Ministry of Industry runs 'Factories of the Future' at Riyadh Industry Week 2024
The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources organized the “Factories of the Future” program as part of Riyadh International Industry Week 2024, held at the Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center.
His Excellency the Acting Undersecretary for Industrial Development and General Supervisor of the Industrial Enablement Agency, Eng. Al-Badr Fouda, explained during the event’s opening speech that the program aims to highlight the steady and accelerating steps being taken by the Kingdom’s industrial sector, in partnership with the Ministry, toward transforming the sector into advanced factories that apply modern manufacturing technologies and practices, achieving both the investment goals of individual factories and the national objectives set out in the National Industrial Strategy.
Fouda noted that the “Factories of the Future” program aims to transform 4,000 factories into advanced and automated factories with high operational and production efficiency. The transformation journey begins with a self-assessment, followed by an audited evaluation by a certified assessor, and then developing and implementing a transformation plan to achieve the targeted level.
The industrial ecosystem, as part of the program, launched several incentive initiatives, including:
Financial grants covering the cost of audited evaluations and developing transformation plans for factories.
Financial grants covering software costs, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, facilities and building management systems, and other digital solutions.
Financial grants covering part of the transformation costs for purchasing machinery and equipment needed for automation and improving production and operational efficiency.
The program also contributed to enhancing human capabilities leading the transformation journey in national factories, connecting over 1,200 trainees with training programs on modern manufacturing practices offered by the industrial ecosystem and government entities. To date, incentives have been provided to more than 490 factories through these initiatives and programs.
These efforts helped the Kingdom achieve first place in the Middle East in terms of maturity level assessments for adopting advanced technologies. Over 700 factories underwent audited evaluations, with 370 developing transformation plans, and approximately 150 factories achieving the targeted level of the “Factories of the Future” program to date.