In this global era, the world is currently amidst a technological transformation that will fundamentally change the way people lives and work. According to Pecina and Sladek (2017), the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) is a term designating cyber-physical systems, which introduces radical changes in production processes compared to the current situation. This revolution need people to think creatively about manufacturing, distribution and customer service processes. In the meanwhile, the future of education emphasises the immense need to look beyond these areas and to strategically utilise the “Internet of Things” to prepare the coming workforce for the challenges ahead (Mezied, 2016).
The term Industries 4.0 has been introduced by German in 2011 which refers to mean the automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies which include the cyber-physical systems, Internet of Things, Big Data and Analytics, augmented reality, additive manufacturing, simulation, horizontal and vertical system integration, autonomous robots as well as cloud computing. The term of Industrial 4.0 has been adopted very fast and becoming the most spoken buzzword across the manufacturing sector worldwide.
The history of IR4.0 has been started with the First Industrial Revolution. It is when the world has been introduced to the steam power, mechanisation and factories that marked the new era of modernisation. The First Industrial Revolution took place in the 18th century and it is the most important period for the human development as it shaped the world for today. During this period, the societies were mostly agrarian and rural. Thus, the emergence of the First Industrial Revolution has been the kick-start for the replacement of the manual labour into the machinery and transform the population into towards urbanisation and industrialisation. This first IR has begun in Great Britain and spreading to European and America.
A century after the First Industrial Revolution, the rapid growth of technology sparked the second wave of Industrial Revolution. The Second Industrial Revolution have taken the mankind into the age of new sources of energy like electricity, gas and oil. This second version of Industrial Revolution has been known as the Technological Revolution. In this period, transportation has been the major development which connected the cities and communities through the railroads. During this period also, there are many major inventions have been produce such as Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone and Thomas Edison’s light bulb. All of these invention have eventually made life much easier and also allowed work to continue in the night resulting in the production output to be increased. With all the inventions, the age of the mass production and economy of scale was establish.
Next is the Third Industrial Revolution that started around the middle of 20th century. The Third Industrial Revolution better known as the Digital Revolution. In this revolution, it witnessed the rise of electronics and use of information technology to automate production which also can substitute the use of manpower in assembly lines with robots and machineries. Newfound technologies such as microprocessors, telecommunication system as well as computers led to the production of miniaturised devices especially in space research and biotechnology.
In short, the First Industrial Revolution characterised by the use of steam and mechanisation, while the second revolution is distinguished by the use of electricity for mass production. As for the third one, it was set apart by the use of computers and electronics to automate production which lead to the basis of the Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 is summarised by the exponential expansion of emerging technologies cyber-physical systems (CPS).
Malaysia’s Future Workforce Not Ready for IR4.0 Workplace
Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) is known by the advancements of technology such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented and virtual reality, big data and analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT). As stated previously, IR4.0 is set to transform the workplace from task-based characteristics to human-centred characteristics, powered by artificial intelligence. As the technology advancements in IR4.0 need to be applied and adapted in the workplace, it will enable the new ways to carry out work, bringing new opportunities for value creation to businesses and organizations, paving the way for the formation of digital ecosystems and collaborations as well as engagement with consumers at greater scale.
With this new application of technology in the workplace, it is wondered on how much the future workforce to ready in involving in IR4.0 workplace. The future workforce are mostly come from the students or would-be graduates in Malaysia. This issue has been discussed in newspaper article, The NewStraitsTimes, written by Rozana Sani dated 2nd October 2019. In this article, the question on the readiness of the students for the IR4.0 workplace has been raised in order to know the actual understanding of the students in the concept of IR4.0 and the impacts on their future careers. Thus, a survey is conducted by INTI International University & College (INTI) and International Data Corporation (IDC) which aimed to uncover if talents were ready to be part of a digitally-evolving workforce.
From the survey, several points has been found as the key findings. The first is the students, graduates and parents lack clarity on IR4.0. Next, is the unpreparedness of the students to join the IR4.0 workforce and lastly is that tertiary education may not be enough to prepare students for workplace. Tan Lin Nah, acting chief executive officer of INTI International University & Colleges said that more than half of the students and graduates were unable to articulate what IR4.0 entails. She also stated that more than half of the parents surveyed unable to discuss IR4.0 and the relevance of IR4.0 to organisational transformation. Not just that, she said that most students are not exposed to the IR4.0 and depend only on their academic performance to make them ready for their job.
Other than technical skill, soft skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, leadership skills and lifelong learning should be exposed to students and graduates so that they are able to cope with the rapid change in the industry and take charge of their own learning. Tan Lin Nah also noted that there are not many students took initiatives to take courses to get additional certifications relevant to the IR4.0 workplace because of time constraints and lack of value. There is also a mismatch of expectations from graduates and the reality in the industries which contribute to their unpreparedness in joining IR4.0. This is due to their picture that there are organisation unwilling to take new talent, stating legacy issues and an unwillingness to adopt new process as the key challenges faced in the workplace.
IR4.0 Poses Challenges to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)
In the newspaper article, the NewsStraitTimes, written by Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye on 25th March 2018 discussed about the challenges faced by the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in IR4.0. IR4.0 is an era of the Internet of Things (IoT), where physical devices have a digital presence on the Internet. This affected the organization where the employers need to bring more automation to safety management compliance and make smart safety equipment to be in line with IR4.0. It is also stated that with the advancement of technology, even the low-tech personal protective equipment (PPE), such as safety helmet and goggles can become intelligent and connected. Supposed to be, with the advancement in connected safety technology will help businesses to protect their workers more effectively and help them to achieve a competitive advantage as they have reduce the costs for the safety management-related.
The European Framework Directive on Safety and Health at Work (Directive 89/391 EEC), wanted the employers to take measures to make work safer and healthier, focusing on the importance of new forms of safety and health management as part of general management process. In other words, the new forms of safety and health management required the employers to make use of technology and discarded the traditional ways of work like paper-based process of recording OSH data. This become challenging for the OSH as the IR4.0 demanded changes in OSH approaches with emphasis to be given on information and communication technology (ICT) skills, knowledge and applications. In order for workers to cope and adapt with this skills, new educational programmes are needed to be developed to meet the changing demands. In a report of World Economic Forum, the changes in business and organisations under IR4.0 means that workers would constantly be interacting and processing multiple channel of information that can improve their ability to learn.
The other aspect that need to be focused is the ergonomic issues related to the use of gadgets like smartphone and tablets. University Kebangsaan Malaysia experts conducted a study on the impact of the usage of the Internet on psychological and medical health among teenagers. Through the study, it showed that they are viewing gadgets at unhealthy angles which contribute as much as 27kg of weight onto their necks. This cause about half of the teenagers involve in the study to experience neck stiffness after using gadgets. Other than neck stiffness, some of the teenagers also suffered from short-sighted without realizing it. From the results gained from the students, this will also take effect on the workers.