My three days working visit to Penang started with Pentamaster. A local owned company involved in the automation manufacturing and technology solutions. The company is equipped with 25 years of extensive and proficient skills in providing the integrated and customized solutions for cross sectors industries. The company will continue to strive for R&D to diverse their market which will go beyond M&E and E&E sectors. Also inspired with their R&D efforts and moving towards to I4.0 journey which is currently being promoted by the Government. Not forgeting the Readiness Assessment (RA) which has been announced yesterday and approximately 500 companies will be selected under this programme to further promote their products in the sectors involving I4.0.

My second company visit is to Paramit. I’m amazed with the Factory in the Forest concept practiced by Paramit Malaysia Sdn Bhd that showcased their unique way of consuming energy efficiently. Glad to know that Paramit Malaysia produces complex security technologies, medical devices and life sciences instrumentation.

Vitrox was the last visit of my first day working visit. Founded by three young engineers back in 90's in Penang. The V-One Industry 4.0 smart solution developed by ViTrox is a very good benchmarking to the other local companies to embark on the I4.0 journey. The product is merely a product involving the machine to machine communication at a more competitive price and afforded by the other local SMEs as well. I am mesmerized with the fact that the company’s efforts in striving for the achievements concerning I4.0 even before the launch of the National Policy I4.0 led by MITI.

The establishment of the Penang Automation Cluster (PAC) by the three Local Large Companies (LLC) namely ViTrox, Pentamaster and Walta is another platform to the local SMEs to also embark in the I4.0 journey. SMEs under this cluster are expected to provide quality raw materials to the local E&E and M&E companies.