I-PEX Singapore Pte Ltd, the first foreign corporation of the I-PEX Group, celebrated its 45th anniversary

In 2024, I-PEX Singapore Pte Ltd, the first foreign corporation of the I-PEX Group established in Singapore, celebrated its 45th anniversary.

In July 2024, I-PEX Singapore Pte Ltd held a party to celebrate its 45th anniversary, attended by many people including management, stakeholders, and employees. The party began with a speech by Tan Gek Hong, Managing Director of I-PEX Singapore Pte Ltd and Executive Officer Connectors Division, and included a cake cutting ceremony and dance and music performances by employees.

Here we introduce the history of I-PEX Singapore Pte Ltd.

I-PEX's business expansion in Singapore began in 1968, when it began exporting precision plastic molds to Singapore. At the time, Singapore had great potential as an international logistics hub due to its convenient location in the center of Southeast Asia, and the country was proactive in attracting foreign capital. American semiconductor and electronic component manufacturers moved into the country, followed by Japanese companies establishing business bases there, and Singapore eventually developed into the center of the electronics industry in the ASEAN region.

In 1971, I-PEX opened a representative office in Singapore to expand its mold exports. After that, the need for local production of products has increased, and in January 1979, I-PEX established Singapore Dai-ichi Pte. Ltd. (currently I-PEX Singapore Pte Ltd) as its first overseas corporation. In the same month, a plant was opened in Ang Mo Kio, located near the center of the main island of Singapore, and production of mechanism components for office automation equipment began. In 1987, a new plant was opened in the Kallang area after receiving an order from a major customer for mass production of connector parts. With the help of local employee recruitment, mass production began in August of the same year.

As sales steadily grew, in 1993 we built the Yishun Plant (currently I-PEX Singapore Pte Ltd, Yishun Plant) in Yishun, in the north-central part of Singapore, integrating the Ang Mo Kio Plant and the Kallang Plant, in order to expand our production capacity. The Yishun Plant was equipped with the mold, molding, assembly and inspection/shipping departments, which enabled us to carry out everything from mold manufacture to product assembly, and we realized integrated production of connectors in Singapore.

In 2020, Singapore Dai-ichi Pte. Ltd. changed its name to I-PEX Singapore Pte Ltd^*1.

Now celebrating its 45th anniversary, the company is working to further improve its technological and production capabilities in cooperation with nearby IPEX Global Manufacturing (M) Sdn. Bhd. (Johor Bahru, Malaysia) and PT IPEX Indonesia Inc (Bintan, Indonesia).

An interview with Tan Gek Hong (Diana Peh, Executive Officer of Connectors Division, I-PEX Inc. & Managing Director of I-PEX Singapore Pte Ltd) has been published in The CEO Magazine, a digital magazine for executives and leaders. She talks about how they overcame the headwinds of the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of human connections. You can read the article here.