SPEECH BY MINISTER OF STATE (TRADE AND INDUSTRY), MR S ISWARAN, AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF PROCTER & GAMBLE’S SINGAPORE PERFUMES PLANT ON WEDNESDAY, 5 MARCH 2008 AT 10.00AM, 3 TUAS WEST STREET.

Ms. Deborah Henretta, Group President for Asia, Procter & Gamble

Distinguished guests,

I am delighted to join you this morning at the opening of P&G’s Singapore Perfumes Plant. The launch of this plant is an important milestone in Singapore’s Consumer Care Industry. It is also a ‘first’ on several counts:

·It is P&G’s FIRST Perfumes Plant in Asia.

·It is the company’s FIRST perfumes plant to incorporate new process workflows and technology, based on a design which will lead other P&G plants globally.

·It is also, I am told, the FIRST plant in P&G’s history to start up within an impressively short time frame of six months.

The perfumes produced in this Singapore plant will be used in the products of some of P&G’s biggest brands across Asia. These include Olay, Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Clairol, Wella, and Rejoice. Made-in-Singapore scents will soon be part and parcel of many aspects of daily living for Asian consumers.

In P&G’s language, their brands face two moments of truth every day: the first is at the store shelf, when shoppers choose which brands to buy. The second is at home, when consumers decide whether the products actually deliver on the brand promise. Singapore has withstood a similar two-step test in persuading P&G of our merits as a trusted, creative and competitive location for such an investment. The first moment of truth was when Singapore was chosen some months ago, from a variety of alternative locations, to be P&G’s first perfume plant in Asia. The second is the opening of this plant today which reaffirms our ability to deliver on a promise to support the successful execution of the project. P & G’s selection of Singapore as its strategic site for perfumes manufacturing in Asia is significant to us for three reasons.

Firstly, it is a strong endorsement of Singapore’s connectivity to Asia and beyond. In order to make and deliver perfumes for Asia, I understand that P&G will be bringing in over 600 different types of raw materials from various locations around the globe to this mega-plant. The plant will operate on a just-in-time system, keeping a low finished products inventory and shipping them out immediately into the region. In fact, this one mega-plant will be able to serve multiple P&G end-product plants in Asia. All of this is made possible by Singapore’s efficient logistics infrastructure, and trade agreements which facilitate access to growing markets in Asia. Companies such as P&G can leverage on Singapore’s connectivity and speed-to-market to capture market share in Asia.

Secondly, P&G’s Perfumes plant in Singapore embodies the knowledge-intensive manufacturing activities that we are developing. As Singapore continues to enhance its capabilities in manufacturing, science and technology, we are ever more cognizant of the fact that our people are our key resource. We are committed to train and continuously upgrade the skills of Singaporeans. I note that this plant has a largely Singaporean workforce. Even the specialized “noses” required to support this unique business of perfume manufacturing are Singaporean. P&G’s investment signals confidence in the quality of the Singaporean workforce. Our capabilities will contribute to P&G’s global competitiveness, by improving the manufacturing processes and creating a high performance workplace.

Thirdly, this plant is also a testament to Singapore’s robust regime for the protection of intellectual property. Singapore has placed great emphasis on the legislative infrastructure to safeguard companies’ innovations and proprietary technologies. I understand that P&G uses several patented technologies for the manufacturing process that this plant is responsible for. In addition, P&G is testing new process designs at this Singapore plant, confident that the workflow will remain proprietary to the company. This speaks volumes about the trust you have in Singapore and our reputation as a secure location for knowledge-intensive manufacturing.

I thank P&G for endorsing the business environment that Singapore offers to consumer care companies. The EDB is keen to attract more of such investments to Singapore. We aim for Singapore to be Asia’s Lifestyle Lab – a location for consumer care companies to dream, design, and develop solutions for consumers in Asia and beyond.

Let me conclude by congratulating the management and staff of P&G on the opening of your plant. It is a strategic move for your company and a milestone in the development of the Consumer Care industry in Singapore. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership between P&G and Singapore, and assure you of our commitment and support for your continued success.

Thank you.