Bahrain goes i-smart and leapfrogs into Fourth Industrial Revolution with iFactories initiative

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Report by Mahir Haneef

Bahrain yesterday unveiled a quick-action plan to propel the country into the elite club of nations capable of taking advantage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) through a national initiative called iFactories, which aims to convert around 40 per cent of its factories into smart factories by 2026.

The launch of the national initiative to transform the country’s industrial sector towards 4IR was done by His Excellency Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Minister of Industry and Commerce, at a function held in the Bahrain Bourse Hall at the Bahrain Financial Harbour on Sunday.

Following the launch, the minister said the ultimate goal of the plan and the project is to grow the productivity of factories, leading to an increase in productivity and the GDP of the country, along with providing better and more skilled jobs for Bahraini citizens.

Such action is in line with the target of the industrial strategy of 2022–26, which envisions that the industry will play a bigger role in its contribution to the GDP, the minister stated.

Further, the minister stressed the keen interest of the government in developing the industrial sector and increasing its efficiency and global competitiveness.

Citing the iFactories initiative as an example, the minister said the best regional and global practices in managing production lines would be adopted for it.

This would ensure the sustainability of the industrial sector’s resources, raise productivity, increase efficiency, and reduce the dependence on unskilled manpower, the minister said.

As part of the initiative to convert 300 of the 800 licenced factories in the country to smart factories, the digital maturity of the factories will be analysed by certified assessors in accordance with the Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI) developed by the World Economic Forum, Khaled Fahad Al Alawi, assistant undersecretary for industrial development at the ministry, said.

SIRI is a suite of frameworks and tools to drive the 4IR transformation in global manufacturing.

In partnership with the Labour Fund (Tamkeen), support would be provided to the factories to invest in technology infrastructure and manufacturing automation, he added.

After the evaluation process, which includes a self-evaluation and evaluation by accredited assessors, a digital transformation plan will be developed for each factory, officials revealed.

At this stage, the factory will be able to obtain support and incentives, depending on its progress, and the ministry will monitor the transformation process, officials said.