Premchai, 63, and three others have been charged with poaching after being arrested at the World Heritage Thung Yai Naresuan Sanctuary in Kanchanaburi province last week. Guns and ammunition as well as the carcasses of protected wild animals, including endangered black leopard, were found near their campsite.

The source said that Premchai’s family as well as the firm’s executives were concerned about the reaction to the episode and feared that it would have a negative impact on the company.

His family is said to have seriously considered the issue and sought the best solution both for Premchai and ITD.

They thought the only way to quell the public pressure was for Premchai to resign as ITD president in order to show that this was a personal matter and distance the company from his wrongdoing, the source added.

Since his arrest the public spotlight has been relentless both on Premchai and ITD, one of the country’s biggest construction firms and responsible for operating mega construction projects in Thailand and the Asean region.

Social media users have lobbied for a widespread boycott of ITD but the government said it was too early for them to consider blacklisting ITD from acquiring state contracts and that the issue was a personal matter.

The Thai Institute of Directors Association (IOD), a non-profit organization designed to improve directors’ professionalism and corporate governance in Thailand, has warned that the poaching allegations against Premchai could affect ITD’s scoring of corporate governance for the listed company in this year’s survey.

According to a 2017 IOD survey, Italian-Thai scored very high in corporate governance with a four-star rating.

ITD is the builder of many well-known infrastructure projects, including Suvarnabhumi Airport, the BTS Skytrain system, and multiple expressway and highway projects across the country.

In 2017 alone, ITD won several mega-infrastructure projects worth a combined Bt130 billion, including the Bt35-billion Mae Moh power plant project.

Yunyong said there was a increasing trend for the use of inkjet printers because of their low running costs and reliability, and for productivity and environmental reasons.

To increase market share, the firm will continue to launch new inkjet printers to capture three market segments: low-end and small office, mid range, and high-end. The company believes that inkjet technology will be the standard for office printing in 2020, and that inkjet printers will dominate the Thai market with a share of 78 per cent. The remaining 22 per cent will be laser printers.

He said that the total Thailand printer market in 2018 will have a value around Bt15 billon. He expected total printer shipments of about 1.3 million units, with a 70-80 per cent share for inkjets and the remaining 20-30 per cent for laser printers.

Epson’s market share for inkjet printers was about 46 per cent last year.

In the laser projector market, he said, the firm offers equipment with reliability and durability, high image quality and flexibility, with 360 rotation and freely adjustable tilt.

The Epson range includes projectors for home users, education and the corporate market. Last year, the company had 46 per cent of the Thailand projector market.

Yunyong said Epson also provided robotics with cutting-edge technology, including industrial robots that could help businesses boost productivity, enhance product quality, reduce costs and improve working conditions.

“I think that robotics will be one of the engines of Thailand’s economic growth. Around 50 per cent of Thai manufacturers are considering the adoption of automation systems within 1-3 years. Meanwhile, medium-size businesses will be ready in 3-5 years,” he said.

Yanyong added that, by the end of fiscal year 2018, 60 per cent of Epson’s revenue would come from business customers and 40 per cent from consumers. Printers would account for about 80 per cent of revenue, followed by projectors (19 per cent) and robotics (1 per cent).

The company expects to gain total revenue growth in fiscal 2018 of around 7 per cent. Growth in Thailand is expected to be about 5 per cent, while revenue growth from the international market including Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Pakistan could be as high as 15 per cent.

Epson expects that, in 2020, its business in Thailand will generate 80 per cent of its business from printers, 17 per cent from projectors and 3 per cent from robotics. Toshimitsu Tanaka, managing director of Epson’s regional office in Singapore, said that its focus for 2025 would cover four product areas: inkjet printers, visual products, wearables and robotics.

He said the company’s vision was to connect people with efficient, compact and precise technologies.

“To drive its success, Epson invests US$1.4 million (Bt44.3 million) every day in research and development,” said Tanaka.

 Boonthieng Pruksakit, owner of a fruit processing factory, is an example of someone successful in a small agricultural business.

The owner of Chanthaburi Fruit Product Co, Boonthieng had struggled for many years while working to build trust with supermarkets and high-end consumers.

He started in business by growing his own fruit, then moved into the fruit processing business in 1996.

“I’m among the first to introduce freeze-dried technology for fruit processing in Thailand,” Boonthieng said with obvious pride.

His products are available at Tops, Big C, Food land, the Mall and Siam Paragon supermarkets targeting high-end consumers. Product champions include fried Durian chips and freeze-dried Durian. Orders now exceed his capacity to produce.

“I have to maintain a quality product, so it is hard to meet an increase in orders in just a short period of time,” he said. He now has about 30 product lines under both his own brands and produced for other brands.

Before succeeding with a continuously high-quality product, he failed many times and even had a non-performing loan at the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives (BAAC).

He spent great efforts to learn how to choose the proper quality fruits that would maintain their good taste when processed.

Technology that allows for fruit processing at the right price is also very important factor, he said. Fortunately, there were local manufacturers who could produce a custom machine to his required standards for his factory.

