SINGAPORE'S manufacturing industry received a boost on Monday (Nov 22) with the government and corporates inking a slew of agreements to strengthen supply chains at the Industrial Transformation Asia-Pacific (ITAP) 2021.

Among them, Sembcorp Development and Gallant Venture became the Southeast Asia Manufacturing Alliance's (SMA) newest strategic partners, after they formalised their collaboration agreements with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and Enterprise Singapore (ESG).

The SMA is a tripartite agreement launched in February that offers companies a suite of manufacturing locations in South-east Asia. CapitaLand was its first private-sector strategic partner, providing companies access to Nusajaya Tech Park in Johor.

Gallant Venture's entry widens that access to Batamindo Industrial Park in Batam and Bintan Industrial Estate, while Sembcorp Development, a unit of Sembcorp Industries, opens the doors to the various Vietnam-Signapore Industrial Parks in Vietnam as well as the Kendal Industrial Park in Semarang, Central Java.

"By investing in both Singapore and in another South-east Asian market with these strategic partners, companies will be eligible for benefits that make their set up in Singapore and the region more seamless and cost-efficient," according to EDB.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of ITAP 2021, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said: "By providing access to connections and expertise through Singapore, we help businesses grow their manufacturing footprint in South-east Asia".

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But more can be done to strengthen resilience beyond diversification of supply chains, Heng said.

"We must also tackle the significant inefficiencies in the flow of goods and the magnitude of documentation required as cargo flows through the supply chain," he said.

To that end, Singapore earlier this year launched the Singapore Trade Data Exchange (SGTraDex), a common data infrastructure that allows supply chain stakeholders to exchange data easily and securely.

On Monday, the government's research and development arm, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), launched a S$18 million Supply Chain 4.0 initiative with the National University of Singapore and the Singapore University of Technology and Design's Centre for Next Generation Logistics.

A*Star has also opened a supply chain control tower to trial solutions.

In a separate briefing with reporters, David Low, chief executive of the Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre at A*Star, said the idea is for companies to feed the control tower data to visualise different scenarios.

These smart supply chain solutions are part of 4 factors that Heng said Singapore needs to fully ride the wave of Industry 4.0, which also include sustainable production, swift innovation and secure machines.

In the area of sustainability, Heng said Singapore's advanced manufacturing hub, the Jurong Innovation District, also has the highest sustainability standards for buildings in the Republic.

He said the government is expanding the ecosystem in this district to create a more conducive environment for test beds of new sustainable solutions for the advanced manufacturing sector.

At the same time, robust cybersecurity is critical in protecting operating and manufacturing systems against cyberattacks, said Heng.

Singapore is thus launching a cybersecurity self-evaluation checklist and guidelines for digitalisation in manufacturing, a standard that helps manufacturers identify cybersecurity gaps as they digitalise, he said.

It is a joint effort by 58 stakeholders from across consumer industry associations, academia and the government, he added.

Noting that Covid-19 has accelerated the pace of technological transformation, including Industry 4.0, Heng said it has also shown that advanced manufacturing goes "way beyond the factory floor".

He said: "The pandemic has shifted the spotlight from where we manufacture to how we manufacture and how do we ensure the supply chain and other disruptions do not knock out manufacturing capacity."