FAISALABAD: The fourth industrial revolution is knocking at our doors which has prompted the need to reprioritize our future strategies in addition to synchronizing our production, management and governance systems to harvest its fruits, said Engineer Ahmad Hassan, Chairman FCCI (Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry) Standing Committee on Research and Development on Friday.
Addressing an awareness session on “4th industrial revolution-21st century (Future threats and opportunities for Pakistan)”, he said the history of the first industrial revolution began in the 18th century when at the moment we were heading towards the 4th industrial revolution which would distinctively mark with efficiency, quality and quantity.
He said all technologies developed so far had been clubbed together to improve the production capacity by utilizing the sciences of robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, quantum computing, biotechnology, internet, block chain, 5G, additive manufacturing/ 3D printing and fully autonomous vehicles. He said the developed countries were now thinking to settle down their labour problems as many sectors would be closed for labour while many other opportunities would emerge in this changed scenario.
He said labour intensive industrial sector would have to switch over to the robot controlled industries which would also bring a massive change in our social structure in which dependence on human beings would be reduced manifold. Similarly, they are considering producing new human resource compatible to the fast changing needs. He said the FCCI was the first platform that had realised the importance of this revolution and decided to disseminateits “pros and cons” to its members. Hassan said academia had also been invited so that they could revisit their future priorities and produce highly skilled manpower which could brace the challenges of the 4th industrial revolution and transform our exports competitive in the global markets.
Appreciating the efforts of FCCI Standing Committee on Research and Development, senior vice president Mian Tanveer Ahmed said the FCCI was regularly organizing seminars and workshops for the information and guidance of its member about emerging and innovative technologies.
He said the FCCI had taken lead by organising first lecture on the importance of 4th International Revolution. “It would give in depth knowledge in addition to sensitizing participants to remain competitive in coming years by switching over to the fundamentals of 4th Industrial Revolution”, he claimed and expressed hope that other chambers and trade bodies would also follow the trend and arrange similar lectures to impart awareness to their members.
Resource person Engineer Mujtaba Hassan said many state-of-the-art production houses were assailing towards 4th industrial revolution but the majority of our SME sector was still sticking to second and third revolution.
Similarly, the cottage and domestic industries was trying to survive with the technologies of the first industrial revolution which had already been declared obsolete and were not feasible economically in this age. He also responded to questions raised by the participants and gave a detailed presentation on the opportunities as challenges of 4th industrial revolution.
The moot was attended by faculty members and students of the University of Faisalabad, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, National Textile University, University of Engineering and Technology and Government College University.