Opening Address by MOS Alvin Tan at A*STAR’s Singapore Institute Of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTECH) Manufacturing Innovation & Technology Conference 2024

Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, Chairman, A*STAR,

Mr Brian Tan, Regional President, South East Asia, Applied Materials,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

1. A very warm morning to all. Thank you for inviting me to join you at A*STAR’s SIMTech Manufacturing Innovation & Technology Conference 2024.

2. Prof Tan has already spoken a lot about what A*STAR is doing. I thought we can take a step back and travel back in time even as we explore the future of advanced manufacturing today – to see what we have done in the past and how it relates to the present and also what steps we are taking to make it futuristic. Many of you are familiar with Henry Ford. When Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line over a century ago, it was revolutionary. Instead of having workers move around stationary vehicles to assemble them, Ford used a moving conveyor belt system which allowed workers at each station to focus on building a specific part of the car. That innovation improved efficiency and reduced costs, setting a new standard for manufacturing. Many of which we see today.

Manufacturing is a Strategic Sector for Singapore’s Economy

3. Manufacturing has been the backbone of our economy for over 50 years. It contributes to approximately 20 per cent of our GDP and employs about 12 per cent of our workforce. Our manufacturing sector is a thriving ecosystem, rich in diversity. We have attracted many leading multinational corporations here and grown our local companies.

4. We launched our Manufacturing 2030 vision in 2021. It is our strategic blueprint to position Singapore as a global business, innovation, and talent hub for advanced manufacturing. By 2030, we aim to grow our manufacturing value-add by 50 per cent.

Key Trends Shaping the Manufacturing Landscape

5. But as we stand today, the landscape presents both challenges and opportunities.

a. First, digital transformation. Machines are now talking quicker and faster to each other, generating troves of data and guiding decisions in real time, augmenting humans on the shopfloor.

b. Second, sustainability and green manufacturing. Consumers want greener products, and businesses want more sustainable processes.

Singapore’s Government is Committed to Growing the Local Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Ecosystem

6. What is Singapore doing? On the sustainability front, protecting our environment is important – and so is the environment in which we operate. Where we are gathered today, Jurong Innovation District (JID), is the heart of our increasingly vibrant advanced manufacturing ecosystem. There are now more than 100 players from across our entire advanced manufacturing value chain present here.

a. In May, I visited the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center Singapore (HMGICS) located in JID. The Center is an impressive state-of-the-art electric vehicle manufacturing facility deploying Industry 4.0 technologies. I look forward to more companies setting up such facilities here.

7. We must also have the expertise to build a greener and more efficient environment. To build our R&D muscle, we established the Research, Innovation, and Enterprise (RIE) 2025 plan, and announced a top up of $3 billion to our RIE budget, bringing it to $28 billion.

8. This year we also invested about $180 million to set up the National Semiconductor Translation and Innovation Centre to help partners in our ecosystem work closer together and boost R&D translation outcomes.

9. MTI and A*STAR have also been building a first-of-its kind sectoral AI Centre of Excellence (CoE), to harness the potential of AI and help our manufacturing sector adopt AI. We will launch the Centre later this month, so please partner us to build AI-enabled solutions for our manufacturing supply chain and shopfloor processes.

10. We are also helping our SMEs adopt this technology. You may be aware of our Technology for Enterprise Capability Upgrading scheme, or T-Up, which we launched 21 years ago in 2003. T-Up helps our local SMEs build their technical capabilities by seconding scientific and engineering talent from A*STAR. Thank you for lending your talents to SMEs.

a. In fact, Dr Marcin Debowski from A*STAR SIMTech was seconded to Matwerkz Technologies, a Singapore-based company that specialises in thermal management solutions, via T-Up. Matwerkz Technologies was one of three T-Up Excellence Award winners in 2023!

11. Our SMEs can also use grants like our Enterprise Development Grant (EDG), to adopt or build new tech and products to grow or transform their business.

Uplifting the Local Ecosystem with Public-Private Partnerships

12. But government efforts alone are not enough. Our public and private sectors have been working together to create an environment which encourages experimentation and growth.

13. Today, I am pleased to launch the Applied Materials – A*STAR Joint Lab. The lab will further ongoing efforts by Applied Materials and A*STAR in developing semiconductor equipment and improve local supply chains. This deepens the partnerships between MNCs and local companies, connecting them into global value chains.

14. Through decades of hard work, Singapore has established itself to be a critical node in the global supply chain for semiconductor equipment, with about one in five equipment assembled in Singapore. This Joint Lab will further strengthen our position in the semiconductor equipment industry and in advanced manufacturing.

Conclusion

15. Traveling back in time to Henry Ford’s era more than a 100 years ago, we now have far more powerful tools in our arsenal – AI, robotics and other advanced technologies. We can drive the next wave of manufacturing innovation, in green and digital tech. And we are in a good position to do so. The government, industry and academia are pushing the boundaries together and ensuring that Singapore remains a global leader in advanced manufacturing in years to come.

16. I wish you a fruitful conference and congratulations on the Applied Materials - A*STAR Joint Lab! Thank you.