In alignment with one of Singapore’s biggest national pastimes, eating, the nation’s food manufacturing industry extends across a huge range, from flavours and sauces to ready-made meals, confectionery and beverages.

As such, employers run the gamut, from major players like Nestlé and Suntory to fast food companies, food merchandisers and producers of edible additives.

These companies maintain strong manufacturing presences in the city-state, especially as its position as a regional logistics hub allows for easy export to other ASEAN countries and global markets.

This industry provides consumers with essential products, such as household cleaning goods, toiletries, cosmetics and food and beverage (F&B), to fulfil daily needs and wants.

With so many products and services, companies are commonly divided into two categories: corporate giants with a wide range of merchandise like Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Unilever; and organisations that specialise in a single category, such as L’Oréal in cosmetics and toiletries, and Nestlé, a renowned F&B behemoth.

Every company that produces ready products from raw materials may need the services of the engineering design and construction (EDC) industry, a sector that provides the necessary infrastructure and technology for manufacturing processes.

Responsible for providing advice specific to the sector as well as relevant projects, engineering consultants are usually hired by companies to assist in conceptualising and managing projects in-house experience may not be able to cover.

For instance, a rail company that wants to adopt new tunnelling technology may need to engage the services of a consultant to assess the suitability of the new technology, alongside the organisation’s ability to use it for future projects.

Power generation deals with the production of energy, its transmission and distribution to homes and properties, as well as its metering and sales.

This privatised industry’s locally regulated by Singapore Power, and major players tend to be companies with fully integrated structures that have the capability to generate, distribute and sell power.

Despite lacking oil reserves, Singapore’s economy still owes a great deal of its economic health to the oil industry, mainly due to its role as one of the world’s top three leading oil refining centres. Much of the local activity in this sector takes place in the refineries and plants on Jurong Island.

Whether it’s a manufacturer of high-volume consumer products like Samsung and Apple, or specialised medical equipment providers such as Accuray, electronics companies encompass many areas of expertise.

Key players like Seagate, Broadcom and STMicroelectronics, for instance, have selected Singapore as their Southeast Asian centre of operations, thanks to the city-state’s advanced infrastructure and facilities. In fact, the electronics sector is a major industry that underpins the small nation’s economic growth.