Image: Fong’s Engineering & Manufacturing Pte Ltd
- Multi-sector collaboration to narrow the gap between skills and employability for manufacturing
In a boost to the local manufacturing sector, Microsoft and Singapore Polytechnic (SP) are working together to enhance the industry’s digital manufacturing capabilities. The collaboration supports Singapore’s ambitions to drive innovation and grow the local manufacturing sector by 50 percent in the coming years.
“Relevant skillsets and knowledge in technology, capacity-building, founded in a culture of innovation will fuel the sustainable growth of our manufacturing sector. Our multi-sector collaboration with Singapore Polytechnic, Fong’s Engineering and T-Systems aims to help more manufacturers envision their Industry 4.0 future as they leverage Microsoft as a platform for co-innovation,” said Lee Hui Li, Singapore Managing Director, Microsoft.
Manufacturers can visit and envision their digital future at SP’s Advanced Manufacturing Centre (SP AMC). Through live demonstrations and showcase areas for digital transformation and sustainability, businesses can better understand how Industry 4.0 innovation can be brought to life on the factory floor to drive tangible business outcomes. Applications and use cases include cloud computing, sustainable technologies, smart devices and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions.
As part of capacity building for a skilled advanced manufacturing workforce, Microsoft, through its national skilling initiatives (#GetReadySG and Let’s Skill Up Singapore), and SP, through its programmes, will equip aspiring manufacturing professionals with future-ready skills. SP AMC also offers industry training courses based on Microsoft content, backed by Microsoft accreditations, which can enhance workers’ career prospectives and employability in the sector.
Fong’s Engineering and Manufacturing Pte Ltd (Fong’s), a medical device manufacturing company, and SP are an example of this collaboration in action. Both organizations are working together to build Fong’s talent pipeline and upskill its workforce. Fong’s also partnered with T-Systems to implement Microsoft’s cloud, productivity, data, analytics and collaboration tools in their operations and workflow.
“To achieve a sustainable digital transformation for enterprises, we would need to form a strong ecosystem in Singapore. I strongly believe that with partnerships among local industry 4.0 champions and innovators like Microsoft, together with established Institutes of Higher Learning like us, will empower manufacturers and our workforce to bring unparalleled value more quickly to the whole of the manufacturing industry forward”, said Dr Kim Kheng Lee, Centre Director for Singapore Polytechnic Advanced Manufacturing Centre.
“Fong’s Engineering continues to benefit from our partnership with both Microsoft SP AMC. Over the past five years, we’ve collaborated closely by exchanging ideas, sharing real-life experiences of technology implementation and learning from each other. We’re privileged to have T-Systems and Microsoft as partners in our digital transformation journey. Their expertise has enabled us to leapfrog and shorten our learning curves in the adoption of technology, and sharpen our competitive advantage,” said Joseph Wong, Director, Technology & Transformation, Smart Manufacturing, Fong’s Engineering.
“Through our strategic partnership with Fong’s Engineering & Manufacturing and Microsoft, T-Systems is proud to play a pivotal role in driving Industry 4.0 transformation in the manufacturing industry. By leveraging our industry expertise and Microsoft’s suite of solutions, we empower Fong’s digitalisation journey, enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and agility, while delivering value to our customers. Additionally, our partnership with Microsoft and Singapore Polytechnic equips our workforce with essential Industry 4.0 competencies, enabling our workforce to innovate, demonstrate, and remain at the forefront of our industry. This strategic alliance sets us apart, enhancing our competitiveness in Industry 4.0.”, Bhuvaneswari GA, Managing Director, T-Systems Asia.
Microsoft onboarded Fong’s onto its Let’s Skill Up program in Singapore, curating a customized learning path for Fong’s based on their business priorities, aligned with the digital transformation program that they embarked on with SP AMC. Through this program, Fong’s employees were exposed to different technology applications and got to upskill themselves through industry-sharing sessions, courses, and workshops on topics like data analytics, cyber security and automation.
Together with its partners, Microsoft delivers solutions including Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing, to accelerate innovation, optimize operations, empower workers and enhance customer experiences. This includes teaming up with Auk Industries, an Internet of Things partner to provide an asset monitoring capability that works across the operations and supply chain, equipping managers with real-time visibility of statuses and helping them optimize asset performance.
Microsoft has also joined forces with Winspire, its Dynamics and Power Platform partner, to help manufacturers implement ERP solutions into their environment with the integration of the Manufacturing Execution System, where work orders are pushed to the machines on the shop floor automatically, improving operational efficiency.
In the era of AI, the Microsoft Cloud continues to accelerate transformation across manufacturing operations, from Mercedes-Benz delivering world-class customer service with its virtual assistant and Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company scaling its finance and supply chain operations on Azure, to HP using mixed reality and the Microsoft Hololens 2 to ensure self-sufficient troubleshooting and print operations on its HP Industrial Printers with HP xRServices.
To follow our journey in Singapore to build a resilient, digitally inclusive Singapore, visit the Microsoft Singapore News Centre. To learn more about the latest updates on the Advanced Manufacturing Centre at Singapore Polytechnic, visit the official site.
Microsoft solutions will be displayed at Industrial Transformation Asia Pacific 2023 (ITAP). Visit Singapore Polytechnic’s booth at 3A19 till 20 October 2023, from 10am to 6pm at Singapore Expo, Hall 2-3.