In Singapore, MNCs and local enterprises are collaborating to innovate and grow in Asia

Home to several thousand MNCs and 286,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Singapore offers a rich business ecosystem where leading companies and local enterprises collaborate for mutually beneficial outcomes.

Local enterprises can tap into MNCs’ significant resources and global expertise to innovate and develop new capabilities. For MNCs, partnering with local businesses helps them tailor solutions that cater to business and consumer needs that are unique to Asian markets. MNCs are also able to build a network of local suppliers as a hedge against supply chain disruptions, high freight costs, and import costs. 

Here are three collaborations between MNCs and local enterprises that have achieved win-win outcomes.
 

Volvo and SC Auto: Greening Singapore with the first made-in-Singapore electric bus 
 

THE PARTNERSHIP
For over a decade, Singapore's SC Auto Industries (SC Auto), a designer and manufacturer of buses and trucks, and Swedish commercial vehicle manufacturer, Volvo, have collaborated on various projects, including the production of buses on a Volvo chassis. Now, their shared expertise has led to their latest achievement: the first made-in-Singapore electric bus model.

Using more electric vehicles supports Singapore’s overarching goal of cutting land transport emissions by 80 per cent by around 2050. Demand for low-emissions transport is expected to rise globally, given that the transport sector accounts for a fifth of global emissions. By 2030, at least one in two public buses in Singapore — which has a population of close to six million — will be electric, bringing the total number of battery-powered buses to about 3,000. 
 

A year-long collaboration between SC Auto and Volvo yielded the 12-metre long, three-door Volvo BZL-SC Neustar City electric bus that was launched in November 2022. The Volvo BZL-SC Neustar City electric bus costs S$6 million to develop and can reduce carbon emissions by up to 60 per cent as compared to a diesel bus plying a similar route.
 

Volvo provided the chassis and the lithium-ion batteries. SC Auto, which has decades of experience making private buses and coaches, designed, manufactured, and assembled the bus body at its plant in Senoko. Real-world trials began in March 2023 on bus service 990.

SC Auto is now the sole manufacturer of the Volvo BZL-SC Neustar City electric bus for Singapore and the Asian region.

Illumina and KPP: Building industry knowledge and supply chain resilience
 

THE PARTNERSHIP
In 2015, Illumina, an American biotechnology company, sought to enhance its operational efficiency by localising its consumable packaging supplies in Singapore and streamlining its supply chain. These both reduced material cost and shortened purchase lead times from four weeks to one.

After visiting various local printing and packaging companies, Illumina’s team chose KPP Packaging Pte Ltd (KPP) as their preferred partner. Illumina’s contracted spend in 2023 with KPP was about S$2.6 million.
 

OMRON and Clemvision: Enhancing new capabilities and products
 

THE PARTNERSHIP
In 2018, OMRON, a Japanese manufacturer specialising in industrial automation products, sought local support to increase sales of its 3D Vision System.  

The 3D Vision System is primarily used in the manufacturing sector to automate manual processes, such as making accurate 3D measurements of production parts, detecting their position, and enabling robotic arms to sort and pick parts smoothly.

OMRON selected Clemvision as its strategic partner and, subsequently, both expanded their partnership to offer customised solutions to a broader range of clients. Notable examples include:
 

• Pick and Place System (shown above): Built to facilitate efficient picking and placing of items without predefined criteria, the Pick and Place System can intelligently pick and pack items autonomously.
   

• Automated Agriculture Rack (shown above): It is a rack for cultivating vegetables from seed to harvest, using mobile robot technologies and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) — which are controllers used to control and monitor industrial equipment.