Debated in Parliament on 13 Apr 2015.
Mr Thomas Chua Kee Seng asked the Minister for Trade and Industry in view of the 0.8% decline in Singapore's labour productivity in 2014, whether the Ministry can provide an update on the programme outcomes of the three productivity centres that have received
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Government funding.
The Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Mr Teo Ser Luck)(for the Minister for Trade and Industry) : We have introduced an extensive range of schemes and grants to help companies upgrade their productivity. We also recognise that even if companies are ready and willing to improve productivity, some need help to diagnose productivity issues, implement productivity improvement projects, adopt new and relevant technology and identify the right schemes to support their productivity journey.
Assistance is available at different levels. The SME Centres, as a first stop for businesses, provide comprehensive basic advisory services. For more customised help, our Centres of Innovation provide help with technology and Intellectual Property translation, while Productivity Centres give productivity advice and consultancy. There are Productivity Centres to serve three key clusters. These are the Construction Productivity Centre (CPC) for Construction, the Singapore Innovation and Productivity Institute (SiPi) for Manufacturing and the Singapore Productivity Centre (SPC) for Retail and Food Services.
To date, about 800 companies have benefited from these services. Their productivity projects have delivered good results. Let me give an example: SYSPEX, an SME in the packaging business. It reduced its processing time by 20% and improved space utilisation by 30% after upgrading its warehouse infrastructure and systems. SiPi provided invaluable consultancy assistance for this project, while SPRING supported the project with the Capability Development Grant. In general, companies have seen 10% to 20% improvements in productivity metrics, such as process cycle time, machine utilisation and storage capacity, after implementing projects with help from the productivity centres.
Apart from assisting companies, the productivity centres also organise conferences, workshops, seminars and study trips. Through such events, companies can learn more about productivity techniques, technological developments and best practices in their sectors. About 1,300 companies and 1,000 participants have benefited from these so far.
The productivity centres have proven to be a valuable resource for our companies. We are, therefore, strengthening their capabilities further to better meet companies' needs and deepen productivity expertise in Singapore. Firstly, we are expanding the pool of productivity consultants, including those with specific industry expertise, such as in Retail or Food Services. Secondly, the centres are conducting applied research and benchmarking studies, to gauge where we stand and how we can effectively address sector-specific productivity issues. Lastly, we will continue to monitor industry demand and scale up our productivity centres to cover new sectors where required.
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Through initiatives like the productivity centres, the Government continues to support our companies as we work towards achieving our long-term productivity target.
PAPERCUTS