Singapore launches precision engineering innovation center

SINGAPORE, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Singapore launched the precision engineering center of innovation here Friday in order to upgrade local firms' capabilities to sustain profitable growth.

Speaking at the opening of the center, Singapore's Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan said, the 30 million Singapore dollars (about 22 million U.S. dollars) innovation center provides companies with a suite of services such as technology and manpower development, facility and equipment sharing as well as consultancy for company and industry-wide needs.

"By co-locating with SIMTech (Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology), the center will be able to leverage SIMTech's 300 researchers' expertise in advanced manufacturing technologies," he said.

In addition, the Center is a conduit for SIMTech to train precision engineering workers in new and innovative technologies that support the industry's move towards higher-end manufacturing, he added.

The center has got positive response from the industry since it began operation in June last year, Lee said.

It already has 42 on-going or completed projects with companies. And it expects to complete a total of 75 projects in its first three years.

The precision engineering industry has come a long way in Singapore since 1980s. Last year, It generated 22 billion Singapore dollars (about 16 billion U.S. dollars) or 10 percent of the country's total manufacturing output. It employed one quarter of the total employment in the manufacturing sector in Singapore.