German companies drive growth in Asia with innovation hubs in Singapore

Establishing their bases in Singapore allow Schaeffler Asia Pacific and Hoffmann Group to leverage industry partnerships and government support.

Singapore’s success in fostering innovation can partly be attributed to its commitment to research and development, according to Forbes. The last five years saw a boost in the country’s R&D capabilities, enterprise innovation and entrepreneurship with the government injecting $19b (US$13.9b) into such initiatives through the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Plan (RIE 2020).

Schaeffler: Driving urban mobility
In 2017, Schaeffler Asia Pacific set up an R&D centre that focuses on urban mobility in the form of the Schaeffler Hub for Advanced Research (SHARE) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Guided by the Land Transportation Authority’s (LTA) Land Transport Master Plan 2040 and Active Mobility Act, the company said it will concentrate on safety and harmonisation of multimodal transportation, helping commuters with differing needs who choose to ride other modes of transport, or new vehicle concepts, such as PABs (power-assisted bicycles), PMAs (personal mobility aids), and personal mobility devices (PMDs).

“We have developed a pedestrian detection system as a feasibility study to show how, for example, LTA’s regulation on maximum speed in crowded areas could be realised as an Advanced Driver Assistant System, purposely built for PMDs,” said Dharmesh Arora, Chief Executive Officer at Schaeffler Asia Pacific.

“In collaboration between SHARE at NTU and FPT, a Vietnamese technology company, a deep-learning image classification neural network was developed and trained to accurately detect pedestrians in different contexts and lighting conditions,” added Arora.

Fostering startups
As part of its efforts to realise a more mobile society, the German company recently partnered with startup ScootBee—which operates a fleet of autonomous scooters accessed through an app—to reduce the vehicle weight and enhance the braking system of the latter’s vehicles.

“With a drivetrain derived out of their robotic heritage, one of ScootBee’s interest in Schaeffler is the Highly Integrated Drivetrain (HinDT),” explained Arora. “ScootBee is already running trials in Singapore’s One North district and they have been in contact with our research team in SHARE at NTU,” he added. Packed with top calibre universities, Schaeffler is also banking on Singapore’s growing pool of startups to further test and advance unique innovations in the lion city.

In June 2019, the company hosted the Technology Partnering Event Asia Pacific 2019 to search for the most innovative startups to explore creative ideas and build new partnerships that develop technologies of the future.

Road to autonomous transport
Besides world-class education and the abundance of startups, Schaeffler is taking advantage of Singapore’s regulatory framework to test-drive initiatives that address some of the issues that influence global and current trends on mobility.

In August 2019, the Committee on Autonomous Road Transport conducted test trials for Singapore’s first autonomous shuttles buses in Sentosa Island. With this new development, the island state may be close to seeing the advent of self-driving cars.

Arora said that a recent joint venture between Schaeffler and Paravan (Schaeffler Paravan Technologie) is responsible for the drive-wire technology needed to operate autonomous vehicles. “Steer-by-wire is a key enabling technology for self-driving cars. Even in semi-autonomous cars with steering wheels, the space saved by eliminating the steering column opens new possibilities for vehicle and cab interior design,” he explained.

The new CEO’s deep understanding of the automotive industry and diverse international experience will enable Schaeffler to further strengthen its manufacturing and engineering capability in Asia Pacific.

Schaeffler has been present in Singapore since 1975 and has been a pivotal part of Asia Pacific’s transformation, establishing a wide and diverse footprint with over 18,500 employees across 17 manufacturing facilities and seven R&D centres connected to the global network.

Hoffmann: 100 years of high quality

Reaching 100 years is not a customary feat for any company, but Hoffmann, the headquarters of the Hoffmann Group is ready to brave another centennial if it means serving its 135,000 customers and counting. In 1919, not too long after Germany announced a new republic, Josef Hoffmann started selling and trading technical equipment in Munich, carefully observing the market and augmenting the product line according to customers’ needs.

When Josef’s son, Franz Hoffmann, joined the business in 1936, he made the most simple, focussed and useful tool for any tradesman of that time, an in-house catalogue of product listings from different manufacturers which would become the inspiration for the Hoffmann catalogue.

Now, the company assists its customers with almost 38,000 tools under the GARANT brand which started in 1973. GARANT, as the company puts it, reflects Hoffman Group’s manufacturing competence in machining technology, clamping technology, metrology, grinding and cutting, hand tools, as well as workstations and storage equipment. Apart from this mainstay in the company’s product portfolio, the company also carries its HOLEX brand and 500 other industrial quality brands. “We just find the right product to adapt to our local customer needs,” Borries Schüler, chief product management & engineering officer at Hoffmann, said during an interview with Singapore Business Review.

Hoffmann Group has three hubs in Asia, not to mention the other subsidiaries scattered across Europe and the Americas. For Southeast Asia, Hoffmann Group has its headquarters in Singapore, Shanghai for its Chinese market and Pune for its India operations.

Customer is king
One of the reasons whythe company has grown in Asia can be attributed to its customers. “In Asia, we figure out what products or services can help our customer get better,” Schüler noted.

This personal attention to customers is complemented by Hoffmann Group’s motto “ever better,” which explains the importance it gives to high quality. “We are never happy about the situation, we improve the situation, every market in Europe and also in Asia,” said Martin Reichenecker, chief sales and marketing officer and spokesman of the board at Hoffmann, describing a typical European behaviour.

As part of its end-to-end service, the company also focuses on providing expert and technical advice to its customers. “As long as something is produced with metals or is maintained in the company, we can give added value and we help our customers to improve the situation all in the tools and to become even more successful,” Reichenecker added.

Singapore as blueprint
Meanwhile, Schüler explainedthat the Singapore headquarters is serving as an incubator for other ASEAN markets and may very well serve as a blueprint for its European counterparts which are still in the nascent stages of a digital shift. “It’s good to be forced stronger into digitalisation here, then take what we learn and take it back to Europe or America as well,” he added.

As part of its commitment to provide fast delivery of products, Hoffmann Group recently revealed its newest 21.5-hectare facility building project in Nuremberg, named LogisticCity, which is currently under construction and set to be launched in 2021. “Best delivery performance ensures our customers that they don’t have to put so many tools on stock. We are able to deliver worldwide very fast and therefore we need a new logistic hub,” Reichenecker commented.

Putting the customer first in any decision, and complementing this with precise attention to high quality, is what makes Hoffmann Group a step ahead, a quality tool master and expert partner in the 4.0 era, and maybe the next 100 years.