Trends shaping advanced manufacturing in Asia Pacific

The Asia Pacific region is one of the global hubs for manufacturing and accounts for nearly 48.5% of the worldwide manufacturing output. Now, more countries in the region are developing advanced manufacturing capabilities to grow Industry 4.0. These emerging technologies also play a crucial role in helping us achieve our decarbonisation goals, as sustainability becomes a core priority in business operations.

Trends shaping advanced manufacturing in Asia Pacific in 2022, a report commissioned by SGInnovate and produced by Frost & Sullivan, explores trends around three key areas driving progress in Industry 4.0 technology development and its use in Asia Pacific – additive manufacturing, advanced materials and decarbonisation.

The report's insights are derived from in-depth interviews and a quantitative survey, which gathered insights from 200 industry professionals covering eight industry verticals across six Asia Pacific markets.

Key research findings:

• Startups are manufacturers’ preferred partners for product development in additive manufacturing. 44% of survey respondents have already invested in startups to integrate additive manufacturing into their processes.
• Industries such as aerospace, medical and electronics are more open to adopting emerging and futuristic materials. These include nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes, carbon fibres and self-healing materials. One-third of companies in Singapore are open to using self-healing polymers (26%) in the next two years.
• While decarbonisation is an essential consideration for organisations in the region, technological issues such as engineering problems (61%) and the need for machine maintenance (60%) continue to hinder the adoption of decarbonisation technologies and solutions.