Jabil Launches Blue Sky Center in Singapore

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Jabil Inc. has launched its newest Blue Sky Innovation Center in Singapore, extending Jabil’s network of Innovation Centers in America and Europe to Asia. Blue Sky Singapore will testbed advanced manufacturing processes and spearhead Jabil’s research and development (R&D) efforts in cutting-edge manufacturing technologies to power the development of next-generation electronic products.

Expected to be fully operational by 2020, Blue Sky Singapore will house a suite of state-of-the-art R&D facilities for additive manufacturing, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) process development and deployment, Roll-to-Roll processing, among others. It will also connect capabilities from other Blue Sky Innovation Centers in San Jose (California, USA), Clinton (Massachusetts, USA), and Tortosa (Spain) to Singapore, and strengthen collaboration with the local innovation ecosystem of customers, suppliers, educational and research institutions.

“Jabil Blue Sky Innovation Centers demonstrate our continuing commitment to helping our customers stay ahead of the curve through both innovation and R&D,” said Erich Hoch, executive vice president and chief executive officer of Jabil Digital Solutions. “Our Blue Sky Centers provide immersive environments to encourage customer collaboration, ideation and rapid prototyping, and set the stage for closer collaboration with industry and university partners to deliver transformative technologies, engineering capabilities and ultimately products that disrupt.”

The Jabil Digital Lab is the first lab of several to open at Blue Sky Center Singapore bringing to life the concept of the digital thread in manufacturing. Leveraging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR), the lab will demonstrate the capabilities and potential of digital solutions to accelerate product design and prototyping, improve manufacturing processes and supply chain management. The lab will also serve as a collaborative space that brings people, technologies and capabilities together to inspire innovation in an advanced manufacturing setting.

This announcement is part of Jabil’s plans for further footprint expansion in Singapore. By early 2018, Jabil will expand to a new facility in Changi North, bringing its total size in Singapore to 354,000 square feet. The new facility will house a Class 10,000 cleanroom and focus on semiconductor equipment assembly and testing. Jabil will also be investing in other advanced manufacturing capabilities such as 3D printing equipment manufacturing and assembly to capture new growth markets, as well as growing its workforce and creating new roles requiring advanced skill sets over the next few years. 

“With its established electronics manufacturing base, strength as a global logistics hub and progressive workforce, Singapore is well-positioned to harness new growth opportunities in electronics created by emerging technologies and global trends,” said Forbes Alexander, Jabil’s chief financial officer. “Singapore plays a pivotal role in Jabil’s growth strategy and we remain committed to investing in building the capabilities of our local workforce, and helping our local partners tap into global opportunities for diversifying into new growth markets.”

Electronics is a key growth industry for Singapore’s economy and is poised for continued growth. The industry is expected to achieve a manufacturing value-add of S$22.2 billion and introduce 2,100 new professional managerial, executive and technical jobs by 2020.