The launch of Shell’s new lubricants plant in Tuas South on 1 November 2017 marks a milestone for the company in its plans to be a production hub for products that cater to customers around the world. It is Shell’s third largest lubricants plant in the world.
Plant Of The Future
As a standard for what advanced manufacturing could look like, Guest-of-Honour Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S Iswaran highlighted the modern production technologies and automation used in the plant such as a line capable of producing 100 drums of lubricant per hour with a single worker.
“We encourage more companies to take advantage of advanced manufacturing technologies to raise their productivity and strengthen their competitiveness,” he said.
Technology has been the key reason for this 50 per cent increase in capacity and six-time improvement in productivity over their old plant in Woodlands.
The new facility in Tuas is the size of 25 football pitches and is capable of producing 430 million litres of products a year. This is enough to service 12,000 cars per hour, 365 days in a year.
Developing Workers
Mr Iswaran also commended Shell for the company’s commitment towards developing its workers and noted the government’s commitment to work with industry partners to equip workers with the relevant skills for new jobs.
Sharing his thoughts, Singapore Shell Employees’ Union (SSEU-SHELL) delegate Clarence Lee, a senior operator at the plant, said the workers were excited about the shift to the new plant.
“In preparing for this, we went through guided job training to understand the automated processes. We have the knowledge, but we were used to a manual system, so we had to learn how the new automated systems work. I’m looking forward to more training by the union and NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute),” he said.
