P&G opens largest private research facility in Singapore

SINGAPORE: The world’s second-largest consumer-goods manufacturer by market capitalisation, Procter Gamble (PG), has opened the largest private research facility in Singapore.

The facility will house laboratories for product testing and consumer research, and is expected to help position PG’s business as the Asian market for its products continues to grow.

PG estimates that 4.8 billion people worldwide use its products, with over 40 per cent of them in Asia.

One of its skincare brands, SK-II, may have originated in Japan, but it is popular around the world.

PG said what is less well known is that some SK-II products are developed in Singapore in a six-storey research centre that houses some 500 engineers, researchers, and support staff.

Built at a cost of S$250 million, the innovation centre is only the third of its kind for PG in Asia. It is also the largest private research facility in Singapore, occupying 32,000 square metres in the heart of the Biopolis.

The centre was officially opened on Friday by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and senior PG executives.

Mr Tharman said: “We are, like you… a place that has to thrive by innovation. Innovation has to be our lifeblood in Singapore. It’s the way to achieve progress.

“We’ve made some progress — in the last 10 to 15 years especially. In the last 10 years alone, we’ve doubled the number of research scientists and engineers in Singapore. We now have about 30,000 research scientists and engineers in Singapore. And in the consumer business industry alone, we’ve added about 1,400 new RD (research and development) jobs.”

The Singapore Innovation Centre (SGIC) will help to develop beauty care, home care, and personal care products for PG globally.

The company said Singapore is the ideal location for such a facility as it is six hours away from two-thirds of the world’s population, and has a diverse, multicultural population that helps product testing and consumer research.

PG said Asian consumers are more discerning, so products developed out of Asia are usually highly exportable.

Joseph Listro, vice president of Asia Innovation Centres at Procter Gamble, said: “For example, all conditioners that PG markets today are made and designed and developed here in SGIC. We do that because the conditioning needs for the Asian consumer is very high, and so if we meet her needs, we’re able to meet (that of) many of our consumers globally.”

PG also has a Master Research Collaboration Agreement with the Agency For Science, Technology And Research (A*STAR).

The agreement, which lasts till 2015, includes joint funding of up to S$60 million, and covers partnerships with Singapore’s research institutes, including universities and public hospitals.

P&G opens largest private research facility in Singapore