As part of the partnership, Rockwell Automation will make a $1 billion equity investment in PTC, and Rockwell Automation’s Chairman and CEO, Blake Moret, will join PTC’s board of directors, effective with the closing of the equity transaction.

The partnership leverages both companies’ resources, technologies, industry expertise, and market presence, and will include technical collaboration across the organisations as well as joint global go-to-market initiatives.

    Under the CLM Trade Insurance facility, Thai SME exporters can take the protection type of their choice at the expense pre-determined by them with insurance premium starting from Bt3,300 per insurance policy and maximum coverage of 90 per cent of loss amount.

The group, announcing the project alongside two other ventures yesterday, said it is working with Japanese advertising agency Hakuhodo and media operator The Asahi Shimbun Group for the launch of the magazine, called Mikke. The publication will be produced by Saha Pattana Inter Holding Plc.

The free bi-monthly magazine will feature content on science, technology and the environment. The company will also embark on the Bellmark Activity with the two Japanese companies to strengthen the education in Thailand by providing learning materials for participating schools. Both of these projects will be under the Bellmark Activity and Mikke Project collaboration agreement, Saha Group’s chairman Boonsithi Chokwatana said after opening the 22nd Saha Group fair at BITEC Bangna yesterday.

Saha Pattana Inter Holding Plc also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a Komehyo store in Thailand with Komehyo, Japan’s biggest second-hand brand name retailer. The MoU will enable the Saha Group to operate a second-hand brand name retailing business in Thailand under the Komehyo name.

Also announced yesterday was that the group’s Pens Marketing and Distribution Co Ltd has entered into an agreement to become an authorised retailer of Dao’s three-in-one instant coffee, instant coffee power, weight-loss coffee and dried fruit products in Thailand. The agreement is with Dao Huang Group Ltd, the biggest coffee manufacturer in Laos. Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said after opening the fair yesterday that the event will help consumers to cut their cost of living at a time when the country’s economy is recovering.

The Commerce Ministry has been making investigations into rising prices for some consumer products, as the ministry says it does not want higher prices for goods to cut into consumers’ spending power.

Boonsithi said yesterday that the group’s policy is to maintain the prices of its products, despite the company having incurred higher costs as a result of higher energy prices. The group has gathered quality products to fill 1,000 booths for sale at attractive prices in a bid to reduce consumers’ financial burden at the Saha Group fair, Boonsithi said The event, which opened yesterday, will continue until July 1, at halls 98–100 at BITEC. The hours are from 10am to 8pm.

This year’s Saha Group fair has seen collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce in providing support for the grassroots economy by inviting operators of more than 20,000 Blue Flag stores to visit a model store at the fair. The Blue Flag stores are an initiative under the government’s Pracha Rat Project. At the model store, the visitors can learn about store management, product placement and innovative transactions. Experts have been invited to provide training to these store operators on professional store management.

In addition, there is an exhibition on the Saha Group’s contributions to the Pracha Rat Project, which is part of the government’s national development policy. The group’s projects contribute to the development of the country’s economy, society, education, culture, health, and the environment.

The event also provides seminars on human resource trends, e-commerce, Big Data, the cashless society, personality for success, meditation, and the hiring of 1,500 vacancies across 100 job profiles, the company said.

The group is boasting 1,000 booths offering bargains with free shipping.

There will be electronic payment options, like QR code and Rabbit Card payments.

Highlights include the BNK48 mini-concert, fashion shows, contests and seminars and the Saha Group is recruiting staff.

The group’s Pracharat Project and Blue-Flag stores operators have been invited to visit the model store at the fair to learn about professional store management and undergo training. They will also receive a Bt2,000 discount when purchasing products at the fair, said group chairman Boonsithi Chokwatana.

The event will run from today (Thursday) until July 1 from 10am to 8pm at halls 98–100.

The group has collaborated with the Ministry of Commerce and invited the operators of over 20,000 Blue-Flag stores to boost skills.

There will be sales of hand-sewn cloth bags from the Sewing Creates Jobs Project, the proceeds of which will be donated to the Phra Dabos Foundation and Lion Oral Health Promotion and Prevention.

There is also a workshop decorating hats for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy by the Pracharat Community Coalition for the Fight against Breast Cancer.

It has collaborated with Starbucks to tailor special menus, including a trio chocolate fudge cake with marshmallow topped with chocolate crumble, strawberry cheesecake verrine and mango coconut sago.

