Critical Manufacturing has partnered with digital transformation company UST to support manufacturing execution system deployments across Southeast Asia and India.
UST will serve as a strategic implementation and engineering partner for Critical Manufacturing’s Industrial Operations Platform, providing consulting, deployment and local delivery support for manufacturers in the region.
The companies are focusing on high-tech manufacturing, particularly semiconductor and electronics production. Their work will cover new manufacturing execution system deployments as well as the expansion and optimization of existing production environments.
Regional implementation support
Critical Manufacturing combines MES functions with factory connectivity, automation, analytics and AI capabilities. UST will bring its digital engineering and manufacturing transformation teams to projects using the platform.
The partnership gives Critical Manufacturing additional implementation capacity in markets where semiconductor and electronics investment has been expanding. UST has local delivery teams across Southeast Asia and India and said it will support customers from initial implementation through later optimization and expansion.
Weng Keong Lan, managing director of Critical Manufacturing Malaysia, said the company sees implementation expertise and regional presence as important as manufacturers modernize production systems. Amar Chhajer, UST vice president for Southeast Asia, said the partnership is intended to shorten deployment cycles and improve the use of connected factory systems.
The companies also plan to expand local certification and technical capabilities around the platform.
Malaysia and India remain key manufacturing markets
Critical Manufacturing has been building its Southeast Asian presence around Malaysia’s semiconductor and electronics sector. The company operates a Malaysian unit in Penang and has used the country as a regional base for MES support.
TNGlobal reported in May that Malaysia is pushing further into smart manufacturing as it tries to move more of its semiconductor ecosystem toward higher-value design, advanced packaging and digitally enabled production.
The new partnership also targets India, where Critical Manufacturing said public and private investment is creating demand for manufacturing software and implementation services.
Critical Manufacturing is a subsidiary of Singapore-headquartered ASMPT, a supplier of hardware and software used in semiconductor assembly, packaging and surface-mount technology. UST employs more than 30,000 people across more than 30 countries and provides engineering, digital manufacturing and technology transformation services.
Malaysia strengthens chip ecosystem through talent, smart manufacturing