Advisory Board

AMTA is committed to collaborating with strategic partners to identify the evolving skills required in advanced manufacturing. We are dedicated to developing and providing quality training programmes that enhance workforce capabilities and ensure our workforce is future-ready through upskilling and reskilling. This commitment is crucial for maintaining the competitiveness and continuous growth of Singapore’s manufacturing sector.

Bernard Lim, Chairman of Advanced Manufacturing Training Academy (AMTA)

MR BERNARD LIM

Chairman, AMTA Training Council

With over 25 years of industry expertise, Bernard Lim possesses extensive experience in the electrical & electronic engineering (EEE) field as well as in the testing, inspection & certification (TIC) industry.

Mr. Lim provides strategic planning, corporate & business development, and general oversight of the group's operations. He has raised Tai Sin Electric Limited's profile in the Southeast Asia Region by driving mergers& acquisitions (M&A) and spearheading corporate and business development initiatives.

Under his guidance, the company has grown from a single entity to a business group comprising 19 companies. This growth was achieved through a combination of M&A activities and successful startups. Today, the Group operates in seven countries across Southeast Asia, with 24 offices and a team of over 1,000 staff members.

Mr. Lim holds a Bachelor of Arts (Social Sciences) in Economics and Sociology from Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Western Australia. Additionally, he earned a Masters of Business Administration from the Strathclyde Graduate Business School at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. He also completed the Scale-up SG Wharton Executive Programme at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Lim has on behalf of the Group received several awards throughout his career. These include the Skillsfuture Employer Award (Non-SME), the People's Association Community Spirit (PACS) Merit Award, and the Company Workforce Transformation Recognition Award from Singapore Polytechnic.

Mr. Lim is a member of the Electrical, Electronics & Allied Industries Industry Group under the SMF. On behalf of the Federation, he serves on the Electrical & Electronic Standards Committee of the Singapore Standards Council. He also serves as a member of the SBF Human Capital Action Committee (HCAC). Additionally, he has been appointed as an Industry Advisory Board Member of the Singapore Institute of Purchasing.

Outside of his professional responsibilities, Mr. Lim served as a General Council Member of the National Arthritis Foundation and a Member of Temasek Primary School's Advisory Committee.

MR BERNARD LIM
Chairman, SMF Council Member, CEO and Executive Director of Tai Sin Electric Limited

MR SOH LENG WAN

Assistant Chief Executive Officer (Manufacturing & Engineering), Enterprise Singapore

As the Assistant Chief Executive (Manufacturing & Engineering) of Enterprise Singapore, Leng Wan leads various teams to champion growth of Singapore enterprises in various technology-based industries such as advanced manufacturing, offshore renewables, sustainable packaging, health and biomedical sciences, infocomms, amongst others.

Prior to this, Leng Wan spent seven years in the Ministry of Trade and Industry working on policies and initiatives to ensure the competitiveness of the Singapore economy as well as the vibrancy of Singapore as a global city and tourism destination. His teams worked with the Economic Development Board to anchor significant foreign investments in Singapore’s manufacturing sector, as well as with the Singapore Tourism Board and Sentosa Development Corporation to develop iconic tourism projects in Singapore.

Leng Wan has a Masters of Science (Civil Engineering) from the University of California, Berkeley and two decades of experience in public policy in various agencies in the Singapore Government.

MR SOH LENG WAN
Assistant Managing Director, Enterprise Singapore

MR FOO PIAO ZHOU

Group Director of the Training Partners Group at SkillsFuture Singapore

Mr Foo Piao Zhou is Group Director of the Training Partners Group at SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG). In this role, he oversees a team that supports development of the Continuing Education & Training (CET) system in Singapore, through managing funding and contractual partnerships with private training partners, institutes of higher learning, and enterprises. He is also currently responsible for the development and implementation of a whole-of-government training grant system used by various government agencies to administer CET grants.

Prior to joining SSG in 2016, Piao Zhou served in the Singapore Workforce Development Agency for over 10 years, and has experience in various aspects of CET including funding policies, industry development, and risk management. His past work included the development and implementation of the training quality and outcomes measurement initiative, the development of SSG’s regulatory framework; and the scale-up of SSG’s programme to drive innovation in the training ecosystem via iN.LEARN.

MR FOO PIAO ZHOU
Group Director, Training Partners Group, SkillsFuture Singapore

MR LIM TSE YONG

Senior Vice President, Economic Development Board

Mr Lim Tse Yong is the Senior Vice President and Head for the Capital Goods Division as well as Conglomerates Division at the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). He joined EDB in 2006 after graduating from the Imperial College, London, with a Master of Engineering (First Class Honours) in Mechanical Engineering. During his time with EDB, Mr Lim spent 3 years in Sweden where he was responsible for partnering companies in Scandinavia to invest in Singapore. After returning from Sweden, he led EDB’s efforts in developing and growing Singapore’s Medical Technology sector. He also headed up EDB’s Corporate Planning team. Between 2015 - 2017, Mr Lim was seconded to the Ministry of Trade & Industry as Deputy Director for the Industry Division, where he was involved in the formulation of policies pertaining to Singapore’s manufacturing and exportable services. Following the secondment, he served as Director for EDB’s Precision Engineering Division before assuming his current role.

MR LIM TSE YONG
Senior Vice President, Economic Development Board

DR DAVID LOW

Chief Executive Officer

An engineer and researcher by training, David leads both ARTC and SIMTech with a mission to uplift Singapore’s manufacturing competitiveness through the adoption of advanced manufacturing, sustainability, and digital solutions.

