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Highlights of the week:
For more career opportunities from various industries, please
access Career
Axis.
Dear Students, The
very mention of Manufacturing surely conjects greasy and grimy factories, if
not worse! However,
there is an entire emerging realm of Alternative Proteins & Foods
as well as Indoor Farming that will change the way you think and its
contribution to our economy. Traditional
meats as the main source of proteins will change, as we know it. Having actually tasted what this space has to offer by sampling
both plant-based and cell-based meats (alternative beef and chicken), I am
convinced that it is practically impossible to pass any blind taste
convincingly, neither in terms of taste nor texture. Currently,
the market base for alternative protein is approximately $2.2 billion
compared with a global meat market of approximately $1.7 trillion (Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 3 June 2019). This
suggests that we are at a potential inflexion point. In Singapore, having gone
for several visits, I am convinced that these budding small to mid-sized
companies are well-aware of their risks, albeit their well-funded status. Another
potential impact brought by these alternative proteins is social. The
long-established religious taboo that beef and mutton may not be consumed by
certain religions can and will be challenged. This will further challenge our
changing purchase decision-making as well as the way we practice our faith as
a society. Barely
2 months ago, I met and had a long discussion with Mr. Robert Li of Singrass and was surprised by two
immediate observations. Firstly,
Mr. Robert Li is a Health Evangelist that expounds the benefits of healthy
living and alternative food sources. He surely appeared more like a
Nutritionist rather than business owner. Secondly,
upon accepting to “pluck and eat” the leaves of his five storied hydroponics
plant-based structure, it certainly tasted better and was firmer in form than
expected. From a product development point of view, it should fit every
office environment snuggly, as the rack of plants proliferate, absorbing in
carbon dioxide and releases oxygen, during the weekdays, whilst the air-con
is running. I
am fully convinced that these areas of alternative foods warrant more market
learnings and investments and their eventual place in our little red dot is a
matter of “when” and not “if”. Manufacturing
in Singapore will change in terms of context as well as velocity, with
emerging technologies that may open opportunities for this little red dot
that were not there before. I urge young friends like you to monitor these
emerging sectors and technologies, as they are almost certainly not emerging
from any greasy and grimy factories! To
read the posts on both visits, click on the links below. Stay tuned to the latest happenings in the Singapore
manufacturing community by following our Facebook and LinkedIn
page. --- Mr Lawrence Pek is the Secretary-General of the Singapore
Manufacturing Federation, a leading trade association which serves the
manufacturing community in Singapore since 1932. Mr Pek possesses the credentials of a successful entrepreneur
and a unique work experience in an MNC spanning different countries and
regions. Starting with Sony International Singapore Ltd in 1995, Mr Pek has
since undertaken management appointments for the MNC in places such as
Singapore, the Middle East, China, Hong Kong and
India over a span of close to 15 years. Mr Pek then set up Bolin Technologies
Ltd, a company in Shenzhen China, involved in the design and manufacture of high end video conferencing and security cameras. To date,
operating out of its factory in China, Bolin Technologies Ltd supplies its
products to markets in China, Europe and the USA.
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