leadership will be taking this discussion forward.
Empowering small enterprises
In seeking to address the issue of technology leading to more unequal society, deliberations led to questions such as: how do we enable small enterprises to use disruptive digital technologies to compete with large Fortune 500 companies? For example – Uber rose to be the largest taxi company in the world but they do not own even a single taxi. In hindsight, how do we reshape and direct the use of technology in such a way that it stimulates the South African economy. Like the industrialisation gap and unemployment, this issue will continue to receive the attention it deserves.
Call for government to innovate in education
This notion refers to re-aligning the higher learning institutions with the rapidly changing work environments. One element used to illuminate this need was the convergence of a mechanical and electronic software-based system which culminates into what is termed automation (others refer to this type of construct as robotics, smart future, Internet of Things, digitalisation etc.). The concept of ‘talent driven innovation’ surfaced during the higher learning institution discussion. In this context, this concept speaks to the notion of integrating the private sector into the higher learning educational value chain. This is aimed at aligning the higher educational institutions with the demands of the private sector. The private sector is rapidly adopting the ‘smart future’ orientations. The question that arose was: how do we translate this orientation back into our higher learning institutions? Given the need to compete globally, the smart future is the future we cannot ignore.
Gone are the days... the time is now!
Already we see the next step in the Smart Services Welt 2025 report that was published in March 2015, which builds on the original Industry 4.0 report from April 2013. Gone are the days that we could ponder these issues. The industrial world is growing at what seems to be an exponential rate, and for South Africa to be able to compete, or even just participate, in a world where customers are spoilt for choice at
competitive prices, we need to think fast and act decisively without hesitation.
Yours in automation
Oratile Sematle.
| Tel: | +27 11 312 2445 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.saimc.co.za |
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