Management

Dr David Low is the Executive Director of SIMTech. He oversees the strategic direction of SIMTech and leads the institute in developing high-value manufacturing technology and human capital to enhance the competitiveness of Singapore’s manufacturing industry.
 
David is concurrently the Chief Executive Officer of the Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC). He established the ARTC from the concept of a public-private partnership programme in 2012 to a full-fledged A*STAR Research Institute in 2017, focusing on translational advanced manufacturing and remanufacturing R&D across the supply chain for aerospace, heavy machineries and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors.
 
David started his research career in the UK and subsequently at SIMTech where he developed from a laser materials processing researcher to the Group Manager for Machining Technology. In 2007, David was presented the MTI Borderless Gold Award for establishing the A*STAR Aerospace Programme.
 
David joined Rolls-Royce Singapore through its inaugural Asia Future Leaders Programme where he spent substantial time in Rolls-Royce global manufacturing facilities and worked for the company for 10 years. In his last role, he was the Chief of Manufacturing Technology – Singapore responsible for the manufacturing R&D in Singapore and in region. For his team’s outstanding contributions, he received the prestigious Sir Henry Royce Team Award for Engineering Excellence in 2012.
 
David has published over 50 journals, conferences, patents and book publications.
 
David received his PhD and Bachelor degree (First Class Honours) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manchester Institute of Technology (UMIST), now known as The University of Manchester. He received his Executive MBA from INSEAD and Tsinghua University.

Dr Lee Eng Wah is the Deputy Executive Director at SIMTech.

Prior to joining SIMTech in 1990, Eng Wah was a Defence Engineer with the Defence Science Organisation, Singapore. 

Since joining SIMTech, Eng Wah was involved in Mechanics of Materials, Product and Data Management, Operations & Supply Chain Applications, Web Services Programme as well as Planning & Operations Management.    He led the National RFID Centre from 2008 to 2011 and set up the Manufacturing Productivity Technology Centre in 2011 to promote use of technologies for productivity improvements.  Since then, more than 2000 companies had adopted various technologies to improve productivity through various productivity initiatives.  Also, in 2005, he set-up the Manufacturing System Division which grew from a staff strength of 40 to about 120 in 2019 with focus on operation research in planning in both manufacturing and supply chain and in more recent years on digital technologies and transformation and the set-up of the Industry 4.0 Model Factory.

Dr Stephen Wong is currently the Deputy Executive Director for Research Divisions & Knowledge Transfer Office. He is responsible for charting the strategic research directions across the research divisions.  He oversees thematic research initiatives, and is responsible for delivering aligned research outcomes to industry and public sectors.

Since joining SIMTech, Stephen has held several progressive roles. In his previous role as Division Director for Manufacturing Process, he spearheaded the Lighweight Manufacturing initiative, nurtured several research collaborations to develop lightweight aircraft interior parts, and established Production Organisation Approval (POA) for Polymer Processing facilities to support the SIA/SIAEC – SIMTech joint lab R&D. During his stint as Director for Industry Development, Stephen led several SIMTech and A*STAR initiatives, including the formation of the SERC Aerospace Programme and setup of the Precision Engineering Centre of Innovation (PECOI). In recognition of his cross-agency contributions, he received the MTI Borderless awards for SERC Aerospace Programme in 2007 and Upgrading PE Suppliers Serving the Semiconductor Industry in 2009.

Prior to joining SIMTech, Stephen spent several years in the electronics industry developing sustainable manufacturing solutions such CFC-free cleaning for disk drives, no-clean soldering process, and lead-free soldering for electronics packaging.

Stephen received his PhD and MSc, in Mechanical Engineering, from the Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore respectively.  He has a MBA from the University of Western Australia and received his BEng from the University of Nottingham, UK.

Dr John Yong is the Deputy Executive Director, Industry at A*STAR SIMTech. He oversees the Precision Engineering Centre of Innovation (PE COI), Manufacturing Productive Technology Centre (MPTC), Sustainability Manufacturing Centre (SMC) and Innovation Factory at the institute to support the manufacturing companies in Singapore.
 
