Deputy Minister Urges Textile Industry Restructuring and Tech Adoption to Boost Global Competitiveness

Deputy Minister of Industry Faisol Riza is encouraging the national textile industry to strengthen its competitiveness through corporate restructuring, increased investment, and the adoption of technology to compete in the global market. Faisol stated that strengthening the industry cannot rely solely on increasing production but must also be supported by investment, research and development, and the adoption of modern technology. “There must be a step, which we will perhaps initiate, so that this industry association can be stronger and focus on several production capitals that I think we can implement, including starting from the investment and technology flow. This all must be driven by the textile industry association,” Faisol said in Bandung on Wednesday. According to him, one of the main challenges currently facing the textile industry is increasing company capacity to be more competitive in the global market. He assessed that stronger collaboration among industry players is needed to accelerate the transformation of the national textile sector so it can respond to evolving market needs. Faisol added that the government is also pushing for the restructuring of textile companies as part of efforts to strengthen national industrial competitiveness amidst increasingly fierce global competition. “It has been done. There are programmes and credit for labour-intensive industries, there are also other incentives that must be prepared. We will discuss this, including with business players,” he said. Meanwhile, Head of the Industrial Vocational Education Development Centre at the Ministry of Industry, Wulan Aprilianti Permatasari, said that the quality of human resources is a crucial factor in maintaining the investment climate and boosting the competitiveness of the national textile industry. She noted that the increasingly dynamic industrial development requires a workforce with competencies suited to industry needs, particularly in mastering technology and innovation. “Human resources are prepared as well as possible with an applied bachelor’s education level. They must master technology, especially in fulfilling industrial needs, so they can master technology for innovation in the textile field,” Wulan said. She added that besides mastering technology, strengthening national and international competency certification is also necessary so that vocational graduates have higher competitiveness and can meet the needs of both domestic and international industries.