The dishes are available on Smile Plus and Smile Class flights from July 7-13.

A barista from Starbucks will serve Muan Jai coffee on Smile PLUS flights. Get more information on www.facebook.com/thaismileairways.

Suebpong Smithtan, project director of NCC Exhibition Organiser Co Ltd, said the July 12-14 event at Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Bitec), Bangna, was expected to attract more than 5,000 visitors.

As Thai society ages, the event aims to promote health, medicine, medical equipment and services.

The event also aims to establish Thailand as a regional hub for elderly care.

The company is aiming to create an agency of the digital age and enhance the efficiency of the sales force and the customer experience.

Virong Patanakumjorn, Chief Agency Officer, also vowed to move forward with key strategies to achieve first-year premiums of Bt2 billion through the agency channel by the end of the year and maintain its leadership in digital marketing and life- and health-protection insurance policies.

Virong said the company was aiming got “infinite growth” through three main approaches:

• Professional Agency: The company is focused on recruiting new agents with emphasis on quality, effectiveness and continuation to create a new team with unique personality, the Allianz Ayudhya style.

This shall be accomplished through the company’s training process. The company’s Blue Star Academy is recruiting full-time agents from the next generation. It offers a plan for earning money during the first period of their career. There is also an upscaling programme called Step Up for agents who have a clear and disciplined goal to be more motivated to create more value to their jobs so they can advance alongside with the growth of the company.

• Digital Agency. “We encourage our agents to emphasise the use of digital tools for performance enhancement. In particular, we see increased use of the Allianz Discover application with its Expert Underwriting System,” Virong said.

“The insurance policy can be approved at the point of sale from three business days to approximately five minutes for those with standard health and the payment completed. This tool has helped the customer to get quicker results and helps the agent work faster.”

In addition, the Social Media for Sales programme is an innovation that Allianz Ayudhya was the first to use to help salespeople communicate and build relationships with their customers online. It is also a tool to help recruit new agents into the business.

The pilot programme began in mid-2014 with only 22 salespeople taking part. Now, there are 1,375 salespeople involved.

• Health & Wealth Protection products. “We have products that meet every need of our customers,” Virong said. “Our agents can choose products to meet the needs of the customers for every rhythm of their lives. This has helped them offer sales effectively.

“Recently we launched ‘My First Class @BDMS’ to underscore our leadership in life- and health-protection insurance products while expanding the customer base to cover a group with high purchasing power and to meet the demand for superior medical services covering all medical treatment. It also focuses on holistic health care for clients, where it will not play a role of an insurance company that just pays medical bills.”

Company director Ausana Mahagitsiri said PH Capital has set a strategic plan to open 100 new branches of Pizza Hut restaurants across the country with an investment budget of about Bt1 billion.

PH Capital is a joint venture between Thoresen Thai Agencies (TTA) (70 per cent) and PM Capital (30 per cent), a company run by the Mahagitsiri family with experience in the management of global food and beverage brands.

The company acquired the franchise rights for Pizza Hut from Yum Brand Inc, which manages the brand franchise in Asia, and began operating all of the 92 Pizza Hut restaurants under the supervision of Pizza Hut in the second quarter of last year.

TTA is negotiating with Yum Brand Inc, which also manages Taco Bell franchises in Asia, to bring Taco Bell restaurants to Thailand. If the negotiations succeed, TTA will set up a new subsidiary to acquire the franchise rights and operate Taco Bell restaurants in the Kingdom.

“We are committed to continuously expanding the number of Pizza Hut restaurants in Thailand to cater to the increasing demands of consumers in Bangkok, the city’s outskirts and upcountry,” said Ausana. “We will this year open about 20 new Pizza Hut restaurants in the Kingdom, of which 13 have already been opened this year. We expect the total number of Pizza Hut restaurants to reach 128 totally by the end of this year.”

Ausana said that Pizza Hut’s new marketing strategy will focus on more new generation and premium customers. With what Ausana called “non-stop innovation, online marketing approach, fast delivery and continuous store expansion in surrounding cities and provinces”, Pizza Hut will be able to seek bigger slice of market share “and step up to become the most loved and fastest growing restaurant brand” in Thailand.