David established the ARTC from a concept of a public-private partnership programme in 2012 to a full-fledged A*STAR Research Institute in 2017. The ARTC focuses on innovative translational advanced manufacturing and remanufacturing R&D. Today, ARTC works with 98 industry members across Aerospace, Land Transport, FMCG, Energy and MedTech pillars.

In 2019, David rejoined SIMTech, a research institute that develops high-value manufacturing technology and human capital to enhance the competitiveness of Singapore’s manufacturing industry, in particular small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SIMTech works with over 200 SMEs annually, as well as LLEs, and covers a wide range of manufacturing technologies.

David started his research career in the UK and subsequently at SIMTech, where he developed from a laser materials processing researcher to the Group Manager for Machining Technology.

He received the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) Borderless Team Awards in 2007 and 2016. He also received the prestigious Sir Henry Royce Team Award for Engineering Excellence in 2012. David received the MTI Exemplary Firefly Award (Gold) and the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

David has published over 50 journals, conferences, patents, and book publications. While his last publication was in 2007, his publications have attracted over 1400 citations with an H-index of 21.

David is a member of the board of governors at Singapore Polytechnic and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He is a Fellow and Chartered Engineer of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and a Senior Member of the Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES).

David received his PhD and Bachelor degree (First Class Honours) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manchester Institute of Technology (UMIST), now known as The University of Manchester. He received his Executive MBA from INSEAD and Tsinghua University in 2014. He is also an alumnus of the Stanford Executive Programme (SEP).

DR DAVID LOW
Executive Director of SIMTech and CEO of ARTC, A*STAR

MS JULIA NG

Assistant Chief Executive, Enterprise Development Group, Workforce Singapore

Julia has served in then Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), now reconstituted to Workforce Singapore (WSG) since 2003 and she has made pioneering contributions in the areas of workforce development and Continuing Education & Training (CET) through her various stints in WDA. Her experience and key competencies span across a wide spectrum of areas, including the development and implementation of enterprise capability development schemes, productivity initiatives, worker segment initiatives, policy planning, research, trainer certification, quality assurance, industry engagement, sectoral Skills Framework and Singapore Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) development and implementation for both services and manufacturing sectors.

Julia currently assumes the role of Assistant Chief Executive, Enterprise Development Group in which she provides strategic steer on sectoral manpower development and spearheading enterprise-centric, job redesign and sectoral data insights and initiatives to support business and workforce transformation across 30 industry sectors in collaboration with sector agencies and tripartite partners. Some key national initiatives include Industry Transformation Maps Jobs and Skills Refresh, Jobs Transformation Maps, Industry 4.0 Human Capital Initiative, Adapt & Grow (A&G), Transform & Grow (T&G), Lean Enterprise Development Scheme (LEDS), SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package, SkillsFuture Mid-Career Support Package and Stabilisation & Support Package for Covid-19 impacted sectors.

Julia holds a First Class Honours Degree in Arts with a Diploma in Education from the Nanyang Technological University / National Institute of Education, as well as a Masters in Educational Management (Honours) from the University of Western Australia. She has also completed the Advanced Management Programme at the Harvard Business School in May 2018. She sits on the Boards of Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP), Singapore Productivity Centre (SGPC) and the Institute of Banking & Finance (IBF).

MS JULIA NG
Assistant Chief Executive, Enterprise Development Group, Workforce Singapore

PROFESSOR WARREN CHAN

Dean, College of Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

PROFESSOR WARREN CHAN

Dean, College of Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

MR LOH YEW CHIONG

Senior Director, Computing, Chemical & Life Sciences Cluster, Singapore Polytechnic

Mr Loh Yew Chiong joined Singapore Polytechnic in 1996 as a lecturer in the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, after working as a software engineer for 3 years. He is currently appointed as the Senior Director over the School of Computing and School of Chemical & Life Sciences. Prior to the current appointment, he was appointed as as Senior Director of the Engineering Cluster in 2017, where he had oversight of the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, School of Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering and the Singapore Maritime Academy.

Mr Loh had taught various courses in Network Security, Broadband Communications, Digital Communications, Networks and Protocols, Programming and other professional industry certification courses. He was also involved in various staff and student R&D projects related to Next Generation Networks and Services.

Mr Loh holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the National University of Singapore and a Master of Science (Communications and Signal Processing) from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, UK.

MR LOH YEW CHIONG
Deputy Principal (Academic), Singapore Polytechnic

MR CHAN EWE JIN

President, The Institution of Engineers, Singapore

MR CHAN EWE JIN
President, The Institution of Engineers, Singapore

DR ZENG XIANTING

Director, AMTA Programme Office

Dr Zeng Xianting is Programme Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Training Academy (AMTA). He is responsible for leading and managing the Programme Office under the directive of AMTA Training Council. He oversees development of business strategic plan for AMTA in consultation with relevant stakeholders, and project execution to achieve AMTA strategic outcomes and objectives and key deliverables (KPIs).

Prior to his role leading AMTA, Xianting established the Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO) in Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) as the founding director to transfer knowledge and capability to the industry through case studies and hands-on practical training to meet technology and skills gaps. Under his leadership, SIMTech launched a broad portfolio of industrial training programmes to support the industry using a Learn-Practise-Implement model, which benefited about 1800 local companies with more than 8000 PMETs trained.

Besides his role in leading industrial training development, Xianting has been an active research scientist in the field of nanocomposite coating materials and plasma-enhanced PVD thin film processes. He published extensively, with his research outcomes and scientific achievements recognised internationally.

Xianting obtained his PhD degree in Physics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1995, and his MSc and BSc degrees from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China in 1987 and 1982, respectively.

DR ZENG XIANTING
Programme Director, AMTA Programme Office