ENG-1988 — Page 101

INDUSTRY AND TRADE

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industries, and smaller-scale studies of other selected industries, to enable the government to assess where its support is needed. It monitors the adequacy of Hong Kong's industrial infrastructure, particularly the availability of land and trained manpower. It encourages, in a variety of ways, domestic investment in manufacturing and also promotes overseas investment, especially where this introduces new or improved products, designs, processes and management techniques into Hong Kong.

An increasingly important part of the department's work is to promote the wider application of quality assurance in the manufacturing sector. The department's Quality Services Division has three main roles at present: to maintain measurement and docu- mented standards as authoritative reference points for industry, to provide calibration services, and to operate a laboratory accreditation scheme. Measurement standards, including the mass, length and volume standards required in support of the new Weights and Measures Ordinance, are held by its Standards and Calibration Laboratory, and documented standards by its Product Standards Information Bureau, which maintains a large and growing library to meet demand for information and technical advice on overseas product standards. The Standards and Calibration Laboratory, which has been indepen- dently accredited by the United Kingdom's National Measurement and Accreditation Services (NAMAS) for a wide range of measurements, also provides a calibration service to manufacturers to enable them to meet measurement standards required for their products. And to promote the use of quality assurance in Hong Kong's testing laboratories, the Hong Kong Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (HOKLAS) has been developed by the Quality Services Division to accredit laboratories in various testing disciplines.

A number of industrial support initiatives were launched during the year. In June, the Hong Kong Plastics Technology Centre was formed to provide technical assistance to the plastics industry. The centre, which will be located in the Hong Kong Polytechnic, was established with help from the government, the polytechnic, and a major local manufac- turer of plastics conversion machinery. On the advice of the Industry Development Board, the government also commissioned consultants to prepare a detailed feasibility plan for setting up a technology centre in Hong Kong.

Additional land and accommodation was made available for industry. The government put up for sale by auction or tender 14 pieces of industrial land with a total area of 44 659 square metres, and 1 138 000 square metres of flatted factory space were completed by private developers. The Director of Industry is also the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Industrial Estates Corporation. During the year the HKIEC sold 17.2 hectares of land in its two estates.

An experimental Industrial Extension Service was provided by the department from September 1987 to March 1988. During the experiment, 340 medium-sized factories were visited and the manufacturers concerned were assisted in the use of a variety of industrial support services. The results were encouraging and additional staff were recruited to enable a permanent Industrial Extension Service to be introduced in early 1989.

The Inward Investment Division, through its 'One Stop Unit' in Hong Kong and overseas offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Brussels and Tokyo, helped to attract $210.45 million worth of overseas investment into Hong Kong during the year, despite a fiercely competitive environment in which prospective investors are pressed by other parties in the region and by development authorities in their own countries. These investments channel valuable new technology and expertise to Hong Kong, often from world leaders in particular areas. Significant new investments of this kind included a large establishment for the manufacture of personal computers, a regional plastic technical