Bali and Industry Revolution 4.0: Wither Are We Bound?

 

Industry Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) is currently most used phrase in most developing nations, and everyone is racing to embrace it with open arms.

Firstly, what’s this IR4.0? The term first was coined in German for a computerized manufacturing environment as Industrie 4.0. The needs and consumption of the humans have evolved and increased since the days we collected food till now as we are in the edge of 3D printing technology. If dissected in detail, the IR4.0 revolution mimicks the human system for a full-fledged manufacturing. The IR4.0 utilizes the mechanical technology for its manufacturing process. In earlier time of electrical technology was the IR2.0. It combines both mechanical & electrical technology with the digital flavoring signaled the IR3.0. Extensive and fast-forwarded research in the field of computer science has connected many missing links between machine and coding’s. In parallel, evolving research in the field of MEMS, Bio Mems etc. has started to mimick human sensors and integrate into the manufacturing systems. All this has enabled a massive marriage between the physical and digital/cyber (namely Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, Augmented/Virtual Reality, IOT and other advance manufacturing technology as shown in Figure 1 the pillars of IR4.0) system. It has snowballed into a new disruptive revolution known as IR4.0. This revolution will soon be teleported towards IR5.0, where artificial intelligence (AI) will be the main culminating entity.

Now IR4.0 or IR5.0 has taken over or encroached into various manufacturing and service industries, ranging from health, agriculture, banking’s, legal fraternity, HR systems, to manufacturing process, from the beginning till the end processes. This has created a dynamic and fluid system which has continuous improvement elements with improved outcomes.

Now in Bali, where does IR4.0 assimilate into the fabrics of its economy and social structure and how? Bali’s main industry is tourism that mainly relies on service sector, which is supported by physical systems. It is also not known to many that Bali also has a number of higher education institutions. Both of these niches complement one another other if a common understanding framework is set. The tourism and higher learning institutions should start to implement the groundwork to achieve a Tourism 4.0 and University 4.0 status (Suggested framework shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3). This execution will be best achieved if both entities charter the road map in parallel towards a convergence point.

Universities are the best place to cultivate and nurture new research frameworks, thus for Bali, respective/targeted universities should start throwing ideas and have research clusters which could contribute to Bali’s Tourism 4.0. The Hospitality & Leisure Management (H&LM) should be the main drive for this assimilation initiative. As an example, H&LM should engage the Engineering Cluster in developing both physical and cyber system especialy for repetitive tasks which need urgent attention.

In this holistic symbiosis, both the tourism industry and education will produce outcomes towards achieving the 4.0 and beyond technology development. The local government and tourism ministry are the agencies that can change the landscape of Bali’s Tourism and Education economy. All these four entities should support each other to achieve the IR4.0 implementation as shown in Figure 4. (wk)