Former Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo has joined the Singapore Manufacturing Federation's (SMF) inaugural board of governors, the industry association said on Tuesday.

Mr Yeo will be joined by Mr Renny Yeo and Mr Bob Tan.

Mr Renny Yeo was former president of SMF, when it was called the Singapore Manufacturers' Association, while Mr Tan is a former deputy president of the federation.

The three-member board will be activated when there are "unresolved issues which may affect the interest of the federation", said an SMF statement on Tuesday.

At least one-third of SMF council members or half of the secretariat's department heads must refer the matter to the board before it will take up the case.

SMF president George Huang said that introducing the board of governors is an "essential and important step in enhancing transparency" in the federation.

"The key role of the board of governors is to step in when requested, to mediate and resolve issues, in the unlikely though possible event of serious council disagreements," he said.

The board will also need to step in "in the event where there is an unjustifiable draw on the past accumulated reserves of the federation", said Mr Huang.

Mr George Yeo, 59, had spent 23 years in Government from September 1988 to May 2011.

He was formerly Minister for Information and the Arts, Health, Trade and Industry and Foreign Affairs.

Mr George Yeo left Cabinet after his team lost in Aljunied GRC, at the May 2011 General Election. He then joined Hong Kong-based conglomerate Kerry Group on Jan 1, 2012 as vice chairman.