Speech by Minister Lim Hng Kiang at the Opening Ceremony of Mead Johnson Nutrition Manufacturing and R&D Facilities in Singapore at Tuas South Avenue 5

Mr. James Cornelius, Chairman of the Board, Mead Johnson Nutrition, 

Mr. Kasper Jakobsen, CEO, Mead Johnson Nutrition, 

Mr. Christopher Stratton, Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific, Mead Johnson Nutrition,

Mr. Stephen Golsby, former CEO and current non-executive Director on the Board,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen

Introduction

It gives me great pleasure to join you this morning to celebrate the opening of Mead Johnson Nutrition’s manufacturing facility and Paediatric Nutrition Institute. I would like to congratulate the board and senior management on this momentous occasion.

This new state-of-the-art facility marks Mead Johnson’s largest capital investment in Singapore to-date.  It reflects Mead Johnson’s continuing commitment to Singapore as its Asia Pacific regional headquarters. Singapore’s vision is to be the location for top industry players like Mead Johnson to grow their brands both regionally and globally.  Mead Johnson’s new manufacturing facility and Paediatric Nutrition Institute are an important vote of confidence in Singapore’s efforts to grow a world-class hub for the Consumer Business industry.

Singapore is a Home in Asia to the Consumer Businesses Industry

The growth of the Consumer Business industry has been fuelled by the rise of Asia’s middle class, which is set to expand three-fold to almost 2 billion in 2020.  Singapore’s location in the heart of Asia places us as the choice location for companies to learn and understand about the cultural similarities and appreciate the differences, and to access growth opportunities in the region. We are committed to strengthening our ecosystem for consumer insights, brand management, marketing, and R&D, through setups such as the Nanyang Technological University’s Institute on Asian Consumer Insight, which helps companies understand the needs, aspirations, and buying decisions of the increasingly sophisticated Asian consumer.

Consumer companies are also increasingly using digital insights, digital marketing and e-commerce to deepen their engagement of digitally-savvy consumers. Singapore is building digital capabilities through our local institutes of higher learning and public research institutes such as Hyper Island and the Institute for Infocomm Research, respectively. We have also attracted top global agencies which are building capabilities through their Centres of Excellence for media analytics, digital marketing, and digitising product experiences.  

Singapore as a leading hub in Asia for R&D in Nutrition, as well as Food Science & Technology

Singapore is also a growing centre for product innovation in food and nutrition, enabling Consumer Business companies to translate consumer insights to create or customise products for Asian consumers. We host an established and growing base of leading food and nutrition companies such as Abbott Nutrition, Danone, Friesland Campina and Nestlé, which drive research and product innovation activities for Asia.  We have also invested a significant amount of resources in building R&D capabilities in nutrition, as well as in food science & technology. For example, in October 2013, we established the S$148 million Singapore Centre for Nutrition, Metabolic Diseases and Human Development (“SiNMeD”). SiNMeD is the most comprehensive centre in Asia for fundamental, clinical and translational research to understand the role of nutrition and other factors in the onset and development of obesity and metabolic diseases like diabetes. It will also develop products and formulate diets that can reduce the risks of these diseases. SiNMeD aims to establish Singapore’s first PhD programme in Nutrition in the near future.

I understand that Mead Johnson has also begun exploring scientific collaborations with the local R&D partners such as the Singapore Bio-imaging Consortium in Singapore. I trust these collaborations will lead to mutually beneficial outcomes and opportunities to drive Asian-centric product development.

A showcase of good jobs for Singaporeans

Our local universities are also stepping up to create a robust talent pool to ensure Singaporeans are well positioned to take up job opportunities in the Consumer Businesses industry. In addition to the well-established Food Science & Technology, and Nutrition programmes offered by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) launched a new undergraduate programme for Food Science & Technology in partnership with Wageningen University earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Mead Johnson has helped to create good jobs for Singaporeans and to develop the local workforce by nurturing Singaporean leaders in the Consumer Business industry. Almost 80 per cent of its plant leadership team and 70 per cent of its production team in Singapore are local residents. 

One Singaporean who has benefited from his employment with Mead Johnson is Mr. Ho Kai Chuen.  Prior to joining Mead Johnson in May 2013, Mr. Ho worked in technology and automation positions for eight years.  Hired as an Automation Lead, Mr. Ho has played a key role in working closely with major vendors and the plant team to commission automation and control systems for the new production facility.  In recognition of his contributions and the growth in his management and leadership skills over the past year, Mr. Ho was appointed Senior Manager for Engineering and Maintenance in July, and will be charge of a 20-member engineering crew at the new factory.

Mr. Ho’s example demonstrates the good career progression in the nutrition sector, as well as the adaptable and highly-skilled nature of our local talent pool. This is vital for giving firms such as Mead Johnson the confidence to make Singapore their home in the region. I am confident that the Consumer Business industry in Singapore will continue to create exciting and varied job opportunities for Singaporeans in the years to come.

Conclusion

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me once again extend my heartiest congratulations on the opening of this facility to the management and staff of Mead Johnson.  I look forward to continuing our partnership in strengthening Mead Johnson’s supply chain and product innovation for Asia, in Singapore.