Smart manufacturing will transform Abu Dhabi’s industry

As Abu Dhabi pursues enhanced economic development, Industry 4.0 technologies will provide businesses from all verticals newfound efficiency, effectiveness and empowerment. Their adoption will transform the emirate’s industrial sector and re-affirm its sustainability, vibrancy and success through smart manufacturing integration. In doing so, invaluable economic contributions will follow. A key economic diversification enabler, Abu Dhabi’s industrial sector has long been nurtured as a catalyst for realising the potential of digital transformation. Over a 15-year period, $13.8 billion has been invested towards establishing robust industrial infrastructure and innovative business facilities, whilst the industrial sector alone contributed 10.7 per cent to Abu Dhabi’s non-oil GDP as recently as 2020. From our perspective, AD Ports Group has been a witness to the transformative power of smart manufacturing. As one of Abu Dhabi’s key industrial facilitators, offering purpose-built economic hubs in the heart of the capital, AD Ports Group’s Economic Cities & Free Zones have welcomed a wave of new investors looking to deploy Industry 4.0 technologies and reap benefits such as maximised plant efficiency, seamless data exchange and on-time delivery. Abu Dhabi Industrial Strategy (ADIS) has integrated a smart manufacturing vision that aims to double the size of the Emirate’s manufacturing sector to Dh172bn ($45.5bn) by 2031 and establish it as the region’s most competitive industrial hub. Through ADIS, Abu Dhabi’s industrial sector will continue to play a leading role in driving sustainable development across the economy and wider emirate. It’s a role that requires increased production, manufacturing and tech-based advancement. Crucially, this outcome is realistic and achievable with support from smart manufacturing, which is today as much about ensuring sustainable growth for future generations as it is about using new technologies. From investors to industrial sector incumbents, citizens to government entities, everyone interested and invested in Abu Dhabi’s future has reason to be optimistic when smart manufacturing’s industrial sector presence expands. Smart manufacturing can streamline processes, bolster productivity, raise competitiveness, enable supply chain management, elevate safety and quality control, build future preparedness and improve business output and profits. For smart manufacturing policies to move forward, leadership and investment is needed, which ADIS will deliver, thereby enabling new partnerships and ensuring continued industrial sector development. Under the strategy, government-backed funding will come through a smart manufacturing funding programme; Industry 4.0 technology regulations will be adopted through a smart manufacturing assessment index; and competency centres will ensure existing and future talent are equipped with essential skillsets. At AD Ports Group, we continue to invest in the infrastructure and facilities required by next-generation businesses. Existing and planned development at the port-connected industrial zones of KIZAD is enabling the creation of whole ecosystems for specific sectors, from engineered metals to 3D printing, supported by advanced digital services and world-class customer service. Smart manufacturing will be key to supply chain success. As manufacturers streamline processes by adopting smart manufacturing processes, the incentive to increase self-sufficiency and promote domestic home-grown products will increase. Moreover, the strategy will provide influential support, introducing a home-grown supply chain programme to enhance industrial sector resilience. The already extensive Abu Dhabi Golden List, which encourages government procurement of high-demand, locally manufactured products, will also expand; while access to foreign markets will be eased through a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), as well as a bilateral trade agreement programme. With smart manufacturing integration comes new possibilities for Abu Dhabi’s industrial sector and the emirate. As the influence and impact of ADIS unfolds, widespread smart manufacturing adoption will follow, presenting a raft of new economic and business benefits. These are exciting times, and we are proud to be playing our part in achieving our national ambitions.