If we look back two hundred to two hundred fifty years ago, our world was dominated by agriculture and people were making their living from the toiling in the field. It was until 250 years ago when the industrial revolution started in England, and the term First Industrial Revolution was popularized for the first time by the English economic historian, Arnold Toynbee, who documented the British economic development from 1760 to 1840. During the First Industrial Revolution, it transformed agriculture and handicrafts into economies based on large-scale industry, mechanized manufacturing, and started the factory manufacturing system.

This was followed by the Second Industrial Revolution which was usually dated between 1870 and 1914. It was the period of speedy industrialization, technological growth, science discoveries, and introduction of mass production that led to the growth of cities. It further developed manufacturing, steam engine, man-made canals and railroads were developed for the further development of new industries. From then on, the development of advanced countries, together with the modern era of colonialism with Spain and Portugal established their trade outposts and military bases to protect their interest. This was followed by the English, French and Dutch, and the territories expanded from Africa to South America, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Access not only to the minerals, but also the abundant labors.

After the two world wars, decolonization took place, and many of those countries were granted for their independence.

In general, we referred to the Third Industrial Revolution which began in the 1970s and extended into the beginning of 20th century. We started the partial automation using programmable controls and computers, and since the introduction of these technologies, we developed into fully automation without any labor input.

From this moment onward, we heard about Industry 4.0 also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which allowed smart manufacturing and the creation of intelligent factories. It helped us to enhance productivity, efficiency, and flexibility and allow more intelligent decision-making and customization manufacturing and supply chain operations. It was the first time we came across artificial intelligence, cloud computing, robotics, 3D printing, just to name a few. It didn’t stop here but extend to commercial activities, such as the e-commerce where data are taken for algorithm.

Industry 5.0 also known as the Fifth Industrial Revolution which is the latest and we have seen human beings working alongside advanced technology and application of Artificial Intelligence has become very common. We come across Internet of Things (IoT), and quantum computing. In fact, I feel that we can combine Industry 4.0 and 5.0 as the technology has evolved so quick in the recent years and revolution is actually evolution.

This has all meant for better efficiency and add benefits to our personal life although we can’t really get around with it as everything is happening so fast. We found that our civilization at this stage would probably be a bit overwhelmed. We need to harmonize ourselves with technologies and to lead a more meaningful and happier life.

Let’s come back to where we were when we began composing this piece of writeup, i.e., to help the majority of the people to stay out of poverty, build up their basic skills and improve their living standard.

We have seen since the 1960s onward, countries like Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, also known as the Four Asian Dragons, were providing the economic growth and began to benefit the developed countries. At the same time, they helped to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, created employments and raised the standards of living. Especially after the joining of China in the late 1980s, the region became the powerhouse. The Four Asian Dragons together with China successfully combined the vast pools of cheap labor with access to international knowhow and financing. Governments were building infrastructure, opening schools for education and skill-training, offered business-friendly rules and incentives, and helped to build state-of-the-art industries.

But unfortunately at this time that the political tensions have increased, supply chains have to be remapped, offshoring has been going for nearshoring and even onshoring, and all these have changed our trading patterns. To certain extent, this was affected by the century-pandemic, and we have to think next for the right steps to take. For the developing world which accounted for 85% of the global population, about 6.8 billion people, the implications are profound.

Manufacturing is still playing a crucial role in today’s global economy, although its exact shares of total output and natures can vary depending on the region and the specific industries involved. We can refer to the following for our consideration:

Economic contribution – This can be measured by the gross domestic product (GDP) of various countries which involve manufacturing of automotive, aviation, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and each make signification to economic output.

Employment contribution – It is still contributing employment opportunities for hundreds of millions of people worldwide, from factory workers to engineers, technicians and management.

Innovation and technology contribution – With research and development, they drive manufacturing into higher-value-added products and advance our products across various sectors of the economy.

Supply chain contribution – This is initiated by international trade and involve the connectivity of various types of materials, manufacturing locations and its involvement in the complex networks of production and distribution.

We think that we will stop here for this issue and study for how to help those vast population from the developing countries which account for 85% of the global population. We have to find a way to bring them out of the hot water as our ancestors have used the poor and the less fortunate to build up our world today. We can’t leave them behind because of the morality.

There is so much to talk about and we will try to continue this subject in our coming issues. Meanwhile, we bring you our July issue.