Saudi Arabia’s National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) has signed a partnership with the Singapore-based International Centre for Industrial Transformation (INCIT) to drive the adoption of the Industry 4.0 focussed and Singapore-developed Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI) throughout the middle east nation.
The SIRI was developed in partnership with a network of leading technology companies, consultancy firms, industry, and academic experts.
The SIRI comprises a suite of digital frameworks and tools to help manufacturers across all industries start, scale, and sustain their manufacturing transformation journeys.
It serves to support the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies across manufacturing communities around the world.
SIRI covers the three core elements of Industry 4.0: process, technology, and organisation.
As of now, over a thousand SIRI assessments have been conducted globally across 37 countries.
INCIT is part of the World Economic Forum’s Global SIRI Initiative and was established in 2021 as a non-governmental and not-for-profit organisation to manage and coordinate the SIRI programme globally.
Maximising value
According to a statement, NIDLP aims to transform the Kingdom into a “leading industrial powerhouse and a global logistics hub” by maximising the value of its mining and energy sectors while “unlocking the full potential of local content and the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR)”.
NIDLP contributes to driving the Kingdom’s economic diversification towards sustainable growth by fostering a “globally attractive investment environment”.
A spokesperson said that through this partnership, NIDLP aimed to adapt SIRI at several thousand production facilities across the country.
The adoption of SIRI across manufacturing facilities will significantly help NIDLP in their goal of developing a sustainable comparative advantage that will place the Kingdom at the forefront of investment attractiveness, the spokesperson added.
NIDLP CEO, Suliman Almazroua, said the partnership would see the opening of a training and certification centre in which the “Smart Industry Readiness Index - Assessor training courses and examinations were designed to develop a deep, understanding and prioritisation framework”.
The framework will increase awareness and set aspirations for manufacturers in digital transformation Almazroua said.
“We will assign local champions who will be multipliers to scale the Smart Industry Readiness Index in the country with experience in Industry, Government Ministry or Business Consultancy,” he added.
INCIT CEO, Raimund Klein, observed that there were many different industrial segments in Saudi Arabia, such as the manufacturing of mechanical equipment, metal, and mining, as well as processing of oil and gas and food and beverages.
“This makes Saudi Arabia an important market, especially after Covid where the disruption of the supply change will create a new normal – after the great reset this will be led by countries focusing on the speed of the digital transformation of their manufacturing industry,” Klein said.
