Riyadh: According to Osama Al-Zamil, vice minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Saudi Arabia is planning to automate 4,000 factories as part of its efforts to prepare for the fourth industrial revolution and compete with other nations.
Al-Zamil stated at the Factories of the Future program's induction ceremony on Wednesday that as Saudi Arabian factories transition to sustainability, more job opportunities are being created for Saudis.
He added that Saudi Arabia's industrial sector has recently undergone a quantum leap thanks to the Factories of the Future programme.
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According to Al-Zamil, "The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has been eager to shed light on one of our most important programmes (Factories of the Future), through which we seek to build a long-term future vision, focusing on the future of the economy of our generations, and to keep pace with the fast developments.
The vice minister added that 4,000 factories, or roughly 30% of all factories in the Kingdom, were initially finalised for automation by the ministry.
"We set our plans according to many possibilities," he continued, "from finding funding sources to updating laws and regulations to finding the incentives the sector needs to reach this target."
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According to the vice minister, the National Productivity Program, also known as NPP, aims to use cutting-edge technology to assist 100 industrial companies in achieving the highest levels of production efficiency.
The minister claims that the Kingdom has already started building capacity centres for the fourth industrial revolution, focusing on industries like logistics, mining, and energy.
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He continued by saying that in order to bring about the fourth industrial revolution, the government would also build optical fibre networks and mobile phone towers for developed areas in 35 industrial cities.
