SPEECH BY MR S ISWARAN, MINISTER, PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE, SECOND MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS AND SECOND MINISTER FOR TRADE & INDUSTRY, AT THE SINGAPORE INSTITUTE OF MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY 20TH ANNIVERSARY GALA DINNER ON WEDNESDAY, 10 JULY 2013, 7.15 PM AT THE FULLERTON HOTEL, SINGAPORE
Mr Lim Chuan Poh, Chairman, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
Dr Raj Thampuran, Managing Director, A*STAR
Dr Lim Ser Yong, Executive Director, Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech)
Friends and colleagues from A*STAR, SIMTech and the industry
A very good evening to all of you. First, I want to say how happy I am to join you this evening to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of SIMTech, and most importantly, the work that SIMTech has done in supporting the development of the manufacturing industry in Singapore.
R&D is Key to Sustaining the Competitiveness of Singapore’s Manufacturing Industry
1. I think you are well aware that the manufacturing sector is a pillar of the economic development in Singapore. Over the years, our manufacturing activities have become more technology- and knowledge-intensive, primarily in response to opportunities and also some of the challenges that we face as a sector. We have been able to maintain our position as an attractive and competitive location for manufacturing by developing world-class capabilities in the design, development and manufacture of goods. Today, manufacturing accounts for about 20% of our GDP and employs about 16% of our workforce. It acts as a significant heft in our economy, and it remains a key part in our economy, it adds diversity and resilience in the way we are able to respond to external shocks.
2. Competition, regional and global, continues unabated. Our manufacturing sector must persist in its move towards high value-added sectors such as aerospace, marine and medtech. R&D is key to this endeavour for it can help to boost innovation, sharpen the competitive edge of our companies, and create good jobs for Singaporeans. One example is the successful Rolls-Royce Advanced Technology Centre partnership with SIMTech, which led to the establishment of the SIMTech-Rolls-Royce Surface Finishing Joint Lab in 2009 and other subsequent collaborations. As a result, in 2012, Rolls-Royce officially opened a new wide chord fan blade factory worth S$700 million in Singapore, creating opportunities for Singaporean workers and businesses.
R&D Raises the Productivity and Competitiveness of SMEs
3. Beyond the large international companies, it is equally important that our local enterprises, especially our SMEs, leverage on technology to raise their competitiveness and productivity. This task takes on added significance in today’s operating environment, where we face not just external challenges but also significant domestic constraints, be it in terms of land or labour.
4. To help our SMEs raise their capabilities through technology transfer and R&D, S$1 billion has been set aside from 2011 to 2015 under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2015 plan. This is to help our research centres proactively identify opportunities for collaboration with our SMEs. This is a significant commitment of public resources to help commercialise more research ideas in collaboration with our SMEs. And we have several platforms and programmes for this purpose.
5. This May, I was at the 10th anniversary celebration of the GET-Up programme. A key component of GET-Up is the Technology for Enterprise Capability Upgrading (T-Up) initiative, which has been successful in seconding research scientists and engineers to local enterprises to help identify crucial technologies and for these enterprises to build in-house R&D capabilities. A recent example is SIMTech’s Dr Li Hao who was seconded to HistoIndex, a biomedical spin-off in imaging solutions to diagnose fibrosis. Dr Li Hao built the world’s first integrated imaging system, which enabled HistoIndex to expand the diagnosis of liver fibrosis to more than 20 fibrosis-related diseases. Consequently, HistoIndex has been able to broaden its customer base in the US, Europe, and Asia, and increase its revenue stream by S$1 million from 2011 to 2012. To date, SIMTech has seconded more than 130 research scientists and engineers to companies under this T-Up programme. So it has been a significant effort under this broad ambit of GET-Up and T-Up.
6. At this year’s Budget, the Government announced the introduction of another element in our efforts, which is the Technology Adoption Programme (TAP). It is an initiative to help companies drive productivity, innovation and capability upgrading through the adoption of technology. A key element of TAP is the introduction of a team of experienced intermediaries – individuals who will effectively bridge companies with solution providers. They will proactively engage companies to understand their technological needs, and link them with both public and private sector solution providers who can best meet their needs. SIMTech is one such solution provider.
SIMTech Provides Advanced Manufacturing Solutions to Companies
7. There is no doubt htat SIMTech has made a signal contribution, in different capacities, to the development of high-value manufacturing technology and talent to support Singapore’s overall manufacturing industry. Since its inception 20 years ago, SIMTech has completed 5,300 R&D projects with 1,300 companies in the areas of manufacturing processes, automation and systems. Working with MNCs and SMEs alike, SIMTech has developed new products and processes with over 88 patents granted, and licensed its technologies to more than 80 companies.
