JTC has unveiled a next-generation standard factory targeted at small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector.
About 40 per cent of the 18 units available have been taken up within the first year of the project’s completion.
Known as Small Footprint Standard Factories, these three-storey units make more intensive use of land, thereby reducing land cost.
The government said it will be offering more developments targeted at SMEs in the coming months.
One tenant, precision engineering firm Globaltronic, said while the new unit is of the same floor area as its previous location, its price per square foot is about 40 per cent lower than the market rate.
Christopher Foo, director of Globaltronic Precision, said: “Previously, what we have are 15 units all over the place in Chia Ping Road. Right now, with this design… we can consolidate all the 15 units into one building.”
Globaltronic had to redesign its manufacturing processes to fit into the layout of the new factory unit, which has a smaller land footprint than its previous facility.
Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Teo Ser Luck, said: “You intensify the land-use and maximise the operations that can be gotten from a smaller piece of land or space through a more flexible way of using different floors of the factory. It helps to save money for the SMEs.”
Companies leasing these units are also eligible to tap into the government’s land productivity grant.
Png Cheong Boon, CEO of JTC, said: “Given the good response from SMEs, we are looking into similar developments in the next few years. JTC will also continue to develop innovative infrastructure solutions for specific industries and SMEs, and we will do what the private sector is not keen to do.”
Some of these upcoming developments include the Surface Engineering Hub in Tanjong Kling and MedTech1 in Tukang Innovation Park.
According to official data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority, prices of multiple-user factory space have increased by more than three per cent in the first half of this year.
And last year, industrial property prices rose by 24.5 per cent.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 29 July 2013