Singapore's precision engineering industry positioned for further growth

Singapore's precision engineering industry stands "at the forefront of technology" and continues to grow, led by advancements in complex equipment and component original equipment manufacturing, said Senior Minister of State (Trade & Industry and National Development) Mr Lee Yi Shyan.

Mr Lee was speaking on Tuesday morning at the opening ceremony of MTA 2013, a biennial precision engineering trade event. He added that he was heartened by a trend of companies here shifting their emphasis from mass production of simple parts to the design, development and production of technology-intensive precision components and complex equipment. For example, additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, is an "exciting new area with strong growth potential" that is seeing some early signs of success.

Mr Lee however highlighted that Singapore's productivity levels for precision engineering were only about half of those in developed countries such as the Germany and Japan, and called for improvement.

Manufacturing accounts for 20 per cent of Singapore's gross domestic product and employs more than 400,000 people. The precision engineering industry contributes to about 15 per cent or $8.8 billion of Singapore's manufacturing, and employs close to a quarter of Singapore's manufacturing workforce.

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