The recent inaugural manufacturing excellence award saw overwhelming participation and the announcement of three deserving winners. With Singapore raising the bar for manufacturing, the award is also set to become one of the mainstays in encouraging operational excellence and innovation.


For decades, Singapore's manufacturing industry has served as a vital cornerstone in the country's road to success. Manufacturing is not only a major contributor to the Republic's economy, accounting for around a quarter of annual GDP, it also leads to spin-offs in other industries, helping diversify Singapore's economic base. And the city-state remains deeply committed to retaining its vibrancy in manufacturing and sustaining it as an area with attractive challenges and growth prospects. Just last year, Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) announced that it aimed to double manufacturing output to S$300 billion (US$192 billion) and value-added to S$80 billion (US$512 billion) by 2018.

Today, more than 8,000 companies across a variety of industries engage in manufacturing activities from the island-state's shores. In recognition of their efforts to help raise Singapore's manufacturing profile to world-class standards, an intention to reward deserving companies with outstanding manufacturing practices and innovations was announced back in September 2005 by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

In his opening speech at last year's Global Entrepolis @ Singapore, PM Lee announced that Singapore was introducing a new National Award for Manufacturing Excellence. "The Award winners will be role models which will encourage more innovation from other firms here, and hopefully draw more companies and talent here to make this a dynamic and innovative economy," said PM Lee. Through the Award, it is also hoped that manufacturing standards will continue to be raised in Singapore, while helping boost investor confidence with more capital- and knowledge-based investments from overseas.
A MAXA winner is defined as a manufacturing company or an operating unit within a company which continually innovates to be successful within the Singapore context and to compete globally.

All systems go

The creation of the award was finally realised in April this year with the launch of the Manufacturing Excellence Award, or MAXA. A MAXA winner is defined as a manufacturing company or an operating unit within a company which continually innovates to be successful within the Singapore context and to compete globally. In addition, the winner will also have demonstrated excellence in its operating systems and possess qualities for long-term sustainability. Presented by EDB, together with partners McKinsey & Company and the Singapore MIT-Alliance (which comprises the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the National University of Singapore and the Nanyang Technological University), MAXA created major ripples of excitement throughout the manufacturing sector.

Companies which believed they had achieved global manufacturing standards in their local operations were invited to deliver their submissions for consideration for the award by 15 June 2006. In MAXA's inaugural year, a total of 43 companies - large and small, foreign and local - vied for the esteemed title. The companies that took part in MAXA 2006 spanned across different manufacturing industries, such as biomedical sciences, chemicals, electronics, infocomm and media, transport engineering, precision engineering, food, as well as emerging industries such as nanotechnology.

Stamp of excellence

After three extensive phases of rigorous assessments, on-site reviews and presentations by the shortlisted companies, the winners of the much-anticipated inaugural award were revealed on 30 October 2006. Thanks to its overall excellence in innovations, operational excellence and elements of sustainability, Seagate Technology International emerged as the grand winner of MAXA 2006. For its continued efforts to develop and manufacture a stream of highly innovative medical products to address its various customer segments, BD Medical (S) Pte Ltd clinched the MAXA 2006 Product Innovation Award. In recognition of its strategic use of Singapore's competitive advantages to achieve manufacturing competitiveness in the global market, Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care Singapore took home the MAXA 2006 Singapore Advantage Award.

The other finalists of the MAXA competition were Kenwood Electronics Technologies, Leica Instruments and MSD Singapore. The eventual winners of MAXA were decided upon by a panel of four eminent international judges, chaired by Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, professor of manufacturing and director of Warwick Manufacturing Group at Warwick University in the United Kingdom. The other judges were Goh Geok Ling, chairman, Sembcorp Marine Ltd; Dr Yoshiyuki Kaneda, former executive deputy president & representative director, Sony Corporation; and Helmut Wieser, executive vice president and group president, Alcoa Inc.

Resonating approval

"The judging process was by no means an easy task," reflects Professor Bhattacharyya. "My fellow judges and I were impressed by the overall calibre of the finalists. It was evident from their presentations that they are all companies of global standing and world-class manufacturing capabilities. We questioned and scrutinised the companies in their innovations, operating systems and factors for sustainability, exercising the most stringent assessment in order to maintain the highest standards for MAXA."

"Seagate came up tops in all aspects and is indeed, a company at the cutting-edge of manufacturing excellence," he adds. "With the presence of such impressive top-notch companies, Singapore looks poised to remain a competitive manufacturing powerhouse in the global economic landscape."

Winner of MAXA 2006, Seagate Technology International, was equally delighted. "Being the pioneer winner of the inaugural MAXA award is a demonstration of Seagate's manufacturing leadership and operations excellence as we benchmark ourselves against the best manufacturing practices from the global industry," says Chee Teck Huei, vice president, Seagate's Ang Mo Kio hard disc drive manufacturing operations. "Seagate will also continue to leverage our innovation and technology to continually scale our own operations processes to that of global-class standards to maintain business sustainability and bring value to Singapore's manufacturing industry. By constantly bettering our own operations and attaining a high level of business excellence, we hope to lead by example within the manufacturing fraternity, provide value-add to the Singapore economy and attract the best talents to both Seagate and Singapore."

Harnessing the right spirit

Indeed, the MAXA Award hopes to attract more engineering talent to the manufacturing sector in Singapore. Professor Hardy Chan, co-director of the Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) and MAXA partner says, "MAXA pioneer winners are role models and sources of inspiration for our engineering students to fully appreciate the challenges and rewards of manufacturing engineering. Our high tech manufacturing industry is vibrant and remains competitive because the companies know how to leverage on the advantages that Singapore offers. SMA's Manufacturing Systems and Technology (MST) Programme will continue to support MAXA most enthusiastically."

Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry, Lim Hng Kiang, also touched on the reasons why manufacturing remains a compelling sector for international investment, and also dismissed the notion that the Republic is falling behind in competition with lowercost countries. "The fact is, over the last 10 years, the manufacturing sector's growth has surpassed most of the other sectors and is ahead of our GDP growth," Lim says. "Besides successfully growing our manufacturing sector, we have also built up a complete value chain of capabilities. These capabilities range from production to innovation, design and supply chain management."

MAXA judge Professor Bhattacharyya also aired his thoughts on the future of manufacturing, and Singapore's current position to face the various challenges that lie ahead on a global scale. "Competition will be staggering, therefore industries that have employed the most innovative and educated work force will need to continuously refresh their product base," he points out. "They will also have to be agile enough to take advantage of major technology shifts. Singapore is well placed in this league."

Indeed, the recent MAXA Award ceremony and accompanying conference are testimony to Singapore's steadfast commitment in securing its lead as a world-class manufacturing destination. "This pioneer group of MAXA winners and short listed companies are of very high standards and come from diverse industries, reflecting Singapore's status as a world class manufacturing hub," confirms Ko Kheng Hwa, managing director, EDB. "Epitomising manufacturing best practices, I am confident that the inaugural MAXA winners will spur more companies to greater success and strengthen the 'Made in Singapore' brand name on the world stage."

SINGAPORE MADE. GLOBALLY ADMIRED.
MAXA 2006 Winner -
Seagate Technology International












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