Sustainable automation towards productivity in electronic manufacturing industry: A study in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
The adoption of sustainable automation has been associated with significant transformation in modern manufacturing, especially the electronics manufacturing industry in Malaysia, which is a key contributor to the national gross domestic product, export performance, and industrial competitiveness. However, challenges remain associated with economic volatility, ergonomic constraints, operational instability, workforce issues, and societal requirements. This research empirically evaluated the relationship of five sustainability-related factors, namely physical working environment, economic factor, employee well-being, operational efficiency, and societal impact, on the productivity of the electronic manufacturing industry in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, while providing theoretical and practical insights grounded in Deming Theory and the Triple Bottom Line framework. A quantitative research design was employed to analyze the data obtained from 274 respondents across four major electronic manufacturing companies using factor analysis, reliability testing, multiple regression, and analysis of variance. The findings indicate that economic factor, operational efficiency, physical working environment, and societal impact have a significant positive relationship with productivity, with economic factor as the strongest predictor. In contrast, employee well-being shows a positive correlation in preliminary analysis but was not found to be a significant contributor when tested with other variables. The findings enhance existing knowledge by demonstrating that productivity in highly automated manufacturing environments is mainly associated with economic and operational factors rather than human-centric factors. These findings provide valuable insights to other industries undergoing Industry 4.0 transformation, including semiconductor, automotive, and advanced manufacturing. The research highlights that as automation maturity increases, system-level capabilities such as financial readiness, process stability, and technological integration are critically associated with productivity outcomes.
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