PerkinElmer, Inc., a global leader committed to innovating for a healthier world, first established its presence in Singapore in 1997 in order to offer solutions to research professionals and laboratories in the environmental, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, petrochemical, life sciences and clinical diagnostics markets. In May 2019, the company has opened a new office facility for medical technology manufacturers and service providers in JTC MedTech Hub in Singapore, as a step to reaffirm its commitment to operating the business and growing the customer base in Singapore and throughout Southeast Asia. BioSpectrum Asia got in touch with Prahlad Singh, President and Chief Operating Officer, PerkinElmer, Waltham, Massachusetts to find out more about this recent development.

What are the major highlights of the new facility opened in Singapore?

PerkinElmer’s facility at JTC MedTech Hub is a global manufacturing site for our detection and analytical instruments, specializing in a variety of advanced applications, including atomic absorption, mass spectrometry and gas chromatography.  The site also houses two demonstration laboratories in which customers can have hands-on experience with our technologies for analytical and diagnostics solutions.

We constructed an optics specialized lab to serve as a one-stop center to focus in optics related functionality assessment and improvement. This lab serves as a center of excellence in optics related topics. Employees at this facility handle a variety of functions including manufacturing, sales, service, IT, finance customer care, logistics, compliance and order management.

How many people would you be recruiting for the new facility?

PerkinElmer has a total of about 340 employees in Singapore. Approximately 320 of these employees are located here at the new facility. They are relocated from our existing office to this new upgraded facility which enables us to better accommodate growing business activities and be closer to customers.

We also have about 20 employees at a location in the east of Singapore, serving customers in the autoimmune, allergen, and infectious disease markets. PerkinElmer continually evaluates our customers’ needs, and we staff our teams accordingly, so that we can provide the best level of service to meet these needs.

What is so unique about this facility and how do you plan to take things ahead?

PerkinElmer continues to focus on enhancing the customer experience with our products and services. With a manufacturing presence in Singapore, our customers can leverage PerkinElmer’s technical knowledge and resources available to them here. PerkinElmer will continue to explore ways to bring in innovative products to support our customers in Singapore.

Are you planning any expansion in other Asian countries?

It has always been our focus to continually expand our presence in Asia, both organically and inorganically. For example, in China, we are enhancing local manufacturing capabilities to better meet customer requirements.  As part of our focus on accelerating growth, we have an active M&A pipeline for identifying opportunities for bolt-on acquisitions as we seek to capture a greater share in fast-growing and highly relevant markets. In April this year, we acquired Cisbio Bioassays, a leading custom assay service provider based in Codolet, France. Cisbio has a large customer base in key growth regions, including Asia. In 2018, we acquired Shanghai Spectrum Instruments Co., Ltd. SSI is a leading manufacturer of analytical instruments in China.

What are the current challenges facing the medtech industry in Asia?

In Asia, as well as in other parts of the world, the medtech industry faces a major challenge of how to accelerate the discovery-to commercialization process, bringing better medicines/medtech products to market faster. Challenges also include data management and security, accompanying the rapid increase in digital healthcare, more strict regulations, and how to work with new technologies to enhance efficiency while lowering costs. At PerkinElmer, we provide a comprehensive portfolio -- from detection and imaging solutions to informatics and services to help researchers gain insights from this data.