German gas and engineering company Linde Group has launched a $30 million Singapore-based initiative to spur the digital transformation of its plants and business processes across the region.

The Asia Pacific Digitalisation Hub, as it is called, is the company's first such centre outside Germany.

The hub will develop and test-bed solutions for the company's regional as well as global operations.

In line with this digital push, the company also intends to make "substantive investments" in the coming years to turn its gas production plant on Jurong Island into a "plant of the future", said chief operating officer for Asia-Pacific Sanjiv Lamba.

This includes integrating big data analytics and machine learning algorithms into production processes. Data about the plant's production, energy and raw material consumption will be stored in the cloud. This information can then be monitored from remote operation centres, which will forecast customer behaviour and minimise energy consumption.

Linde has eight such centres around the world, including two in Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur that use artificial intelligence and big data to remotely run more than 200 plants across 14 countries.

"Digital technologies give us a rapid, low-cost way to test and fast-track new ideas," said Linde's head of digitalisation Philipp Karmires.

"Our game plan is to work on project ideas for three months and then quickly transition them to our business portfolio if they prove successful. We drop anything that does not work within this timeframe."

Some successful digital projects Linde has developed include an algorithm that can tell when a gas customer needs a new delivery, as well as virtual reality headsets used to train plant operators.

Linde chief executive Aldo Belloni said the Asia Pacific Digitalisation Hub was launched on the back of the firm's success with a digital accelerator at its Munich headquarters.

In addition to its regional headquarters in Mapletree Business City, Linde has facilities in Tuas and on Jurong Island. The Frankfurt-listed company employs more than 250 staff here.

Economic Development Board chairman Beh Swan Gin said Singapore's vibrant tech start-up community and capabilities in data analytics and Industry 4.0 make it an ideal location for companies such as Linde to develop advanced digital solutions.

More industrial firms are setting up digitalisation centres in Singapore - partly because many tech solutions providers also have a significant presence here, he noted, adding that this offers opportunities for cross-sector collaboration.