The Tenth webinar of Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering (DMIE) was held on 07th of January 2021 by Eng. Mr. Chaminda Hettiaracchi on Role of Engineers in adopting industrial 4.0 technologies in Srilanka.

Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 will create new challenges to developing countries such as Sri Lanka. However, if managed well, the opportunities it will bring would be much higher than negative impacts. Industry 4.0 has the potential to help Sri Lanka to "leaf-frog” the development challenges faced by the country particularly in the era of Covid-19 pandemic. In order to do so, Sri Lanka needs to develop policies and formulate strategies which are systematic, broad based and sustainable. The country should adopt industry 4.0 technologies such as 3-D Printing, AI, Big Data, Robotics, Nano Sciences and Industry Automation and Digitalization for productivity improvements and efficiency gains.

The objectives of this program is to discuss the concepts and developments of industry 4.0 and its technologies, their implications to Sri Lanka and how Sri Lankan companies and institutions should try to adopt them while overcoming possible challenges. The session will share the lessons learnt for several years by FabLanka Foundation, a social enterprise specialized on introducing and popularizing Industry 4.0 and 3-D Printing for socio-economic developments in Sri Lanka through Fabrication Laboratories (FabLabs). The special emphasis will be on the role of engineers in the digital adaptation process under the new normal in the Covid-19 era.
Chaminda Hettiarachchi is a Co Founder and a Director at FabLanka Foundation, a Social Enterprise working on Industry 4.0 technologies including 3-D Printing for socio-economic development in Sri Lanka. He is also the CEO/Managing Director at Dil Consultancy, a research and management consultancy company based in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Chaminda teaches project management , strategy and e-business as a visiting lecturer for postgraduate programs at University of Colombo and University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka. He has 20 years of experience in the industry, academia, research and consultancy in 20 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe and he has lived in Pakistan, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Switzerland before returning to Sri Lanka. Chaminda is a B.Sc. (Production Engineering) graduate from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He has an MBA from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore. Pakistan and an MBA (International Industrial Management) from the Graduate School of Esslingen University of Applied Sciences (FHTE), Esslingen, Germany. He is also an alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School in Boston, USA, Fletcher School, Boston, USA in executive education and a DAAD Scholar at Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany and University of Koblenz-Landau, Germany.