John serves in various national committees. He is concurrently the Chairman of Manufacturing Standards Committee, Member of the Singapore Standards Council, and Member of the Coordinating Committee for Smart Nation since 2017. He co-leads the A*STAR-EDB Joint Industry Sector Planning (JISP) on Lasers & Optics. In addition, he is an Adjunct Research Associate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the National University of Singapore (NUS) since 2009.
 
John has more than 20 years of experience in light alloy research, particularly on aluminium, magnesium alloys and its composites. John and his research team were awarded the 2008 National Technology Award for their contribution to the development of liquid forging technology. He also received the Singapore National Academy of Science Young Scientist of the Year Award in 2004 for his research on novel manufacturing processes for light weight metal, as well as the Lord Austin prize by The Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1997 for his research on magnesium alloys.

Dr Zeng Xianting is Senior Director of the Knowledge Transfer Office (KTO) of Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).  He established the KTO at SIMTech in 2009 to transfer knowledge and capability to industry through case-studies and hands-on practical training to meet technology and skills gap in productivity improvement, skills and capabilities upgrading and business transformation. Under his leadership, the KTO grew from a training partner under the former Workforce Development Agency (WDA) of Singapore to a WDA certified Continuing Educating and Training Centre (CETC) under the Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) framework. Xianting established the long term partnership between SIMTech and the SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and Workforce Singapore (WSG) with a broad portfolio of industrial training programmes launched ranging from WSQ Graduate Diploma in 6 specialisations and WSQ Specialist Diploma in 3 specialisations under the Skills Framework of SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), more than 30 Advanced Manufacturing training programmes, and a variety of Master Classes and short courses, which benefited more than 1600 local companies, including both MNCs and SMEs, with more than 5000 PMETs trained.    

Prior to his role with KTO, Xianting was the Group Manager of the Surface Technology Group of SIMTech for about 9 years, leading the group in research and development of advanced surface engineering technologies and establishment of core competency and capabilities. He has been an active research scientist in the field of nanocomposite coating materials and plasma enhanced PVD thin film processes, and published extensively with research outcomes and achievements recognised internationally.  

Xianting received his PhD degree in Thin Film Physics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1995, and MSc and BSc degree from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China in 1987 and 1982, respectively.  He joined SIMTech in 1995, specialised in thin films functional materials and advanced coating processes for various industrial applications. He established wide research collaboration in the field, with appointment of Visiting/Guest/Adjunct professorship with both local and overseas universities and research institutions.

Dr May Win Naing is the Director of the Research Liaison Office for SIMTech and ARTC. In this role, she is responsible for governance of research quality, strategic collaborations and partnerships as well as research administration for SIMTech and ARTC. She also leads R&D in the MedTech Manufacturing Pillar for both institutes.
 
After joining SIMTech in 2013, May founded the BioManufacturing Programme in SIMTech in 2014, delivering  scale out and scale up manufacturing technologies for biological products such as bioreactors and systems tissue extraction for applications in regenerative medicine, cellular agriculture and consumer industries. In 2020, she assumed the role of Acting Research Division Director of FlexTech and MedTech Manufacturing Division (FMMD) overseeing R&D of two research groups- Smart Microfluidics and Printed Intelligence Device group, delivering R&D projects in lab-on-chip systems and wearables. In the same year, she took on a joint appointment in Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI), A*STAR as the Group Manager of Biomanufacturing Technology Group, before stepping down in 2021.
 
Passionate in cutting edge R&D and talent development, May is concurrently involved in large R&D initiatives in the MedTech and Cell Therapy space. She is the Programme Director of the A*STAR Additive Manufacturing for Biological Materials Programme (2019-2024) and a Principle Investigator in two of the National Cell Therapy Programmes – IMPACT (Integrated Manufacturing Programme for Autologous Cell Therapies) and CAMP (Critical Analytics for Manufacturing of Personalised Medicine).
 
