Article by: MEGA Tech
In this Executive’s Talk column, MEGA Tech had the opportunity to interview Mr. Somwang Boonrakcharoen, Director of the Thai-German Institute (TGI), regarding the collaborative project called “Collaboration Solution Platform”, a project between relevant authorities to support the manufacturing industry development in the country, having “Testbed ” as our vital tool running this project to accomplish its purposes. The primary objective of the Testbed is to provide entrepreneurs with confidence in testing the technology and their applications before investing and working in the production line of that factory. It aims to achieve the maximum efficiency and effectiveness, plus to generate profits to meet the goals established.
Mr. Somwang Boonrakcharoen has explained the history of the Thai-German Institute. “Thai-German Institute is a network organization of Ministry of Industry. The institute functions as a non-profit organization that operates under the Industrial Development Foundation. Moreover, the principal mission of the institute is to support the enhancement of entrepreneur’s capability in various manufacturing industries, whether automotive enterprise, Metal industry, plastic production or the food business, etc., to be able to join the global market and ready to enter the age of Industry 4.0 by advanced production technology with maximum efficiency”
TGI is ready to develop Thai industry into industry 4.0 era
“The Thai-German Institute converges towards the development of 3 main industries, namely the mold industry, which is commonly known as the mother of all industries as, almost every product of the industry is produced by mold altogether. Another supporting industry is the machinery industry, which is usually recognized as the father of all industries as, the mold itself was made from a machine. Lastly, another supporting industry that the institute has focused on is the robotics and automation industries, alternatively named as the brother of all industries, boost the productivity of several industries in the present day. In conclusion, the Thai-German Institute primarily concentrates on promoting the manufacturing industry with advanced technology”. Accordingly, Mr. Somwang concluded and explained further in the end.
For entrepreneurs desiring to develop human resource and production technology to be competitive toward the global market. Besides, the institute provides 4 main services to promote entrepreneurs as follows:
1. Training & Seminar: The institute has organized a variety of training programs according to the subjects required to acquire, including academic seminars for the development of personnel in the industrial area.
2.Industrial Project: The institute working for production parts, machine tools, and automation systems from designing, production, quality control (measurement and testing), to the predictive maintenance of all manufacturing industries.
3.Consult: The institute acts as a consultant to entrepreneurs in the field of human resources and technology development.
4.R&D (Research and Development) and D&D (Design and Development): The institute works closely with various universities to improve technology for the industry to develop or create innovations.
Testbed in the Collaboration Solution Platform (CSP)
The Testbed is the main instrument of the Collaboration Solution Platform for industrial development through exchanging knowledge and providing mutual support between manufacturers, consumers, System Integrator (SI), experts, and researchers, to build confidence in investing in modern technology that can lead to building a competitive advantage in the era of Industry 4.0.
Today is an age of rapid technological innovation. Therefore, entrepreneurs need to adapt to the most advanced era and technology development to be able to compete in the market; hence, Testbed emphasizes the technology development along with human resources development in the organization to acquire knowledge and capability in that technology simultaneously.
The Testbed is a test of modern concepts, methods, tools, and/or modern technology to gain confidence prior to investing or using it in the factory. Through adjusting the pattern of testing processes to satisfy the requirements of each participating factory (customized), which is the actual operation with the factory that needs to solve the problem by applying the principle of the graph indicated below.
From the picture of the Testbed service, evaluation and analysis of the use case is needed, which is a collaborative process between the experts of the institution and the factory workers practicing knowledge of various technologies to join the process of both Hardware and Software, followed by commencing experimentation in a step-by-step testing process according to the actual workflow. Additionally, there may be an expert in other departments to be involved in providing assistance solving the problems, depending on the complexity of the use case to generate profit according to the target. Therefore, entrepreneurs, in addition to obtaining the desired results, the related teams or personnel will receive knowledge from the Testbed project as well, according to the Testbed concept graph as tabulated below.
TGI Testbed Concept
Initially, the institute has opened a testbed service in Machining Technology and the next technology will be concerning Automated Inspection.
Learn how to Learn is the key to success in TESTBED
Furthermore, because each job in every organization can be accomplished with knowledgeable and capable employees, therefore, in addition to focusing on the development of systems and production manners, TGI also advises a human resource development (HRD) model to be in line with the technology that is developing immediately as well by the model as shown in the diagram below.
From the HRD model graph that must have four core competencies, Mr. Somwang emphasized on the topic Learnability Skill that “In general, the current learning model focuses on “Learn to Know”; however TGI will try to change it to be more “Learn how to Learn”, which is also the key of the Testbed because the Testbed will focus on learning and development simultaneously (both factory and the institution), to achieve the objectives set and can be put into practice. This will create the most cost-effective investment “
Mr. Somwang has concluded with confidence that “To build confidence in entrepreneurs and ensure that the invested technology consists of all components, a project “Collaboration Solution Platform” was established with a Testbed as one of the main tools of the project. The expected outcomes will be achieved and profit will be generated to the enterprenuers. In the long run, the knowledge obtained from the Testbed program can be used to develop the organization sustainably, supporting to raise from being a technology user to becoming a creator, more dependent on their technology in order to satisfy the requirements of Thailand 4.0 in the future