Penang manufacturing ready for Industry 4.0?

FOR nearly five decades, the manufacturing sector has been Penang’s economic backbone, making up 44.7% of its commercial activity in 2015 after the colonial-era free-port status was removed in 1969 by the federal government.

Backed by the state’s second chief minister Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu’s vision in the 1970s to turn a mostly agriculture-based Bayan Lepas into a sprawling industrial hub, Penang island soon became known as the country’s Silicon Valley. It also became an electronic and electrical (E&E) powerhouse supported by multinational corporations (MNCs) such as Intel Corp, Osram Licht AG, B Braun Melsungen AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, Agilent Technologies Inc, Jabil Inc and Dell Inc.

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