Better machinery to help sharpen edge

       A focus on machinery development for agriculture and processed agricultural products will help improve Thailand's competitiveness, according to Narong Warongkriengkrai, the director of the Thai-German Institute.
       Developing locally made machinery to serve these industries would reduce the imports, promote exports and better serve local needs and conditions, he said.
       "Thailand is an agricultural country so the development of machinery in this field will build solid support for our dominant agricultural industry," Mr Narong said.
       The institute acts as a technology database and development centre to promote local technology development through repairing and reverse engineering of imported machinery, along with research and skills training.
       The institute has already helped to develop machine tools and mould and die equipment to serve local electronic and plastic-injection industry. Over the past six years, it estimated that the programme had helped reduce the cost of machinery imports by 6.8 billion baht and raise export income by 4.6 billion.
       Mr Narong said that improving the image of locally made machinery was a challenge as many businesses believed imported equipment was better.
       "The institute is trying to build that trust in locally developed machinery,mainly through improving local labour skills. with better skill, local workers will be able to develop their own machinery that is best suited to local conditions,"he pointed out.
       "Companies with these trained workers would then prefer to use local products, which their people understand better than imported ones, and their operations efficiency will be better," he said.
       Damri Sukhotanang, the permanent secretary of the Industry Ministry, said the institute's role in improving labour skills over the past 10 years had brought some success. For example, an increasing number of technology companies from Taiwan and Korea now prefer to employ skilled workers from Thailand.
       "This is a good opportunity for local skilled workers, yet it creates a worry that skilled people will all be working for foreign firms and leave local firms uncompetitive," Mr Damri said.
       The institute has opened a 25-millionbaht technology centre in Rajamangala University of Technology Suvarnabhumi in Ayutthaya, where machining, mould and die technology and automation training is offered and equipment can be rented to local companies.