Sandvik Coromant opens Productivity Centre in Singapore

On 21 May 2013, Sandvik Coromant opened its doors to a brand new multi- million Productivity Centre in Singapore, the 27th centre in the world. The Productivity Centre is a training facility offering state-of-the-art training demonstrations and training facilities to customers and employees across the globe. Training programmes are customized with the purpose of improving the technical competencies and provide a place to apply the newfound skills in practice.

The inauguration ceremony of the Singapore Productivity Centre was attended by Mr Klas Forsstrom, President Sandvik Coromant, Mr Lee Ee Sian, President Market Area Asia Pacific, Mr Jean-louis Macey, Coromant Manager, South East Asia and Guest of Honour, Mr Chang Chin Nam, Executive Director of the Singapore Economic Development Board, together with over 100 guests mainly senior managers representing customers, partners, machine tools builders and distributors as well as employees.

Mr Lee Ee Sian started his welcome address highlighting the vital role played by the different Productivity Centres and Application Centres in Asia. The inception of the Singapore Productivity Center marked the importance of South East Asia market to support the business growth and potential of customers and partners.

To officiate the grand event, the Guest of honour, Mr Chang Chin Nam presented his opening speech to relate the partnership between the Singapore Government via Economic Development Board with Sandvik South East Asia over the years and the effort of developing Precision Engineering competence to support the manufacturing sector in Singapore and the region.

The President of Sandvik Coromant, Mr Klas Forsstrom shared his thoughts about the Sandvik Group’s substantial investment in research and development, “Teaming with Sandvik Coromant is teaming up with the future. I am very excited about the future, as our R&D capabilities will increase our product portfolio. We will bring out more products in the coming two years, products that will boost productivity to new heights.”

Looking forward, Mr. Forsstrom says that there are three trends to note. Changing demographics means that there will be more travelling and in order to remain competitive, airplanes will need to use less fuel and be of lighter weight. Hence, manufacturers will shift to using more composites. There will be more open source of collaboration as the world becomes more connected and globalized. The product of the future will not just be a physical asset or tool but rather, it will be knowledge.

These trends also form the foundation on which the Productivity Centre is built on as people come together to learn, collaborate and be competitive in the new market place.

The event followed with the unveiling of plaque by the Guest of Honour and President of Sandvik Coromant, ribbon-cutting ceremony and the splendid performance of traditional lion dance. By the end of the performance, the doors of Singapore Productivity Centre were officially opened and guests were guided to a tour inside the centre to understand the facilities, the latest high-tech machine centres, latest product range and a wide range of training offers.

The ceremony ended with a closing speech by Mr Jean-Louis Macey before adjourning to an international buffet spread and a tour in the Asia Pacific Distribution Centre.

Did you know?

Sandvik Coromant’s eight Application Centers around the world are unique to the industry. These R&D centers focus on specific industry segments like for example aerospace, automotive, die and mould as well as deep hole machining. AtKobe AD EP Shoes EM