The Garment Industry In Southeast Asia Is Easily Affected By Automated Production

Southeast Asia, according to a new study.

,

and

Industrial workers are faced with high risk of unemployment because of the rise of automation, especially workers in Vietnam and Kampuchea.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) study found that over the next 20 years, more than half of workers in 5 Southeast Asian countries will suffer from high risk of unemployment due to automated production.

According to the study, 9 million people in the ASEAN area are engaged in textile, clothing and footwear industries, 64% of Indonesian workers, 86% of Vietnamese workers and 88% of Kampuchea workers are high-risk groups.

The Research Report "pformation of ASEAN: how to change ASEAN in pformation: How technology is changing jobs and enterprises" pointed out that Kampuchea, Laos, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam's textile, clothing and footwear industries employ over 70% female workers.

The report points out: "the impact of technological application on the textile, clothing and footwear industries of the ASEAN countries is far-reaching and may have a serious impact on women workers who are currently the pillars of the textile, clothing and footwear industries".

Some of the technologies have obviously disrupted the textile, clothing and footwear industries, including 3D printing, body scanning technology, computer aided design (CAD), wearable technology, nanotechnology, environmental protection manufacturing technology and machine automation.

The combination of body scanning inductor and computer-aided design can not only provide consumers with perfect products, but also ensure very fast delivery time, especially through 3D printing.

Because 3D printing does not require too much manpower, production can be more closely related to the product sales market.

The study even indicated that there were early signs that demand for mass production of footwear factories in the ASEAN countries was fading.

The study points out that footwear industry has established footwear factories in the main target market and produced by 3D printing technology. In addition, if such a mode of operation can make enterprises profitable, then the demand for workers in the autonomous production shoe factories will decrease.

Robot with sewing ability

Another challenge comes from the robot "sewbots" with sewing ability.

Although it is impossible for sewbots to replace the existing workers in the garment factories of the ASEAN countries (sewbots is likely to be deployed in target markets such as mainland China, Europe and the United States), the destructive impact on the ASEAN countries' industries is "very large", and machine automation poses a significant threat to workers' job opportunities.

Another worry of the International Labour Organization to the ASEAN textile, garment and footwear industry is that China's production continues to grow.

"At present, China produces more products with less manpower, and because of the automation process, the production gap will expand."

Smart clothing, or clothing with electronic and digital functions, such as Zhi Huixie, which can provide health indicators and measure the walking distance, represents a different challenge: lack of skilled personnel.

Therefore, the United Nations says that the demand for human resources in the textile, clothing and footwear industries of the ASEAN region will be changed rapidly because the region is faced with the dual challenge of increasing the demand for high-ranking technicians and engineers in the face of the replacement of low skilled workers and the emergence of synthetic clothing producers.