New Manufacturing Training Office To Be Set Up In Jurong Innovation District, Which Has Attracted $420M In Investments

To boost the competitiveness of Singapore’s flourishing manufacturing sector, a new industry-led training programme office will plan ways to ensure the workforce has emerging skills and knowledge.

The Advanced Manufacturing Training Academy (AMTA), which was launched on Tuesday (Oct 20), will be located at the Jurong Innovation District (JID) manufacturing hub, which has attracted about $420 million of investments in the past year.

The AMTA programme office will work with schools and training providers to design new courses to help workers excel, as Singapore establishes itself as an advanced manufacturing hub.

It will also work to predict what skills and knowledge such workers will need to meet future industry requirements.

AMTA was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on Tuesday during the Industrial Transformation Asia-Pacific conference.

It is the latest in efforts here to continue the upward momentum of the manufacturing sector, which grew about 3.5 per cent year-on-year in the first six months of 2020 despite the pandemic.

Manufacturing contributes about 20 per cent to Singapore’s economy and employs about 472,000 workers.

AMTA will be supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), the Economic Development Board (EDB) and Enterprise Singapore. Also contributing to the academy are the Nanyang Technological University and SkillsFuture Singapore.

It will be governed by a training council comprising institutes of higher learning, public agencies and unions, and will be led by the former managing director and Singapore country manager of Micron Semiconductor Asia, Mr Lee Kok Choy.

“AMTA aspires to collaborate with strategic partners to plan and deliver training to meet industry needs and strengthen Singapore’s manufacturing competitiveness against the backdrop of rapidly changing technology trends,” said Mr Lee, who is also the chairman of Temasek Polytechnic’s Board of Governors.

AMTA’s location in the JID is strategic, given how the district plans to be a one-stop advanced manufacturing hub for Singapore by bringing together researchers, students, innovators and businesses to develop products and services of the future.