| NSTDA launches 'Big Impact' SME assistance project |
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*Provides technology upgrades to immediately improve profits of SMEs in rice-milling, poultry farming, and rubber curing The programme, developed by the Industrial Technology Assistance Programme (iTAP), under the supervision of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), aims to make an immediate difference to the bottom-line of SMEs, as well as to shave more than Bht 21,000 million off the national energy bill. “We’ve called the project ‘iTAP Big Impact’ because we have been able to measure real, substantial, and immediate improvements for SMEs in pilot projects,” said Dr. Khunying Kalaya. “There’s no time to lose, with economic pressures mounting, SMEs need help, fast. ‘Big Impact’ gives them the immediate help that they need,” she said. Professor Dr. Chachanat Thebtaranonth, the founder of iTAP and Vice President of NSTDA, said, “Under the ‘iTAP Big Impact’ programme, we have developed a set of easy-to-implement improvements that can immediately be applied to over 43,000 rice mills, 64,000 poultry sheds, and 660 rubber curing kilns around the country. Professor Chachanat said, “We can increase the profitability of an SME rice mill by 20% through simple training of mill operators to show them how to keep the space between the grind stones of their mills adjusted correctly. Through this easy-to-implement idea, which requires virtually no additional investment or expense, we can see in our pilot programmes that rice mills can significantly reduce breakage of rice grains. “They can also ensure that milling is done properly in a single round of milling, rather than, wastefully having, to send a lot of rice for a second round of milling. As a result, they can increase by almost 100% the amount of rice that they are able to mill in a day, generating between six to twelve million baht a year in additional profit.” “Not only does this simple procedure increase their profits, it cuts down electricity consumption in the milling process by an incredible 50%. While that’s good news for the miller, it’s even better news for Thailand and the environment,” Prof. Chachanat said. “If applied across the 43,000 mills operating in Thailand, we can save up to 21,000 million baht in the national electricity bill,” she said. “With more than 3,700,000 families dependent on rice farming, and rice exports accounting for over 2.2% of national GDP, the doubling of productivity in our rice mills can make a huge difference to our economy at this difficult time,” she noted. The process to help rice millers was developed in conjunction with the University of Khon Kaen’s Faculty of Engineering and led by Assistant Professor Dr. Panomkorn Kwakhong.
Savings for Rubber Farmers under ‘iTAP Big Impact’ programme According to Dr. Somchai, “The newly developed system allows heat to get into the curing chamber faster, and for heat to be distributed more evenly in the chamber. That results in the production of better quality, higher priced latex and for the process to take 25% less time, while also reducing fuel costs by around 40%. “When you compute the fuel and labour savings involved, and add the extra income that the rubber farmer can generate from better quality latex, as well as the additional amount of latex that can be cured, an average community kiln can increase its profits by around 165,000 baht a year,” he said. “In fact, we expect these small rubber farmers to increase their incomes even more as a result of these kilns. The fact that they can cure their latex faster will mean that they need not worry that some of their fresh latex may be spoilt by any delays in curing. This worry often leads them to agree to sell their fresh latex output at much lower cost to middle-men,” he said. “With some 660 rubber curing kilns operating in Thailand, this innovation can significantly increase the income of the rubber farming community in Thailand,” he noted.
Savings for Poultry Farmers under ‘iTAP Big Impact’ programme Ms. Sonthawan Supattaraprateep, Director of iTAP said that there are approximately 64,000 poultry sheds in Thailand with a capacity of between 13,000 to 15,000 chickens, each. “A ventilation fan developed by the NSTDA can reduce electricity consumption by 23%, or the equivalent of around 20,000 baht per shed, per year, when compared to the most popular models that are currently used by poultry farmers. Again, not only does this improve a poultry farmer’s profitability, it also has the potential to cut down Thailand’s national electricity bill by up to Bht1,200 million,” she noted. She said that the most popular model of fan used by poultry farmers is imported, and that it is not completely appropriate for Thai chicken which are distressed by the noise made by the fan blades. By designing our own Thai version of the fan, with three fan blades rather than six, we were also able to cut down on the noise and reduce the stress on chicken which helps them grow more healthily. “With Thailand exporting Bht 51,600 million in poultry produce in 2008, any impact we can make on the efficiency of the poultry sector will be a ‘Big Impact’ improvement for the economy,” she said.
Working Collaboratively the ‘Big Impact’ rubber curing programme was developed by King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Walailak University, and iTAP working together, and has also received the support of the Nakorn Sri Thammarat Provincial Industrial Office; and the ‘Big Impact’ poultry programme was developed by King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) and iTAP working together, and has also received the support of B. International & Technology Co., Ltd. from the private sector. “These are good examples of how a state research and development agency like NSTDA, can work collaboratively with academic institutions to leverage expertise anywhere it can be found, as well as harness the resources of the private sector to generate outputs that are directly relevant to the needs of agriculture,” she said. Professor Chachanat said there are now 350 experts who are ready to be mobilized by iTAP to go and help SMEs around the country, and that iTAP would cover half the costs of a visiting expert up to Bht 500,000 per SME. The iTAP industrial assistance programme was established to offer technical assistance to SMEs. Interested SMEs are invited to contact 02-564 7000, extension iTAP, or www.tmc.nstda.or.th/itap. # # #
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