Speech by 
Mr Lim Serh Ghee

Mr Tan Choon Sian, Principal & CEO of Singapore Polytechnic,
Faculty Members,
Distinguished Guests,
Parents, Guardians and Graduands,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good Morning

1. It is an honour for me to be part of Singapore Polytechnic Graduation Ceremony. Today, you, the graduands from School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering will reflect fondly of the times you spent in Singapore Polytechnic, and remember the good effort that you have invested into your education, as well as the great friendship bonds that you have developed here, to arrive at where you are now. To be a graduand also means that you are ready to step forward in your life onto a new phase, a journey that your lecturers and teachers have worked hard to prepare you for.
   
2. I offer my congratulations to all of you for your achievements, and for staying true to your commitment to better your knowledge and skills with an education at Singapore Polytechnic. I should also quickly add that you should show your appreciation and thanks to your parents, guardians and family members, as well as friends, who have supported you to successfully complete your education at Singapore Polytechnic.
3. I studied Engineering and had been working with aircraft. I understand that you will be graduating with an aerospace-related engineering diploma. I think you have made a good choice.
4. Firstly, I think flying machines are amazing inventions that demanded the best engineering ideas and creativity. For a start, to fight off the pull of gravity, the flying machine needs to be as light as possible. However, to be of any meaningful use, the flying machine has to be strong enough to hold the pilot and the intended payloads. Starting with wood, progressing to light-weight aluminium, to now the more exotic titanium alloy, to the all-composite aircraft structure, engineers had been improving the trade-offs between material strength and material weight. Their persistence have pushed the envelope further out, allowing us to have the benefit of strong aircraft structure that are reasonably light-weight. The innovation spectrum is still continuously being pushed, with the advances in computing and miniaturisation driving the growing applications of unmanned flying machines or drones. With your engineering diploma, you have the entry ticket to embark on a career that will put you in close proximity to these amazing machines, and in the process, hopefully, you will become amazed by your own ability to learn and to innovate.
5. The second reason for saying that you have made a good choice to pursue an aerospace-related diploma is that you have made yourself relevant to an industry that is growing. Globalization of trade has also brought about increase in travel and freight. The size of the global aircraft fleet is expected to grow strongly with more new aircraft being manufactured to meet the growth demands. Being in Singapore, we are in the middle of the biggest aviation growth market of Asia Pacific. Singapore is an established aviation hub of the region. Our aerospace sector contributes significantly to our economy and provided almost 20,000 jobs, 90% of which are skilled jobs.
6. The range of capabilities that Singapore offers to the global market range from maintenance to design and manufacture of certain niche products. A good example of the multi-faceted capabilities is the Passenger-To-Freighter conversion programs. Such program involves first the design of the modification and followed by the physical modification of the passenger aircraft. The modification involves the tube strip of the aircraft, where all the seats and cabin interior are removed. Then the fuselage is cut to integrate on the large cargo door. The floor structure has to be reinforced, and various other systems such as the cargo loading system and the 9G barrier, are installed. The aircraft also concurrently undergoes a bridging maintenance check. The first prototype is then subject to a myriad of ground and flight test including a stringent smoke test to certify the design meets airworthiness standards. Once certified, what used to be an old passenger aircraft, is now a freighter aircraft that has a second lease of life carrying parcels and goods for at least another fifteen years.
7. Having shared with you the growth potential of the aerospace industry as well as the many interesting and technically challenging tasks, I would like to offer a not too often heard advice for you to consider when contemplating the next step after graduating.
8. Some of you may want to pursue a degree right away and some may even want to pursue a non-technical career. My advice is to spend three to five years working hands-on in a technical environment first before deciding your next step. You may find that hands-on technical work is your cup of tea after all. The aerospace industry provides opportunities for one to engage in interesting technical jobs. The scope of activities ranges from aircraft to engines repairs, from inspection techniques to troubleshooting skills, from aircraft structural modifications to avionics retrofits, from work at fixed locations to on-wing support work at interesting locations such as Casablanca in Morocco among others. I wish to highlight that hands-on work on aircraft is an attractive career choice that has good prospects as well. It is no secret that we can easily find candidates with engineering degrees, but not so easy to find candidates who have the necessary practical experience working on aircraft. An experienced technician could easily gross ten thousand dollars a month.
9. Even if later on you decided to move on to general management, your experience working hands-on in a technical environment provides you the knowledge to better understand the technical issues of aviation and aircraft maintenance. The three to five years in the technical role will allow you to appreciate the tempo and challenges of the industry, and such experience will form the strong foundation for your future endeavors.
10. I would like to highlight a success story of a SP alumni working in ST Aerospace. Mr. Stephen Lim graduated in 1979 from Singapore Polytechnic with a Certificate in Aircraft Maintenance and worked as a technical specialist in aircraft maintenance. Through his hard work and passion, he was granted a scholarship to pursue his degree in Aerospace Engineering in RMIT University, and subsequently sent to Wharton Business School for executive training. Today, Stephen, as the President of one of our subsidiaries in the US, has close to 3000 Americans working for him. Stephen had in his early years worked hands-on repairing aircraft. He built up his technical competence and understanding of the aircraft, such that when he was first appointed as a General Manager, his background and experience served him well. He was able to relate to the work challenges that his staffs went through. Stephen’s example and the many more examples in ST Aerospace convinced me that a strong grounding is important for anything one does. We can do much better when we experience firsthand how to solve problems. A degree course and general management skills can be added on in future years after we have exposed ourselves to the rigors of aviation, and when we have gathered enough work experience.
11. With the comprehensive training you had in SP, I am sure you possess a strong foundation in both practical skills and theoretical knowledge to contribute positively in your future endeavours. I congratulate you on your graduation. I wish you all the best, and a bright future ahead. Thank you.