More SMEs turning to SPRING for a boost

Firms tap grants to raise productivity amid tough business environment
By Yasmine Yahya, The Straits Times, 20 Feb 2013

AS RISING business costs and a tight labour market put the squeeze on businesses, more firms are turning to a government agency that offers help to make their operations more efficient.

SPRING Singapore provided assistance to 5,610 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) last year, up 19 per cent from 2011, the agency revealed at its annual year-in-review briefing yesterday.

Altogether, SPRING committed $110.8 million in grants last year, up 16 per cent from 2011.

SPRING chief executive Png Cheong Boon said the tough business environment pushed more firms to consider productivity improvements, leading them to tap Spring's grants and schemes.

"2012 was a challenging year for SMEs, particularly because of the tight labour situation and rising business costs, as well as an uncertain and volatile environment globally," he noted.

"At the same time, we saw that more SMEs became aware of the need to improve productivity and they knew that there were schemes that the Government had rolled out to assist them."

One of the firms that turned to SPRING last year was City Satay. It now boasts a new and more efficient satay-making machine, thanks to the help.

First, the firm underwent the Productivity Management Programme. A consultant reviewed its processes and made some recommendations on how it could improve its operations.

"This then led us to apply for the Inclusive Growth Programme, which provided us with a grant that offset about 40 per cent of the cost of a custom-made machine, and this helped to improve our productivity," said general manager Chow Koon Meng.

Previously, City Satay relied on manual labour to make special orders, as its existing skewering machines could make satay sticks of only certain fixed sizes.

The new machine, which can make sticks of varying lengths, has boosted City Satay's productivity: The firm can now make 194 satay sticks per hour per worker, compared with 114 before.

With its annual sales of about $3 million, City Satay is among the many small SMEs which received aid from Spring last year.

Of those receiving some form of support from SPRING last year, 72 per cent were small or micro SMEs.

Small SMEs are businesses with annual revenues of between $1 million and $10 million, while micro SMEs are those with annual sales of less than $1 million.

SPRING also helped to incubate more innovative start-ups - 639 last year, up from 446 in 2011.

Even as SPRING doled out more help, Mr Png said the agency was told by some SMEs last year that they still found it challenging to understand and access the various schemes.

Others said the application forms were onerous and complicated and the processing time was too long, he added.

SPRING has thus simplified some of its schemes and application processes, he noted. For example, from last September, SMEs have been able to apply for the Innovation and Capability Voucher (ICV) online.

The application for the ICV now takes just 10 minutes to complete and each application is approved within two working days, down from one week previously.

SPRING also developed some self-help toolkits that SMEs could download online, on topics such as financial management, customer service and human resource.

SPRING's year-in-review briefing came just a day after Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck visited The Soup Spoon's outlet at Marina Bay Link Mall to learn about the firm's productivity initiatives.

It has cut down customers' waiting time by 33 per cent and made cost savings of 66 per cent by redesigning its workflow and streamlining operations.

Mr Teo had added that the ministry is looking to see how productivity schemes can be made more accessible for such micro-enterprises.

5,610

Number of SMEs SPRING Singapore provided assistance to last year

$110.8m

Value of grants SPRING committed last year

MORE AWARE OF HELP

2012 was a challenging year for SMEs, particularly because of the tight labour situation and rising business costs, as well as an uncertain and volatile environment globally... We saw that more SMEs became aware of the need to improve productivity and they knew that there were schemes that the Government had rolled out to assist them.
- SPRING Singapore chief executive Png Cheong Boon