A virtual MOU signing ceremony was held between NSTDA and SIASUN Automation (Singapore) on 10 February 2021 to officiate a partnership aiming to apply automation, robotics & intelligent system to facilitate Industry 4.0 transformation. The MOU was signed by Ms. Toh Guat Lan, Deputy CEO of SIASUN Automation (Singapore) and Dr. Janekrishna Kanatharana, NSTDA Executive Vice President and Director of Eastern Economic Corridor of Innovation (EECi). Joining the celebration were Mr. Zhao Chen, CEO of SIASUN Automation (Singapore); Dr. Chai Wutiwiwatchai, NECTEC Executive Director; Dr. Panita Pongpaibool, NECTEC Deputy Executive Director; Dr. Kanit Sangsubhan, Secretary General of Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) and Ms. Salinee Phonprapai, East Asia 1 Division Director of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Last year, the cabinet approved 5.4 billion THB budget to establish Sustainable Manufacturing Center (SMC) at EECi. SMC is expected to be a state-of-the-art research and demonstration center of automation, robotics and intelligent system to support Thai manufacturers to transition into Industry 4.0. SMC will serve as a platform bringing together manufacturers, system integrators, innovators, researchers and students to collaborate through available tools and facilities such as Industry 4.0 Assessment Tools, Learning Station/Line and testbed/sandbox.
Under this partnership, SMC and SIASUN - a leading Chinese enterprise specializing in robotics and intelligent system – will set up SMC-SIASUN Innovation Center at EECi to create a complete ecosystem to translate research to commercialization and tailor some advanced technologies to fit with the conditions of Thai industry.
SMC recently launched Industrial IoT and Data Analytics Platform (IDA Platform)- applying IoT and data analytics to optimize decision-making, enable intelligent operations and improve operational and energy efficiency. 15 factories have been selected to participate in the pilot project to test the equipment and system. The project will be expanded to cover 500 factories over a 3-year period.