Low cost engineering the way to go

We need more top academics to endorse the virtues of low cost engineering to restructure our universities and economic strategies for growth. Recently there was a professor from NTU making very positive views on the superiority of India in low cost engineering. And reading between the lines, NTU may be considering introducing low cost engineering courses to produce engineers that are experts in this area.

With Singapore unable or finding it challenging to compete in anything of substance and quality, low cost engineering may be the way to go. We could tap into India’s low cost labour and production methods in low cost engineering to produce goods that can be marketed with a price advantage. The Tata Nano is an excellent car for our market given the smallness in size. There is really no need for super cars with super price tags as they would run out of roads by the time they squeezed into third gear. A cheap Nano is exactly what we need for a small city and buzzing from the HDB flats to the market or neighbourhood shops.

A Nano cost only US$8K. With the high COE prices, a Nano could still be priced below $90K. Quality should not be an issue. The reports by BBC that ‘Five of India's most popular small cars have failed crash tests conducted by a UK-based car safety watchdog’ should be no cost for alarm. The cars tested included models made in India by Ford, Volkswagen and Hyundai. For the price you can’t be expecting German quality right?
 
The cars could only be made cheaply by some cost cutting like stripping some safety features. There is a price for everything, A good quality car cannot be cheap. One cannot be dreaming of all the safety features and quality parts when one is buying low cost cars manufactured using low cost engineering and labour. There is a market for such low cost products. Not everyone can afford a few hundred thousands for an European or Japanese or even Korean made cars.
 
It is all about practicality and being realistic in the consumers’ expectation. Low cost engineering, low cost labour and low cost products can find its low niche even in an expensive first world city. We only need to have quality products and services in politics and govts. The rest of the industries can offer a range, from the best to the lowest cost products.
 
The only consideration is whether Singaporeans could cope with the income if they are trained in low cost engineering, producing low cost products and drawing low cost salary. For the super talents, there are many, some are thumping their chests to open up the economy to foreigners as they feel confident enough to take on the best in the world, they can continue to compete in the higher end jobs. Many would not even mind competing with fakes as they know that they are really good and fakes or foreign talents are no match for them. They will survive under all circumstances even outperforming cheats and fakes.
 
For the normal average Sinkies, they should lower their expectations and embrace low cost engineering as a new opportunity. With CECA they can become expats in India and compete with the brilliant Indian low cost engineers for jobs there. India is a continent and there should be no problem finding a job there.
 
We have been encouraging our people to downgrade, from housing, jobs and homes. So it is normal to downgrade our pursuit of knowledge from high tech to low cost engineering, from producing high quality goods and services to low quality engineering stuff. Never mind if we move from 1st World to 3rd World. We are nearly there. A low cost manufacturing hub.

Kopi level - Yellow