Andrew Ong, Main Stories, Top Story - Tuesday, March 10, 2009 23:51 - 67 Comments

Singapore’s edge as a manufacturing hub

Andrew Ong

Despite an expected slow recovery from the recession and the rise of business costs, it seems manufacturing in Singapore remains a vibrant and relevant industry. This article aims to present Singapore’s edge as a manufacturing hub that has seen companies such as Abbott, Neste Oil and Illumina investing here.

As an export-dependent economy, Singapore had been the first country in Asia to slump in a recession. Now our manufacturers are feeling the heat especially with the rising cost of running their businesses that have been eroding their competitiveness.

It is not wrong to say that manufacturers are looking into more viable means of sustaining their businesses such as moving to cheaper production hubs like Vietnam and China. However, the truth remains that Singapore has strong fundamentals that still makes her an attractive location for manufacturers.

IP protected location

Besides Singapore’s reputation as one of the best connected countries in the world, with all the sea, air and telecommunications links needed for business, it has also gained recognition for being an Intellectual Property (IP) rights protective country.

For the past two years, Singapore has been voted the most-IP protective country in Asia by the Political & Economic Research Consultancy (Perc). Like Aalst, a local chocolate manufacturer, many who have located their bases in Singapore have found it easier to maximize the value of their corporate IP here.   Continue…