Imagine this scenario at the workplace in the next five years – machines talking to one another and sharing data about problems along the production line, solving the bottlenecks while improving the quality of products and enhancing the productivity of the company and its workers.
This will happen for real at Panasonic Appliances Refrigeration Devices Singapore (PAPRDSG).
The Singapore manufacturing plant in Bedok is being transformed from the traditional manufacturing to a digitally-enabled Smart Factory.
This was shared by the company at the opening of its Refrigeration Compressor Business Unit on 7 April 2017.
Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say who officiated the event applauded the company’s management and union leaders from the United Workers of Electronic & Electrical Industries (UWEEI) for working hand in hand to prepare the workers to take on the future jobs.
Panasonic has some 900 workers who are UWEEI members.
Preparing For Transition
Panasonic’s Smart Factory will evolve in three phases in the next five years said its management.
The new Smart Factory will feature machines that will be fitted with sensors to detect problems early to avoid disruption to the production line.
Minister Lim noted that workers would be concerned about their future employment, given the emerging scenario.
However, Panasonic has shown that while technology may replace some jobs, it can also create new and better ones said Minister who shared his impressions after the factory tour. He noted that robots have already started doing some of the work on the factory floor.
“The next step is to upgrade the skills of the workers progressively so that our local workers do not have to be retrenched but rather retrained to work with the robots,” said Minister Lim.
Working With UWEEI
According to Panasonic’s management, it has quite a number of senior workers and the company believes in tapping on their experience to mentor the younger ones.
Union leaders have a key role to play in this area through pressing home the message to workers to upskill, said the company’s director of manufacturing Leong Mun Chong.
“We need the union’s help to bring about a mindset change, especially among the senior staff. It is difficult for them to accept things suddenly and they worry about robots taking over their jobs.
“We need the union to come in to use their language to convince the workers that the company is changing for the better and encourage them to go along with the company’s goals and get themselves trained,” said Mr Leong.
Echoing similar views was UWEEI’s General Secretary Tan Richard.
He added: “If they don’t move ahead and go with the technological changes they will fall behind the rest of the workers. We always encourage them to take up future skills courses and be prepared for future jobs.”
Panasonic intends to tap on the courses available at NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) to prepare its mature workers in the electronics sector for the upcoming Smart Factory.
Source: NTUC This Week
