Industrial Transformation ASIA-PACIFIC 2021

Asia-Pacific’s leading Trade Event for Industry 4.0

As Asian industries across the region are future-proofing their businesses and building their resilience in the constantly changing and challenging landscape, they look towards solutions from Industry 4.0. Based on this emerging trend, “Stepping up capabilities with Industry 4.0” is the central event theme of the Industrial Transformation ASIA-PACIFIC – a HANNOVER MESSE event will be held on 22-24 November.

ITAP will showcase actionable Industry 4.0 solutions to inspire and deepen understanding among attendees and help businesses at varying stages of adoption to start, scale and sustain their Industry 4.0 transformation journey. In the run-up to the ITAP Voice of the Market, the event series offers audiences an insight into the developments of Industry 4.0 in different Asian economies.

Voice of the market: Thailand

Focusing on Thailand, the event on Thursday, 19 August elucidated the developments in the MedTech sector, Automotive and Electronics manufacturing industry. About 15 notable speakers sharing their experiences. All speakers agreed on Thailand’s high potential to transition towards regional players in the EV and MedTech industries. As Mr. Krisda Utamote outlined, as the “Detroit of Asia”, Thailand may not have “local parts suppliers [who] currently produce key EV components […], but their capability can be developed”. His organisation, EVAT, aims to promote the establishment of EV component suppliers to facilitate moving the industrial focus away from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and towards EV vehicle production. This transition will allow Thailand to follow the global and regional trends in favour of EVs.

Mr. Krisda Utamote from the Electric Vehicle Association of Thailand (EVAT), in charge of promoting the use of electric vehicles (EVs) to tackle pollution and more energy-efficient transport systems.

To facilitate this change, EVAT has committed itself to enhancing the charging infrastructure for EVs. EVAT has established the “Charging Consortium” with 11 partners to provide a joint battery charging station infrastructure. EVAT has also been working closely with universities and research centres to “initiate a network of operations in developing Thai energy storage technology throughout the value chain. This action will be able to create various kinds of technology conductive to the use of electric vehicles as well”, Mr. Krisda explained.

According to Mr. Sorawit Wanitanukul, “our automotive industry is already internationally recognised. Therefore, we can expand into the EV industry, as our production standards are quite good. […] We must seek the opportunityto enter the supply chain for highvalue EV parts, which are batteries and motor parts, either modules or sub-components”. Some challenges that have been named, and which discourage Asian consumers from buying EVs, are safety, mileage per charge, the number of charging stations and vehicle price. NSTDA’s policy is to comprehensively support EV technology and increase advancement and knowledge among NSTDA personnel and researchers’ networks of designing, developing and testing parts, innovations and completed vehicles. The organisation “supports prototyping electric buses, motorcycles, boat and EV conversion with partners as well as research on EV demand and sustainable management,” he noted.

Mr. Sorawit Wanitanukul from the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), who discussed the importance of EVs and the need for standardised testing measures.

The insights of these EV industry experts highlights Thailand’s big steps towards embracing and turning EV technology into everyday reality. The efforts tie-in the private sector, researchers and the Government in their efforts reach their goals.

Dr. Rutchanee Gullayanon, Executive Vice- President for the King Mongkut Institute of Technology Ladkrabang in the Research and Innovation Sector (KMITL-KRIS), who discussed the MedTech industry in Thailand and the opportunities of innovation that emerge from close collaboration of manufacturers, researchers and the Government.

Close co-operation among these three actors is also an important factor in Thailand’s rapidly emerging MedTech sector. Dr. Rutchanee Gullayanon explained: “The Triple Helix Scheme brings together the government, research institutes and the private sector to create innovations on a university level. The scheme supports the transfer of these technologies to the private sector for future commercialisation”.

She sees strong potential from the partnership between research institutes and manufacturers. “We are trying to push our researchers to transfer their technologies after their prototype creation to mass production. We have to understand the big gap, which many people call the Death Valley”. This gap can be bridged by bringing in the experience and expertise of private sector manufacturers. “Partnership opportunities are available on the supply, manufacturing and distribution levels,” she added.

Similar to the EV industry, there are still some opportunities for the development of this sector. Dr. Rutchanee Gullayanon described the ongoing necessity to import certain components. Motors, for example, can be cheaply imported from countries where the necessary materials are sourced. In addition, certain manufacturers of components can certify the high quality of their products. This allows researchers to skip certain testing actions when using these components. She believes that “component manufacturing can be shifted into Thailand since Thai manufacturers can establish these standards and get all the necessary certificates”. Price competitiveness is also a hindrance for the Thai MedTech industry. “Thai manufacturers, from my experience, have the quality and the skill set, but when we talk about mass production, we lack price competitiveness”, she said.

In summary, with rapid and close collaboration of researchers, manufacturers and funding by the Government, Thailand is moving towards strengthening its EV and MedTech industries. While challenges remain, efforts to facilitate the development of these industries are strong.

ITAP is back to physical event this November

Industrial Transformation ASIA-PACIFIC - a HANNOVER MESSE event is back on the 22 - 24 November 2021 as physical exhibition at Singapore EXPO and as digital event on ITAP CONNECTED to continue forging business partnership, network with peers and exchange knowledge from industry leaders. Interested personnel may sign up to participate or acquire more information through official ITAP website: www.industrialtransformation.com

Written by Sophie Zwick, Trainee, GTCC Membership, Events and Communications Department