Bangkok--24 Jun--Ogilvy Public Relations
Over 100 entrepreneurs from 40 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) participated in a training session organized by the US-ASEAN Business Council (US-ABC) to discuss ways to increase their competitiveness and integrate their business into the global supply chain in electronic sector. US-ABC members UPS and Seagate led the training and sponsored the event.
The event was a project of the US-ASEAN Business Alliance for Competitive SMEs (Business Alliance), a partnership between the US-ABC and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), with support from the Office of SME Promotion in Thailand as well as the Federation of Thai Industries.
"Promoting SME development and fostering stronger inter-firm linkages and supply-chain partnerships have been a high priority in the policy agenda of OSMEP and Royal Government of Thailand. Thailand is now Chair of the ASEAN SME Working Group, and access to the regional and global markets is a key element in the Strategic Action Plan for SME Development 2015-2024," said Dr. Wimonkan Kosumas, Acting Director-General, Office of SMEs Promotion of Thailand.
"In preparation for AEC, Thai manufacturers need to improve their productions, for example, to design and develop their products, to import the materials form ASEAN countries, to invest for the purpose of reducing labor costs and transportation costs, to develop the human resources management, and to use new innovation and invention of E&E industries. Moreover, we have to invent the strength of supply chain management, by the agglomeration of industry clusters, finding the new market, getting the value added from product design by using more invention and innovation," said Federation of Thai Industries Vice Chairman, Mr. Manapol Poosomboon.
"Globalisation has opened up opportunities for ASEAN businesses to participate in global value chains," said Boon Tiam Tan, Managing Director of UPS Thailand. "However, seeing opportunity and seizing it are two different things; particularly when you're a small or medium-sized business. The spread of regional value chains are helping to connect the region. UPS is excited to help ASEAN SMEs overcome some of these challenges by enabling them to gain a better understanding of cross-border trade to boost their competitiveness."
"As technology evolves, storage and data accessibility become the key to success. Seagate provides the scalable storage solutions that SMEs need to drive productivity, competitiveness and grow their business," said Jeffrey Nygaard, Senior Vice President, Global Head Operations of Seagate Technology. "For the past few decades, we have put in efforts to support our SME suppliers in Thailand with technology transfer and job creation. We are proud to be one of the strongest supporters for SMEs and we are delighted to collaborate with US-ABC on its meaningful SME program in ASEAN."
Entrepreneurs who participated in today's event learned about logistics and supply chain management, with a particular focus on procurement policies, manufacturing best practices and supply-chain management standards and compliance in the electronic sector, as well as best practices in hard disk drive industry.
The Business Alliance aims to develop the capabilities and competitiveness among ASEAN SMEs through various workshops and trainings for SMEs, including more than 15 scheduled for 2015. Today's workshop was one of 4 special advanced trainings organized on supply chain management. Thus far, the Alliance has offered training to over 2,000 entrepreneurs, with events held in all 10 ASEAN Member States.