SINGAPORE - Siemens has opened its doors to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore and beyond to help them upgrade their capabilities and develop new or improved products and solutions.
The German multinational conglomerate unveiled on Friday (Nov 12) its revamped and newly expanded Advance Manufacturing Transformation Centre, dubbed AMTC 2.0, that will showcase Siemens' digital and industrial software, and provide consulting, co-creation and test-bedding services for its customers and partners.
The AMTC will not only provide research and development (R&D) platforms and resources for SMEs, but also have expanded training facilities and curricula to help upskill local and regional talent in Industry 4.0 capabilities.
Mr Sascha Maennl, acting head of Siemens Digital Industries in Asean, said the AMTC provides a sandbox for SMEs, which usually do not have the resources or facilities for R&D.
"Our ambition with AMTC is to help SMEs in South-east Asia to explore, innovate and pilot new solutions, and upgrade their capabilities," he said at the relaunch ceremony held at the AMTC facility in JTC Space @ Tuas.
Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong was the keynote speaker.
On display at the centre was an autonomous mobile robot that Siemens had co-created with AMTC technology partner Sesto Robotics. The Singapore firm builds robots and provides applications to automate material handling processes in manufacturing, healthcare and commercial facilities.
Mr Maennl said the AMTC's digital enterprise offerings now include modern technologies such as industrial edge, industrial artificial intelligence and process analytics. They come on top of the support the centre provides for manufacturing design and in enabling companies to create digital twins of their envisioned advanced manufacturing plants.
Dr Thai-Lai Pham, chief executive officer of Siemens Singapore and Asean, in his welcome speech said the AMTC was first launched in September last year in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic as a one-stop advanced manufacturing ecosystem to address the transition to the next level and help the industry to embrace digitalisation.
"Thirteen months on, we have grown the AMTC ecosystem from seven to 11 technology partners, including three government partners - JTC, SkillsFuture and Namic (National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster)."
He said the additive manufacturing training that AMTC and SkillsFuture rolled out under the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme in September 2020 has trained close to 70 people. Among these trainees, about 20 have found re-employment with their new-found skills.
"Due to its immensely successful uptake, AMTC will be offering another 50 slots for this training," Dr Pham said.
Mr Gan said advanced manufacturing is a key priority for Singapore, and Siemens is a valuable partner in the Republic's Manufacturing 2030 strategy.
The first Siemens office here was established in 1908 and today, the company employs over 1,300 people in Singapore, which is also its regional headquarters.
He said advanced manufacturing and the pivot towards Industry 4.0 will create many new and exciting job roles, and Singapore will continue to invest in talent development to ensure that its workers have the skills and expertise to harness new technologies and benefit from the opportunities.
"The Government cannot do this alone - we need businesses to work together with us so that training programmes are relevant to industry's needs."
Mr Gan also reaffirmed the close economic relationship between Germany and Singapore.
"Germany is Singapore's largest goods trading partner from the EU, and our fourth-largest EU investor. There are more than 2,000 German companies in Singapore, across key sectors such as chemicals, engineering and electronics," he said.
