This year, Makino Asia Pte. Ltd. celebrates 45 years in Singapore as the Asian headquarters of Makino Milling Machine Co. Ltd.
The company employs over 500 people in manufacturing, research and development, and engineering in Singapore. Makino Asia’s operations span China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines, while exports extend to the Americas and Europe.
“As a global leader in high-speed, high-efficiency machining, our successes in recent years have been achieved through our focus on China and India,” said Chief Executive Officer Neo Eng Chong. “To meet the increasing demand for our solutions, we expanded our Singapore facilities and built our smart factory.”
The company’s smart factory is a state-of-the-art facility founded on the power of automation. Across its production lines, Makino Asia has incorporated “internet of things” solutions to streamline supply chain data collection and dramatically improve energy management, thus increasing efficiency and reducing environmental impact.
By 2019, the facility will be equipped with automation and data exchange solutions, commonly referred to as Industry 4.0.
“While increasing labor costs have caused Singapore’s manufacturing industry to move to neighboring countries, we are investing in our Singapore facilities,” said Neo.
“We believe this is the right time to transit into the new industrial age to better control information, timeliness and improve production quality,” he said. “In line with the changes taking place within our industry, we will benefit from the abundance of skilled engineers and technicians that Singapore has to offer.”
Makino Asia also has plans to transform production facilities in India and China into smart factories. The company intends to continue to invest in research and development and to increase its existing team of 100 engineers.
“With the emergence of high-tech industries such as aerospace and electric vehicle production, we need to continuously innovate to stay one step ahead of our competitors,” said Neo.
“We are driven to improve our capabilities, create new processes and equipment and generate new business lines to stay ahead of the competition. We work very closely with our Japanese counterparts and look forward to strengthening Makino Asia’s reputation across the region.”