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Being directed by the prime minister’s office BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology (BUFT) organized an industry-academia thought exchange seminar on the adaptation of the 4th industrial revolution in the textile and apparel industry.
BUFT wanted to learn the industry needs and positions related to industry 4.0 technologies to understand the scopes of including necessary courses and topics in its curricula. Prof. Dr. Engr. Ayub Nabi Khan, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of BUFT presented a keynote titled ‘Prospects & Challenge of the 4 IR for the RMG & Textile sector of Bangladesh’.
Professor Ayub Nabi elaborated on the aspects of 4IR and the Bangladesh industry’s position related to it. Identifying scopes and challenges he echoed the government’s plan and urged for the necessary roadmap to adapt to the revolution.
While professor Ayub Nabi acknowledged the challenges that arise in the process the participants of the discussion agreed and asked for careful study in crafting a strategy for adapting these technologies. Among the discussants Tareq Amin, Founder & CEO, Textile Today stressed the necessity of further research and survey to understand the ground reality of the industry. He stressed that the government and the sector don’t have the necessary detailed data.
Tareq Amin emphasized that first the government and then the companies should first define their purpose and then look into the available technologies to ait them to reach their goals. He also said that technology itself cannot be the goal, we may use technology to reduce cost, reach new products and markets and make complex operational processes easy, etc.
Representatives from several industries joined the discussion. Engr. Md. Hafizur Rahman, Chief Textile Officer, Fakir Fashion Ltd. urged for more capable and tech-savvy fresh graduates from universities. He informed that Bangladeshi textile and apparel factories are already adopting 4.0 industrial revolution technologies. Now we need real help from the universities in getting consistent and quality graduates.
Engr. Muhammad Mahiuddin, Director (Operation) of Unicom Textile Mills Ltd. thanked professor Khan for his excellent keynote speech. He also hailed BUFT for organizing such a timely seminar which can be instrumental for further growth and development of the industry. Mohiuddin was afraid of the impact of adopting industry 4.0 technologies in terms of possible job loss of unskilled people. He suggested all concerned take necessary steps for the skill development of such workers as if they can survive in the industry and can continue working.
Md Mahbub Hossain, Executive Director, Youth Spinning Mills Limited rather positively mentioned that adaptation of industry 4.0 technologies will help the industries mitigate the currently having worker shortage. He asked the universities to go for necessary changes in the curriculum for quick adaption of subjects and knowledge to supply necessary workforces to the industry.
In his concluding speech, the vice-chancellor of BUFT BUFT Prof. Dr. S.M. Mahfuzur Rahman promised that we have taken notes of the suggestions of the discussants of the seminar to use them in redesigning the curriculum of the university. He guided his students to remain focused to do necessary hardships to use modern technologies to connect with the industries to set the goals to contribute significantly to the future revolution of the industry. He expressed that we were behind in the first industrial revolution, in the second industrial revolution even in the 3rd industrial revolution but we are already ahead in adapting the 4th industrial revolution. Before he closed the seminar he acknowledged the time and participation of the industries and asked for further help in further dialogue to learn each other to mitigate the gaps between industry and academia.
