Collaborate and innovate to take manufacturing forward: Heng Swee Keat
Elysia Tan
CROSS-BORDER collaboration and innovation are key for the global manufacturing sector, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat at the opening ceremony of Industrial Transformation Asia-Pacific (ITAP) 2023 on Wednesday (Oct 18).
Held at the Singapore Expo, the sixth edition of ITAP is set to attract more than 300 exhibitors and 18,000 attendees.
ITAP aims to facilitate more than 1,200 business matchings this year, a 40 per cent increase from pre-pandemic levels in 2019, Heng noted.
One example is a memorandum of understanding signed between Singapore Polytechnic and the Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation, which aims to promote technopreneurship and innovation – with a focus on sustainability – among students in both countries, he said.
Heng noted global headwinds for the industry this year, as geopolitical tensions and fragmentation dampen growth.
Nevertheless, manufacturing remains key – and its vibrancy lies in innovation, he said, setting out three kinds of innovation to prioritise.
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First is innovating for performance, such as working with partners to invest early in resilient value chains.
“In an era of disruptions, rising costs, and geopolitical uncertainties, becoming smarter and more connected will help the manufacturing sector reduce risks and tap growing opportunities in new growth areas and regions, including in Asia,” he said.
He highlighted a new collaboration announced on Wednesday between Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) and institutes of higher learning to develop a distributed smart value chain programme.
By bringing together multiple manufacturers, the programme allows them to make business decisions as a connected value chain and “reconfigure production sites to capitalise on business opportunities” that they might not have been able to take on individually, Heng said.
A*Star said the programme will focus on enabling decision-making as a value chain by facilitating secure data sharing among manufacturers; enabling flexible shop-floor responses by developing software and algorithms and recommending hardware changes; and building pilot lines at production sites to demonstrate the concept of decentralised decision-making and multi-site production.
The second priority for innovation is to tackle climate change, said Heng, noting that the manufacturing and production industries account for one-fifth of global carbon emissions.
While Singapore’s carbon footprint is small, innovations pioneered here can be pathfinders to greater momentum on climate change action, he said.
A*Star, for example, is working with partners to build a circular economy for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
At ITAP, the agency announced a new EV battery testing and disassembly line developed in collaboration with knowledge partner McKinsey & Company.
It will use Industry 4.0 technologies to improve current “dangerous, tedious and labour-intensive” practices of disassembling EV battery packs, and will also be able to assess the performance and physical conditions of batteries, A*Star said.
The agency will partner battery recyclers and original equipment manufacturers to further develop technologies for commercial deployment, it added.
Third is innovating for people: “To transform into Industry 4.0, the manufacturing sector must attract and retain the best talent,” Heng said.
This includes putting in place “clear and compelling talent development pipelines and opportunities” to encourage the best talent – particularly the young – to build careers in manufacturing.
“Importantly, talent must be able to see the impact of their work and contributions and have a pathway for their professional development,” he said.
Heng noted that in 2023, about 900 engineering internships have been secured under Enterprise Singapore’s Global Ready Talent Programme, which supports companies to hire and train Institute of Technical Education, polytechnic and university graduates for various roles.
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