The HRDC is currently conducting a study to assess and ascertain the role of skills needed to foster Automation, Robotics and IIOT in different sub sectors of the Manufacturing sector and come up with specific skills development programmes.

This study will help gauge the current automation level in the sector while evaluating the willingness of enterprises to adopt automation of processes and subsequently identify specific skills development programmes to facilitate the transition process. The study will also provide an overview of the different skills which would be required for the adoption of new technologies and indicative means to acquire those skills.

The skills development programmes will be developed and mounted for existing employees as well as new entrants with the collaboration of industry associations.

The study will adopt a mixed approach, namely through a quantitative survey of enterprises, complemented with in-depth interviews of industry experts and focus group discussions with industry associations.

In this context, two focus group discussions with industry representatives from various sub-sectors of the Manufacturing industry will be organised as follows: