Speaking to a group of Asean journalists invited to visit its brilliant factory in Vietnam’s Hai Phong last week, Wouter Van Wersch of GE Asia Pacific said the firm’s regional expansion would mainly focus on “optimising” the 23 existing factories in the region rather than establishing new plants.

The regional market is very important to the multinational GE and they are watching it closely, he said. The company is present across all countries in the region and has a steady gaze on optimising its supply chain.

“With constant efforts to see how we can do more and better in the region, this [optimisation] is something that GE is looking at, from the global supply chain perspective.”

The factory in Hai Phong serves as a good example of the firm’s innovations, said the chief executive, pointing to its “brilliant factory” concepts that showcase advanced manufacturing technologies and digital efficiency. As one of GE’s five brilliant factories in the world, the site now exceeds 1,000 employees, half of the firm’s total headcount in Vietnam. To date, the factory has produced more than 6,000 units of generator systems and reached more than US$1 billion (Bt32 billion) in annual exports.

At a “brilliant factory” GE uses the latest technologies to consistently optimise it operations in real time. All staff are trained to collect and analyse data using advanced software and analytics, with better sensors and control systems helping in the collection and analysis process. The approach gives staff a deeper understanding of the factory’s operations, allowing them to easily respond in real time when something is not right.

Van Wersch takes pride in the success story of GE Hai Phong. The factory mainly produces renewable energy machinery and components to export wind-turbine generators and electrical control systems around the world. The facility has plans to expand its workforce to above 1,500 employees in response to the growing demand for renewable energy.

“The market requires it, so we could grow further,” said Van Wersch. “It is always a question of supply and demand.”

The firm has two other brilliant factories in Asia – in Japan and Singapore. The former mainly focuses on healthcare, while the latter prioritises aviation.

All GE factories will be further developed in line with the brilliant factory concept in the future, he said.

“On the brilliant factories front, it is definitely a push we have. We will ultimately make all our factories brilliant. This requires some investment, so we will do it gradually over time. Definitely, all the factories we have will ultimately be brilliant,” he said.

He pledged to be more responsive to the market and do better in terms of efficiency and performance. In this respect, the assessment for optimisation will be undertaken business by business, product by product.

The team fully gets tangible benefits from its use of 3D printing, he said. “We have a dedicated team in every business, and are looking at how we can do more using 3D printing. People are used to working in certain ways, and making changes is always something that we have to do. Honestly, I do not see any issue inside GE on how to leverage this technology in Asia and other parts of the world,” he said.

Van Wersch sees a very promising future in the energy sector in Asean, where around 65 million people still lack access to electricity. He sees renewable energy as a good solution for the long term but there is still a huge demand for fossil fuels and gas turbines, and even coal in some Asian countries including Vietnam and Indonesia.

“We have a very positive outlook ahead. A lot of power plants need to be upgraded to be able to generate more electricity and less emissions. That is going to be a driving force in the electricity market in Asean over the next few years,” he said.

“It is important to bring the best and most efficient technology with reliable suppliers – and GE always does it. We have been part of the region’s development for more than 100 years, and are continuing to be a key player in the world.”

Olivier Fontan, vice president for global supply chain at GE Renewable Energy, considers sourcing an advantage of doing business in Vietnam.

“Sourcing is a big part of our footprint. We will continue to diversify our supply footprint, and this part of the world is really a good place to source for the region and globally,” he said.

According to Fontan, the availability of skilled resources, logistics, and supply in the ecosystem are as important as political stability, incentives and labour advantages. He saw training employees and structuring conceptual designs as the major challenges that faced the transformation of the plant in Hai Phong, and those challenges were successfully addressed.

Trang Vu, the factory general manager, stressed the importance of four main pillars – lean manufacturing, digital maturity, advanced manufacturing and innovative technology.

Productivity will be boosted up to 20 per cent by optimising its manufacturing processes at the factory, she said.

“We have very strong targets in terms of product and service quality, implementing advanced manufacturing technologies and a sustainable improvement culture. We create jobs for locals – only one of our 1,000+ employees is an expatriate,” she said.

Although many consumers in the “Marketing 5.0” era lead an always-connected lifestyle, offline channels are still necessary, especially for |the auto buying journey, Pairote Cheunkrut, head of Krungsri Auto Group, told a press conference last week.

He shared some digital insights that says will help brands win the heart of car buyers and shape the auto finance industry in the 5.0 era.

Consumers may use online platforms to search for vehicle or loan information, reading reviews and comparing prices, Pairote began. But those consumers also visit dealerships for test drives and talk to financial advisors before submitting documents, he continued.

Thus, auto finance services must be available both online and offline, and all customer data must be synchronised across all channels, Pairote said.

“This will allow lenders to deliver a truly seamless customer experience.”

He said consumers in the age of Marketing 5.0 are more empowered than ever because they can access a plethora of information from anywhere at any time. And sometimes make purchase decisions even before seeing the physical products.

Thus, it is crucial that auto finance services are present in the online world, while lenders must be able to offer customers relevant advice that will empower them to make the right choices, he added.

To win over the hearts of consumers, auto finance providers need to foster meaningful relationships with the target audiences even before they consider buying a car. They must strengthen brand recognition to ensure it enjoys a top-of-mind position, he said.

He said traditional segmentation criteria can no longer tap into customers’ true identities because consumers often have more than one ambition in life.

Auto finance brands face two key questions they need to answer – where to look for data that will enable them to truly get to know their customers, and how to use the information to develop products or services that can respond to today’s multidimensional lifestyles, he added.

“We believe the auto-loan market will grow if we respond well to the [digital] insights. We have to get to know well our customers’ needs and lifestyles, so that we can design or develop a new business model to effectively meet those needs and lifestyles” Pairote stressed.

“As a market shaper, we will focus on agility and a digital approach, following the digital insights as our road map to win customers’ hearts,” he added.

The company set this year’s new-loan growth target at Bt198.6 billion or a 20 per cent gain year on year.

Of that sum, the total lending volume via online channels this year will be at least Bt1.8 billion, growing from Bt1.31 billion last year, according to Pairote.

The company also plans to introduce a variety of new digital products throughout next year to reinforce its leadership in digital marketing in the automotive finance market.

Last month it launched “Krungsri Auto PromptStart”, the first digital auto lending platform in Thailand to allow customers to check their credit appraisals via a mobile website.

The innovation has been very well-received, with over 304,000 visitors and Bt483.39 million in credit appraisals performed in the first month after its launch,” said Pairote.

According to him, the auto loan market in Thailand this year will grow beyond predictions to a total market value of Bt624 billion, gaining 12 per cent from last year.

The growth was mainly driven by outstanding new-car sales, which reached 1.02 million units for a year-on-year growth of 17 per cent.

It was the first time over the past five years that car sales topped |one million units, he added.

However, Pairote estimated that auto sales volume growth for next year would be in the single digits, in the range of 4-5 per cent, although the second eco-car phase will be launched in mid-2019 and after the rule expires ,prohibiting first-car buyers under the first-car tax rebate project from selling their vehicles for the first five years.

Currently, the company has 1.5 million active customers.

Like other industries, the auto loans sector has faced technological disruption that brought about significant changes in consumer behaviour and new business models. Brands across the industry were forced to transform the way they operate to increase their competitiveness.

At Krungsri Auto, they use data analytics and scientists to segment customers and design new services to fit the customers in each segment. They store all data on the cloud, protecting the system from crashes and allowing indefinite storage.

Technology helps us screen and grade customers and more precisely analyse the potential for paying back their auto loan, reducing the rate for non-performing car loans (NPL) to no more than 2 per cent, Pairote said.

Krungsri Auto’s NPL is in line with the market average at 1.6 per cent, he said.

“We want to drive the shift to a sustainable transport system. The system that is energy efficient, smart, safe and running on alternative fuels or electricity,” Sundell, who is in charge of Sustainability Transportation System program, added.

“The coming 5-10 years are critical to really start shifting from the use of traditional diesel engines to a new solution that is low carbon or even fossil free,” according to Scania’s press statement.

The conference has shed some light on sustainable transportation and the future of “car culture”. Sustainable transportation, for example, has evolved to take a variety of forms, encompassing anything from the transformation of fuel technology to electric vehicle (EV) to a vehicle with auto-pilot application which the artificial intelligence can drive to a destination.

The statement said following the Paris Agreement on reaching zero carbon emission on commercial transport by 2050, Scania initiated an own study of fossil-free pathways for commercial transport. Most of the technology is already available, but the road to a fossil-free society has to wait for the infrastructure. While waiting for the future to come, Scania takes every step possible to move closer to fossil-free and sustainable transport.

The Swedish commercial transport manufacturer offers the widest range of ready-to-go gas, hybrid, bioethanol, biodiesel and HVO engines that qualify Euro 6 requirements. The smart engine is economical, reduce emissions and increase performance.

“When it comes to the sustainable transportation system, we at Scania focus on two areas – sustainable transport and responsible business,” added Sundell, who talked about “Achieving Fossil Free Transportation by 2050” at the EV Tech Forum. “To generate sustainable transport, we build and deliver heavy trucks, buses and vehicles to be energy efficient. They can run on biofuels or electricity and thus, reducing pollution and increasing profitability for customers. The responsible business, on the other hand, is about Scania’s operation. We make sure that we use resources efficiently and create a positive effect on our people and the society around us. We believe that this is key to a sustainable and profitable business.”

Scania Siam has provided products and services in Thailand for 32 years, delivering trucks, buses and coaches and engines to Thai customers. More than 500 of Scania’s trucks, ranging from lightweight P Series to G Series design for long haulage to premium R Series, were sold last year. In addition to positive growth, more than 140 buses and coaches were also sold last year. With positive expanding of logistics and transportation industry in Thailand and the region, Scania will be opening its assembly plant in Thailand’s Samut Prakan province in the first quarter of 2019.

“Our next step is to bring more gas vehicles to Thailand because we see great opportunities for that. They can run both on natural gas and biogas and the engines Euro6, meaning cleaner air for Thai people,” said Erika.

Community engagement is one of Scania’s sustainability focus areas.

“We have local engagements all around the world with vocational training, education for women and re-forestation. In Thailand we have planted mangrove trees and supported the school,” added Erika.

What’s more, Scania Siam takes a step further by offering driver training and coaching to drivers. As a result, customers have been able to see tangible results in improved driver habits, a noted increase in fuel efficiency, fewer accidents on the road and an improvement in uptime.

Agatha Soh, head of marketing at Shopee Thailand, presented the cash donation of Bt120,000 to Kanchada Piriyarangsan, national director of CCF Foundation, according to its press release.

Shopee 12.12 Creative Award was launched in line with the Shopee 12.12 Birthday Sale celebrations, and featured the participation of top Thai celebrities, leading brands and industry players. From December 1 to 6, Thai users logged in the Shopee app to vote for their favourite artworks, with Shopee pledging to match every vote received with a cash contribution.

For more information, please visit https://shopee.co.th. Download the Shopee app for free via the App Store or Google Play.

Seen in the photo from left: Pabhasiri Mahatharadol, Head of corporate development at Shopee Thailand; Kanchada Piriyarangsan, National director at Community Children Foundation; Agatha Soh, Head of marketing at Shopee Thailand; and Suchaya Paleewong, Marketing manager at Shopee Thailand

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