“The introduction of the new marketing strategy ‘Pizza Hut 4.0 Innovation & Digital Experience’ aims to emphasise Pizza Hut’s non-stop innovative product development to meet customers’ demand,” Ausana said. “In addition, Pizza Hut will increase effectiveness of its online marketing and fast delivery system to make it easier for customers to get a better pizza whether in-store, at home or anywhere at all. The loyalty programme is another important benefit to encourage customers to taste our new innovative products. Above all, Pizza Hut will continue to open news stores to provide new experiences to Thai customers nationwide.

“Pizza Hut has been at the forefront of innovation in the restaurant industry since it began operations 60 years ago. The company was the first pizza restaurant to introduce Pan Pizza and Stuffed Crust Pizza, which later became a popular menu item.

Pizza Hut was also the trendsetter in technology, especially being the first restaurant in the world in introducing online orders.”

Ausana said: “Pizza Hut Thailand realises the importance of digital marketing to increase brand awareness and online sales. Pizza Hut’s official Line account was launched this year to help manage relationship with customers and to design tailor-made sales promotional campaign in line with individual demand. Pizza Hut Thailand’s new website will also better serve more volume of online ordering.”

Ausana said the new website has many features that reduce ordering steps and will be compatible with new technology in the future.

Chalermchai Mahagitsiri, TTA president and chief executive officer, said that Pizza Hut’s business has grown at a satisfactory level since PH Capital began operating the franchise.

“For TTA as a holding company that invests in a wide range of businesses to achieve diversification, we see food businesses as a fast-growing, low-volatility business,” said Chalermchai. “We decided to finance PH Capital’s plan to grow the Pizza Hut business in Thailand, which is set to open 100 new branches in the Kingdom by 2020 with the investment budget of Bt1 billion.”

The creation of the new research subsidiary, Malee Applied Science Co Ltd (MAS), was officially marked yesterday. Seven researchers are engaged in developing HVA products that will help ensure sustainability for farmers while enhancing the group’s overall competitiveness.

Roongchat Boonyarat, chief executive officer of Malee Group Plc, said that the group would allocate a research budget of about Bt30 million a year to MAS. The research subsidiary would be at work over the next three to four years before it generates any significant return to the group commercially.

“It will take between three and four years for each advance in research for high-value-added products will have any result,” said Roongchat,

“MAS will primary position itself as a cost centre. However, it will become a significant profit centre in the next three to four years.”

She said that MAS will develop HVA agricultural products that generate sustainable income for farmers while ensuring stable supply chain sourcing for greater competitiveness and growth. These two elements are essential in moving Malee forward in its mission to become a “health-driven global F&B firm”, Roongchat said.

“MAS is considered Malee Group’s CSR-in-process operation and follows the approach that Malee has been taking for over 40 years, which is to think of others first so that we can grow together. This is an important foundation for our concept of Growing Well Together with four major stakeholders—consumers, the Malee family, the environment, and farmers,” she said.

Supakeat Kambutong, managing director of Malee Applied Science Co Ltd (MAS), said that Malee Group’s “secret weapon” for research and development to support MAS’ mission is four clusters: 1) Cluster H (health and life-science products) for developing products based on advancements in life sciences for better health and well-being; 2) Cluster E (environment and energy) for creating value-added raw materials and optimising their full use with zero waste, which enhances energy efficiency and environmental sustainability; 3) Cluster V (visionary sciences and advanced materials) for developing smart and light substances from agricultural raw materials that can be used as alternative materials; and 4) Cluster I (Internet of Things and services) to communicate and connect all over the world using digital tools in daily life, creating useful data and enabling a smart research facility.

Malee Group yesterday also launched Vintico, a 100-per cent natural coconut vinegar, which is the first product developed by MAS to enter the market. MAS uses the latest technology to better manage agricultural raw materials, such as excess coconut water required for ready-to-drink coconut water production due to an insufficient growing or ripening period, or an undesirable level of sweetness that may affect the taste.

“Going forward, you will see Malee Group diversify our portfolio from producing and distributing canned fruit and fruit juices into other lines of business,” said Roongchat.

“We will also continue to create innovations that meet consumer demands under our ‘Go Health and Wellness’ strategy. By researching and developing innovative breakthroughs, MAS will add and optimise value for agricultural products and ensure greater sustainability for farmers.

“Following the Vintico launch, Malee Group will continue to introduce a wide range of innovative products that will help us to become a health-driven global F&B firm.”