German aid body changes tack

       The Thai-German Institute will try another tactic to achieve its goal of promoting the use of advanced technology in small- and medium-sized plants by approaching top executives and business owners.
       "Earlier, we focused on developing staff at the operating level, but the plants still failed to adopt knowledge in doing business. So we will change to enhancing the business skills of executives and owners instead," TGI director Narong Varongkriengkrai said yesterday.
       Local small- and medium-sized manufacturers have not given enough importance to improving their production technology, he said.
       "Even though we boost the skills of the workforce to work with new, advanced technologies, it will mean nothing unless executives see the need to make the investment and move their companies to high-value production," he said.
       TGI will focus on the electrical appliances, electronics and automobile industries, he said.
       Damri Sukhotanang, permanent secretary of the Industry Ministry, said small- and medium-sized manufacturers cannot produce value-added products as targeted due mainly to the lack of technology.
       Those manufacturers also need to pay more attention to packaging design, which will be another way to add more value to their products.
       "The Industry Ministry's departments and related institutes such as TGI and the Thailand Productivity Institute have to work in unison and give priority to upgrading original-equipment manufacturers to original-design manufacturers," he said.
       The Industry Ministry approved a budget of Bt142 million for TGI to provide 50 training courses for technicians and engineers in the mould industry.
       Vice Industry Minister Sorayud Petchtrakul said the mould industry was one of the important basic industries, supporting many industries including automobiles, machinery and printing.
       "One main problem is that we are short of skilled technicians and engineers to support the rapid changing of technologies. If our mould industry is weak, those hi-tech countries including Japan will not look favourably on continuing to invest here," he added.