The Malaysian wood and furniture industry is one of the major contributors to the Malaysian economy, estimated in nearly €4bn of exports and about 300,000 workers. In fact, in 2017 Malaysia was ranked as the 9th World country in furniture exports and 17th in production. Consequently, the National Timber Industry Policy 2009-2020 established innovation and technology, and human capital development as the main challenges of the industry. Moreover, the blueprint for the Malaysian National Industry 4.0 policy framework is expected to have a focus on the training aspects and update workers knowledgeLikewise, the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 was launched by the Ministry of Education whose prime aim was to address the mismatch in the supply and demand of graduates, with employers reporting the lack of knowledge, skills and attitudes required in graduatesFollowing all these recommendations, MAKING4.0 will establish a European-Malaysian collaborative consortium integrated by 4 Malaysian and 3 European Universities, the Wood and Furniture Technological Centre of Murcia (Spain), and the Malaysian Timber Industry CouncilMAKING4.0 aims to develop an innovative Master on Industry4.0 technologies for engineers of wood and furniture smart factories that will update High Education and increase competitiveness of the Malaysian manufacturing industryTo achieve this objective, different technical activities will be carried out: 1. Analysis and comparison of the current HE offer and wood industry in Malaysia and Europe 2. Definition of the training path, learning content structure and methodological aspects 3. Development of training materials and guides for trainers 4. Performance of a test analysis to validate and accredit the Master courseAs a final result, MAKING4.0 will procure a new Master in Malaysian universities related to Industry4.0 and the woodworking industry, teached in English and with a high impact on the Malaysian HE and manufacturing industry
The wood and furniture (W&F) industry is one of the major socio-economic contributor to the country (top 2 contributors to GDP). The adoption of I4.0 in this sector is paramount to respond to the demand of high quality & sustainably and competitive price. The challenge must be also addressed by HEI. The goal of this project is to modernize the HEI degrees in Malaysia through the development of a new Master degree focused on the skills & competences required for the adoption of I40 in W&F sector.
Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is significantly changing job offers and skills demanded worldwide. Higher EducationaI Institutions (HEI) must drive the change offering new training contents and degrees focused on I4.0. The Ministry of Education in Malasia is pushing up major reforms in HEI to enhance students learning experience by expanding industry collaboration in the design and delivery of new programms, accelerating the I4.0 adoption while reducing the mismatch in the supply and demand of graduates.
<< Background >> Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is significantly changing job offers and skills demanded worldwide. Higher EducationaI Institutions (HEI) must drive the change offering new training contents and degrees focused on I4.0. The Ministry of Education in Malasia is pushing up major reforms in HEI to enhance students learning experience by expanding industry collaboration in the design and delivery of new programms, accelerating the I4.0 adoption while reducing the mismatch in the supply and demand of graduates. << Objectives >> The wood and furniture (W&F) industry is one of the major socio-economic contributor to the country (top 2 contributors to GDP). The adoption of I4.0 in this sector is paramount to respond to the demand of high quality & sustainably and competitive price. The challenge must be also addressed by HEI. The goal of this project is to modernize the HEI degrees in Malaysia through the development of a new Master degree focused on the skills & competences required for the adoption of I40 in W&F sector. << Implementation >> During 45 months the consortium coordinated by UPCT (Spain), and composed of 3 EU institutions (CETEM, KIT, WULS), 4 Malaysian HEI (UKM, UiTM, UPM, USM) and the National Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) worked on the objectives:1-Identification of gaps and needs of Malaysian HEI and Industry2-Joint curriculum design-development3-Training material and guides for trainers development4-Master Pilot test-validation and submission for acreditation by the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) << Results >> Master degree developed, in process to be accredited by Malaysia Qualification Agency: 60 ECTS, 18 courses, 1internship, 1 final assessment activity20 trainers' guides, pilot executed and lessons learnt for a broader implementation in MalaysiaRemarkable dissemination impact, e.g., 10 International journals, more than 180.000 visits in the project websiteStrong consortium with broader perspective of internationalisation: new granted mobilities, teaching/researching cooperation activities, etc.