Prior to joining A*STAR in 2013, May was a Translational Research Scientist at the EPSRC Centre for Manufacturing of Regenerative Medicine at Loughborough University, United Kingdom, and has also taken on R&D and technical marketing roles in the medical technology industry, specialising in spinal implants and instrumentation. Through these positions, she has gained experience in medical technology R&D and manufacturing as well as regulatory submission and market approval requirements for markets within the Asia Pacific region. Having worked in both academic and industry settings in Singapore and abroad, she is committed to translation of technology into the clinic and the market.
 
May received both her BEng (Hons) and PhD from the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Mr Chia Kiang Sum is the Director of Project Management Office (PMO) in Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) and Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC). He has responsibility over the SIMTech & ARTC project executions & its governance processes.

Kiang Sum has taken on multiple management roles in the R&D environment with Hewlett-Packard, Dell & Honeywell prior to joining ARTC. He manages the R&D team in those companies through their product development cycle from concept to launch & ensures quality designs meeting product regulatory compliance requirements. In Honeywell, he manages the printer PMO team comprises of Program Managers from different continents to deliver product design across the various R&D centers & ensuring execution rigors are in place across the cross functional teams.

Kiang Sum graduated from Nanyang Technology University with a Bachelor of Engineering–Electrical.

Dr Beng Cheah is currently the Deputy Executive Director of S&A+ Impact Creation and Corporate Services at SIMTech and ARTC. He oversees the operational support services and helps to facilitate greater synergy between the two organisations. He also serves in Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Engineering Advisory Committee.  

He came from the ICT industry and has diverse experiences: from running a business to systems engineering, project management, collaboration shaping, contract negotiation, consultancy and customer service operations.  

Previously, he was the Director of Strategic Operations at the Data Storage Institute (DSI), A*STAR, and concurrently, the Senior Director of Corporate Operations at the Institute of Microelectronics (IME).  Earlier, he was the Industry Development Director at the National Metrology Center (NMC). Prior to this, he was the Industry Development Director and concurrently, the Corporate Services Director at the Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R). His teams supported the external customer interface and internal operations of the institute of some 600 staff. He led the Human Factors Engineering R&D Programme for two years and he was the first Programme Director for FusionWorld—an A*STAR technology showcase featured by CNN and visited by dignitaries from around the world.

Beng enjoyed managing multi-disciplinary, large-scale projects involving advanced communications technologies and had many successful projects with partners like STMicroelectronics, Ericsson, Panasonic, IBM, Infineon, Huawei, Baidu and others.

When he was the Engineering Manager at a Singtel subsidiary, Beng won customer service praises from many customers including Singapore Press Holdings, Morgan Stanley and the CPF Board. He repositioned the Systems Integration business and doubled the revenue in two years. His team won and implemented several sophisticated networking projects and won three major awards from their principal suppliers.

While working on a railway electrification project, he computerised several engineering design processes. He also designed and implemented various communications protocols, applications as well as hardware modules for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems for power stations, traffic lights and oil pipelines in New Zealand and Indonesia.

Beng received his BE (First-class Honours) in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from the University of Auckland, NZ. He gained an executive MBA from California State University, Hayward (now East Bay) and completed the Program for Global Leadership at the Harvard Business School. He earned a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from the University of South Australia for his research in the diffusion of innovations. He is a senior member of IEEE and a certified PMP. 

Ms Tan Lee Hia is currently Director for People Matters & Planning of the Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC) and Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). She manages a portfolio relating to Staff Wellness, Staff Welfare, Staff Development and Manpower Planning. Prior to the appointment at SIMTech & ARTC, she spent 6 years at A*STAR HQ HR overseeing policy reviews and operations relating to payroll, benefits and claims management.

Lee Hia graduated from the University of Calgary, Canada with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. She has more than 25 years of relevant experience in the area of human resources managing the different spectrums ranging from learning and development, recruitment, performance management to work life integration, benefits management and staff well-being.