The apparel industry, like any other industry, is undergoing a revolution which is termed as apparel 4.0. It can be explained as the digitization of textile and apparel industry processes, from concept to post retail, with the help of the latest technology such as IoT, AI and Cloud Computing, enabling companies to monitor and automate the entire production process with complete supply chain transparency. Coming to Bangladesh’s perspective, there are very few applications of automation in important manufacturing sectors related to textile and RMG. Therefore, the existence of industrial 4.0 and its establishment-level has not yet been proved in Bangladesh.
However, debates and scrutiny have already started in various public forums pin-pointing the consequence of automation led by apparel 4.0 in countries having labor-intensive manufacturing. Think tanks and policymakers are quantifying the ins and outs of the impact, apparel 4.0.
Advent of automation in Bangladesh and possible impacts on industries
a2i program of GoB identified 5 major sectors of Bangladesh to be mostly encountered by 4IR led automation:
For the above-mentioned five sectors of Bangladesh, a2i found 40% of all employment has a high risk of automation in the next couple of decades. Among the five sectors, the share of jobs with a high probability of automation is lowest in tourism and hospitality (20%) and highest in furniture and readymade garment sector (60%).
In the leather and footwear and agro-food sectors, the shares are 35%, and 40% respectively. Garment and textile production, in particular, are strongly characterized by low-skills and labor-intensive production in Bangladesh. Given that the bulk of salaried jobs in the sector (such as sewing machine operators) require completing extensive routine and manual tasks, a large part of garment workers are at high risk of automation.
There are few companies in Bangladesh are at the tip of implementing automation in their operation in a bid to cushion the advent of apparel 4.0.
Korea have a large industry for creating smart factories. Partner companies and business firms looking for expansion or const optimization can explore the available opportunities that keep presenting with time. We can work jointly as part our initiative to support and enhance the cooperation on multiple areas of smart factory sector in Bangladesh.
However, instances are very few. Therefore, the below-mentioned table draws the evidence available on secondary sources means that there may be more players in our scenario who are in the process of embodying apparel 4.0 in their operation.
Technology and trade are binding the world together. Globalization over the last few decades has pulled many nations out of poverty. Industrialization has propelled few countries as international powerhouses.
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