In its endeavor to enhance cooperation with various international companies and institutions for the benefit of its students, Bahrain Polytechnic organized a virtual seminar in collaboration with Practeria Ltd. UK on Industry 4.0 Transformation. The objective of the seminar was to understand how Industry 4.0 drives change in the real work environment, in advanced manufacturing processes, and in business operations and models. The session was attended by academic staff and students, and moderated by Mr. Iftikhar Ahmad, Lecturer in Mechanical engineering at the Polytechnic.
On this occasion, Ms. Magdalena Riley, CEO of Practeria Ltd. UK said: “The key objective of Industry 4.0 is to drive manufacturing forward: to be faster, more efficient, and customer-centric while pushing beyond automation and optimization to discover new business opportunities and models.”
Mr. Mike Saxer, Advanced Manufacturing Specialist at Practeria Ltd. UK stated: “It is a revolution based on the integration of cyber-physical systems with the Internet of Things and services. For the manufacturing sector, this integration has been enabled by successfully combining high-performance computing, the Internet, and the development of advanced manufacturing technologies.” Mr. Saxer added that the role of advanced manufacturing technologies, Big Data, the Internet, and software technology in this transformation is undisputable.
Dr. Christina Georgantopoulou, Head of Engineering School at Bahrain Polytechnic highlighted the importance of industry 4.0 transformation in academia, as well as the new skills that the engineering graduates need to develop to face the current challenges and the need for strong academic-industrial collaboration. She concluded by expressing her appreciation to the speakers and all participants for the interactive webinar and constructive discussion that took place.
It is worth noting that on January 2021, Bahrain Polytechnic had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Practeria Ltd.; an international company that includes experts in engineering, education technology and management consulting, based in the United Kingdom. The two parties intended to cooperate and coordinate the implementation of relevant, scalable, and sustainable digital solutions for technical skills training, which will build up readiness of the engineering students for the current and future challenges of the key Bahraini industrial sectors. In addition, both parties aimed to design and implement a blended learning strategy for engineering disciplines and will work on a strategic plan for the necessary skills of the future Bahraini engineering workforce based on the trends driven by 4th Industrial Revolution and it is 9 technology pillars.
