12/09/2025
๐๐๐๐๐ง-๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐ง๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง
The Department of Science and Technology (DOST), through the Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC) and DOST Region XII, inaugurated the Advanced Manufacturing Center (AMCen) in SOCCSKSARGEN, marking the establishment of the sixth facility of its kind in the country. Located in General Santos City, the center represents a crucial step in bringing advanced manufacturing capabilities closer to industries and communities in Mindanao.
SOCCSKSARGENโs economy has been on an upward trajectory, recording a 5.5 percent growth in 2024, higher than the 3.5 percent posted in 2023. With this, the launch of AMCen-SOCCSKSARGEN is timely, as it provides infrastructure that directly aligns with this momentum, ensuring that regional growth translates into greater productivity and innovation across sectors.
The facility is equipped with additive manufacturing (3D printing), rapid prototyping, and advanced design technologies, providing solutions that cut across agriculture, aquaculture, food processing, furniture, and light manufacturing, the backbone industries of the region.
Through AmCen SOCCSKSARGEN, farmers and fisherfolk gain access to customized tools and equipment parts fabricated locally, reducing downtime and improving yields. Additionally, since the region hosts substantial number of MSMEs , many of which face barriers in product design and production, AMCen will enable them to prototype and test products cost-effectively, accelerating time to market.
Also, enterprises in food processing, furniture, and light industries can improve design efficiency, reduce production waste, and upgrade product quality to meet market standards. Students, engineers, and researchers can benefit as well from hands-on exposure to Industry 4.0 tools, ensuring that the local workforce acquires future-ready skills.
AMCen-SOCCSKSARGEN addresses long-standing gaps in technology access outside metropolitan centers. By reducing reliance on distant suppliers, it strengthens local value chains, supports product diversification, and encourages the rise of startups and innovators in the region. This creates opportunities for higher incomes, better livelihoods, and enhanced competitiveness of regional products in both domestic and global markets.
The facility also complements existing support mechanisms such as DOSTโs Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP) and DTIโs shared service facilities, providing an advanced layer of innovation infrastructure that MSMEs can tap into.
As the sixth in a growing national network of AMCen facilities, AMCen-SOCCSKSARGEN positions the region at the forefront of the countryโs push for Industry 4.0 transformation. By bridging science and industry, it reinforces SOCCSKSARGENโs capacity to sustain economic growth, generate jobs, and transition toward a more diversified and resilient industrial base.
The facilityโs impact will be measured not only by technological outputs, but also by its role in strengthening the regionโs capacity for inclusive, innovation-driven development. In doing so, AMCen-SOCCSKSARGEN represents both a milestone in the national innovation agenda and a catalyst for the future of SOCCSKSARGEN as a dynamic agro-industrial hub in Mindanao.
DOST Philippines
DOST - Regional Operations
DOST MIRDC
DOST XII - Cotabato Provincial Office
DOST XII - Sultan Kudarat Provincial Office
DOST XII - South Cotabato Provincial Office
DOST XII -Sarangani Province and General Santos City Office