8. It is especially noteworthy, that SIMTech has proactively taken on the mission and challenge of helping our SMEs move up the value chain. To reach out to more local manufacturing companies, SIMTech broadened its R&D partnership with industry to industry-wide consortia to build advanced manufacturing capabilities that are relevant for different industry clusters. For example, SIMTech initiated the Gun Drilling Consortium, which created high-value business opportunities in oilfield equipment products, tools and components for local companies. I understand that many of the industry partners here tonight have benefited from this Consortium.
9. Beyond this consortium approach, SIMTech continues to engage SMEs on customised one-to-one projects. For example, Kim Hiap Lee, a subsidiary of LHT Holdings, overcame the bottlenecks and problems associated with the manual tracking of leased pallets through SIMTech’s Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Pallet Leasing and Tracking System. With the adoption of this RFID tracking system, Kim Hiap Lee was able to manage the movements of its leased pallets more efficiently, serve more customers, and ultimately achieve productivity gains and annual savings of S$50,000 for the company, and S$375,000 for its customers. The project also spawned – and this is important – a new business segment for Kim Hiap Lee in RFID tracking and tracing systems, and the supply of RFID tags.
10. To accelerate its efforts in assisting the manufacturing industry, SIMTech now hosts three innovation centres to provide accessible R&D infrastructure to SMEs. These are the Manufacturing Productivity Technology Centre, Precision Engineering Centre of Innovation, and the Sustainable Manufacturing Centre. These centres are supported by a portfolio of SIMTech and A*STAR technologies, and they offer manpower training, consultancy and infrastructure for SMEs.
11. To complement these productivity enhancement initiatives, SIMTech has jointly commenced 11 Workforce Skills Qualification training programmes with the Workforce Development Agency (WDA). Since 2009, more than 1,000 professionals, managers, executives and technicians from the local manufacturing industry have upgraded their technological capabilities under these programmes. One example is the Operations Management Innovation (OMNI) programme, which has benefitted more than 70 companies and resulted in significant productivity gains.
Enhanced Partnership through Collaborative Industry Projects
12. In addition to this extensive suite of programmes that SIMTech has already put in place in aid of our companies, SIMTech will initiate new collaborative industry projects to further help enterprises strengthen their capabilities and venture into growing markets. These projects will bring together industry and research partners with similar technology needs so as to maximise the sharing of resources and expertise, and accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies. Tonight, I am happy to share with you that SIMTech will be launching three new collaborative projects:
a. The first project on Advanced Precision Metal Machining aims to train a pool of machinists to implement machine dynamic analysis and simulation technology. This project is expected to help participating companies achieve significant productivity improvements in machining operations.
b. The second project is on Corrosion Prevention to help companies improve productivity in coating processes, and to establish more accurate tests for corrosion investigation and selection of coating materials for corrosion prevention.
c. Working in conjunction with the National University of Singapore and TUV-SUD[1], the third project is on X-ray sterilisation for the medtech industry. It aims to develop low-cost alternatives to existing capital-intensive sterilisation methods which have limited our local SMEs’ ability to meet the high demand for sterilisation of medical devices and food related products. X-ray sterilisation offers a good alternative to existing sterilisation methods as it provides comparatively better dose uniformity performance.
13. These projects will help to raise the capabilities of companies across the entire precision engineering and medtech spectrum, thereby benefitting more than 2,600 SMEs.
Conclusion
14. With a strong and deeply ingrained institutional instinct to strike up successful industry collaborations, public research institutes such as SIMTech have been instrumental to the Government’s efforts to sustain Singapore as a knowledge-intensive, innovation-driven economy. I commend and congratulate SIMTech on its contributions to help our companies, particularly SMEs, to innovate, adopt new technology, and overcome the challenges our manufacturing sector has faced in its evolution.
15. Tonight, I have cited several examples of companies that have harnessed R&D and technology to their benefit, and to that of their customers. We would like many more of our companies to join their ranks. The Government and our research institutions remain fully committed to supporting our companies through their transformational journey, which can be particularly challenging for SMEs. I urge our companies to proactively partner our research institutes, such as SIMTech, to reap the benefits that technology can offer your enterprise.
16. I congratulate SIMTech on its 20th anniversary, your signal contribution to our economic development and the manufacturing sector, and wish you continued success in initiating more strategic programmes for the industry.
17. Thank you.