MAKATI CITY – Continuing the effort to take the country’s manufacturing sector to greater heights and new frontiers, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in partnership with the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) will hold the Manufacturing Summit 2019 on Tuesday, 03 December 2019, at The Peninsula Manila, cor. Ayala and Makati Avenue, Makati City.
Now on its fourth year, the summit will once again gather stakeholders from the government, academe, industry, and various development partners to discuss pressing issues affecting the Philippine manufacturing landscape.
While the manufacturing sector has experienced a resurgence in the past few years, it recognizes the challenges these new technologies and disruptive business models by the Fourth Industrial Revolution bring. These new technologies require new skills and capabilities at each stage of the Global Value Chain, adding another layer of complexity to the already challenging task of developing globally competitive industries. Other constraints the sector faces are the complex business procedures, weak manufacturing-agriculture-services linkages, and limited academe-industry R&D linkages. Moreover, there has been concerns that the adoption of new technologies would increase productivity but may displace workers whose tasks would be automated.
In addition to the challenges brought about by Industry 4.0, the manufacturing sector has to contend with global developments, including the shift towards protectionism embodied in the new economic policies and development strategies adopted by some of the country’s trading partners. In addition, other countries have started the race to Industry 4.0 ahead of the Philippines.
Addressing these challenges to improve sector growth and maintain its upward trajectory, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez assured the business community that DTI is aware of the identified constraints is working closely with other agencies to address them. Moreover, he encouraged businesses to raise any concerns they may have on their business so that the Trade Department may act on them appropriately.
“We are committed to supporting firms, industries, especially SMEs as they transition to Industry 4.0; we are formulating policies and programs to increase productivity by adopting these new technologies that would enable inclusive and sustainable industrial development ” Secretary Lopez affirmed.
As the manufacturing sector thrusts forward into new technologies and processes brought about by Industry 4.0, an important component needs to keep in cadence with the times: this is the human resource component of the equation. Applying new technologies must go hand-
in-hand with capacitating workers who are able to adapt to the technology and the changes in their roles as automation takes over in some aspects of their previous work.
Recognizing the great importance of the workforce’s role in the emerging Industry 4.0-era, the building-up of workers’ capacity to take on more advanced skill sets and their upskilling/reskilling to adapt to a technologically-integrated workplace.
“As Industry 4.0 is upon us and we are embracing the changes brought by Industry 4.0, this is an opportunity to transform our industries by adopting new technologies, business models, and production techniques. We are capacitating our workforce to make this transformation possible,” Usec Aldaba mentioned.
“Building our human capital, upgrading, reskilling, and equipping our workforce with new digital skills to prepare them for future production is paramount as 4IR’s inclusiveness should benefit not only firms but employees and communities as well,” Usec Aldaba reiterated.
With the manufacturing sector tackling the challenges 4IR inevitably brings, this year’s theme for the manufacturing summit is, “Preparing Philippine Manufacturing for the Future of Production.” The Summit will take stock of the performance of the manufacturing industry, highlight the changes in the domestic economy and global market; discuss the future of manufacturing and agribusiness under Industry 4.0; and consider future skills and human resource development for future production.
The Manufacturing Summit is held as part of the implementation of the government’s Inclusive Innovation Industrial Strategy (i3S). The Summit proceedings will be live-streamed via the official DTI Facebook page accessible at https://www.facebook.com/DTI.Philippines. The program details are available at https://mfgsummit2019.weebly.com/program.html. For further inquiries, you may email MFGSummit2019@dti.gov.ph.♦
Date of Release: 01 December 2019