Permanent Secretary of Labour M.L. Puntrik Smiti chaired the AHRDA event on developing the workforce in the automotive industry to support a Thailand 4.0, which took place at the Institute of Personnel Development in Automatic Technology and Robotics in the lower-central region (Samut Prakarn). In her speech, she said that the Automotive Human Resource Development Academy (AHRDA) was established to meet future labour demands in the automobile industry, where it aims to develop 3 important components which are the skills of the people, technology and innovation and manufacturing or supply chain. She said that all 3 areas would require cooperation from the public, private and education sector whereby the Department of Skills Development will step in to help with training curriculums and form standards. The private sector on the other hand will help with new equipment, tools and machinery whereas the educational sector will integrate know-how, lecturers and prepare people entering the industry. In addition to this, the government has given importance to personnel development where efforts are mostly driven by the Department of Skills Development. Future plans include the establishment of a Manufacturing Automation and Robotics Academy (MARA) in Chon Buri, Rayong, Chachoengsao and Samut Prakarn which will provide training on manufacturing, automation and robotics in support of the government’s EEC policy. The Thai Federation of Industries and Thai-German Institute will work together on the industrial workforce development to an s-curve. This is like the AHRDA which gained collaboration from many sectors in order for it to be a success. She concluded that she hoped the event was helpful to all sectors and that collaboration would be made in the form of a network to develop personnel in the automotive industry towards a Thailand 4.0.
At present, the AHRDA has joined with various networks on training the workforce, comprising 5,949 employees and vocational students through a roll-out of 107 curriculums. Examples include a curriculum on machined parts for automotive parts, a curriculum on using wire cuts to produce molds and a curriculum to train staff to supervisor robotic welding. The event also hosted a seminar on the direction of human resource development in the automobile industry in alignment with the Thailand 4.0 policy and a share of ideas from both public and private sector representatives, as well as a talk on ‘Skill for Change in the Automotive and Part Industry’. A total of 100 small and medium sized organizations joined the event with another 250 representatives from the public and private sector.
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Bureau of Public Relations
6 September 2017
Kantipon Kusmit – News & Photos
