Mr Cedric Foo, Chairman of JTC,

Mr Manohar Khiatani, CEO of JTC, 

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning.

1.        I am pleased to join you here today at the launch of the Surface Engineering Hub, the first integrated development in Singapore that is customised for the surface engineering industry.

Importance of the Surface Engineering Industry

2.    Surface engineering plays an integral and significant role in the manufacturing process. It supports many key industry sectors, such as precision engineering, electronics, aerospace, biomedical, and offshore and marine.

3.    Surface engineering covers a wide spectrum of activities and has numerous applications. The correct surface treatment can improve the functionality and performance of an equipment or product, make it corrosion- and wear-resistant, or enable it to withstand high temperatures. It provides solutions to engineering problems, conserves resources and opens the possibility of creating new products. While the applications of surface engineering may not be obvious to many of us, it is in fact a critical enabling technology that underpins major industry sectors.

4.    In Singapore, the SMEs have played a major role in growing the surface engineering industry. There are around 94 key players in the industry here. These companies employed over three thousand people and produced a total output of more than $400 million in 2010.[1] They provide surface engineering support to large manufacturing companies, as well as other SME peers, and they are critical to the manufacturing value chain. Without this capacity in the chain, larger manufacturers are less likely to base their operations here.

5.    It is therefore critical to ensure the continued reliability, competence and competitiveness of this industry cluster. This is especially so as the companies seek to improve the attractiveness of their products through technology upgrading, and at the same time, try to reduce their production costs through outsourcing and reducing turnaround time and overhead costs.

Government’s Investment & Support for Surface Engineering Companies

6.    The surface engineering industry is not without its fair share of challenges. It faces intense pricing pressures from China and other emerging economies which have lower labour costs, favourable currency policies, attractive commodity subsidies and low environmental regulatory requirements. Prices are thus being driven down. Coupled with higher overhead costs in Singapore, the profits of our local surface engineering companies are constrained. Through SPRING Singapore, the Government has schemes in place to help our companies develop capability in the areas of automation, technology, human capital development and innovation. This is to help the industry keep pace with the competition as well as meet the changing needs of the manufacturing landscape.

7.    Apart from these, another way of bringing down business costs for SMEs is to cluster companies within the same industry in a specific location. Clustering allows them to share common facilities, thereby generating economies of scale. Clustering also creates synergies and partnership opportunities among the companies. Furthermore, the clustering of companies by industry helps to optimise the use of Singapore’s limited land resources.

8.    To nurture the growth of our industry clusters in Singapore, JTC has been providing innovative and specialised real estate solutions that differentiate Singapore from other locations. 

JTC’s Latest Innovation – The Surface Engineering Hub

9.    The Surface Engineering Hub is the latest of JTC’s specialised infrastructure projects dedicated to the surface engineering industry. This follows what JTC has done for the other industries such as the Seletar Aerospace Park, MedTech Hub, CleanTech Park and the Offshore Marine Centre. In developing this Hub, JTC had closely consulted their customers, industry partners and other partner agencies, such as EDB and SPRING. JTC had leveraged on their expertise and knowledge of the industry.   

10.  The Surface Engineering Hub will host an integrated ecosystem of surface engineering companies, equipment suppliers, chemical solution providers and plating technology researchers. It will provide shared facilities, such as a centralised waste treatment plant, which aims to reduce the initial set-up costs and recurring operational costs. The ecosystem and shared facilities will provide competitiveness and long-term sustainable growth for the companies.

11.  The Surface Engineering Hub will be completed in the second half of 2013. I am glad to note that the response to this development has been encouraging. To date, 13 companies, mostly SMEs, have already shown interest to take up about 40 percent of the space in the Hub.  

Conclusion

12.  Ladies and gentlemen, we are very confident and optimistic about the long-term sustained growth of the surface engineering industry, and we are committed to the growth of the companies in this sector. This is to ensure this enabling industry can continue to support Singapore’s manufacturing competitiveness.  

13.  On this note, I would like to congratulate JTC on the launch of the Surface Engineering Hub, and wish all customers and partners every success in this sector.  Thank you.

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