Dependent on migrant labour

Another factor is labour. Most of his labourers are migrants from Cambodia and Myanmar. The factory runs seven days a week in order to meet demand for his products, which include processed durian, mangos, bananas, jack fruit, pineapples and mangosteens.

He said Chanthaburi is an ideal location for a food processing factory because it is close to raw materials, with the eastern provinces best knows as a fruit hub.

He also imports mango from Cambodia.

The challenge is how to get best quality for the right price, otherwise it could cost his investment, he |said.

Climate change has impacted on rainfall and is causing ups and downs in the availability of fruit supplies, he said. In recent years, unexpected heavy downpours are happening outside the rainy season and threaten to damage fruit yield, as fruit trees are forced to withstand the abnormal weather cycle, he said.

Another challenge is finding a market to sell his products. It took him many years before he could find good channels for delivering his products to consumers.

And now his son is busy to creating an e-commerce platform to sell products directly to customers, he said.

The BAAC in recent years has worked to nurture small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises.

In Chanthaburi alone, there are 181 such enterprises with combined loans worth Bt193 million, said Worapas Boonmun, director of Chanthaburi’s BAAC provincial office.

Nation-wide, the number of agricultural SMEs reaches 25,281 with combined loans worth Bt31.6 billion. They come in the form of individuals, local enterprises and private companies under the BAAC network.

Atsushi Tomita, managing director of UMWS, said that the firm plans set up a business presence in Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia and Cambodia over the next three years.

The firm is also looking to expand its network in the Asean Economic Community, and Vietnam, Indonesia and India are potential markets to enter as the next stage, he said.

“Myanmar is our second largest market in Asean after Thailand because they are neighbouring countries. Sharing the growth in their mechanisation will benefit both countries,” he said.

“It is our policy and direction to set up our network under brand engagement with local people, to empower the business by which market share will follow – hopefully indouble digits.”

Tomita said the firm would officially launch in Myanmar next year, bringing its Thai product range and other products to meet local market demands. It will mainly focus on handling and lifting equipment as well as automotive garage items.

Tomita expects to face some challenges at the initial stage, given the potentially fierce competition in the Myanmar market. Yet, he seems upbeat.

“We need to fit the culture and situation of the Myanmar market and hope to ease our challenges by engaging with the right local partner. We will ensure we recruit local people to manage the market,” he said.

Tomita is proud to share the firm’s mission to be among the top three in its market segment. He has committed to reach a new milestone in Thailand before expansion to other nations.

“We aim to secure the quality of products and services. It means the right products with the right services will go up to the top three positions in any marketplace,” he said.

Established in 1947, UMWS is a public company with 59 shareholders – 57 Thais and two expatriates. It has a total of 8 million shares, with registered capital fixed at Bt300 million. Its current paid-up capital is Bt80 million.

According to Tomita, at least 10 per cent of the firm’s registered capital would be spent for its overseas expansion over the next three years.

“Depending on the demand, we will continue growing the overseas business further, hopefully to 50 per cent in the future,” he said.

He said information technology (IT) support would be the key to breaking the barriers.

“It will be an era of opportunity with IoT (the Internet of things) and AI (artificial intelligence) disrupting the industry,” he said.

Tomita also hinted about potential expansion beyond Asia Pacific.

“It would depend on what particular value we can provide to those markets. If we have the right resources and products, we will challenge,” he said.

He stressed the importance of digital engagement in the firm’s future activities.

“In the coming digital world, there is no specific finish line – the possibility for enhancement, innovation and growth is endless and continuing. As the power of digital technology continues to emerge, our market will be uniquely positioned to drive this world of digital opportunity,” he said.

“It is automatically forcing us to change our way of communication and approach with our market, and to cope with this new wave and to embrace the technology advances, we are moving to a new communication field with our new action plan.

“This digital investment is not just a story of technology, but it is a story of our economic and business growth as well.”

Tomita believes digital engagement will strongly contribute to the firm’s productivity and service quality.

The firm was de-listed from the Stock Exchange of Thailand during the financial crisis in 1997 when, according to him, the stock market did not reflect the real business value in the company’s shares.

He said it took a long time to recover business growth, as the equipment business is capital intensive.

“We have wisely managed the funds for the equipment with leasing companies to expand our rental assets. There are always pros and cons in any field, and a healthy security market would be the key to decide if we go back to a SET listing at the right time,” he said.

Jakkapan, just 24 and still completing a university degree, owns the Rama 9 Laundry Service shop on Rama 9 Road Soi 13 in Bangkok.

“My parents had been running this laundry service business for 15 years. And over that time the business had its ups and downs,” said Jakkapan, who is studying for bachelor’s degree at Ramkamhaeng University’s Faculty of Business Administration.

“I took over the business from them about four years ago after I graduated from my final year at Surasakmontree School.”

The store was providing laundry services to three-star hotel customers in the Soi Rang Nam, Pratunam and Ratchadapisek areas in Bangkok, he said.

“But at that time the washing machines and dryers we had were quite old,” Jakkapan said.

“That constraint meant we could only serve only five to six customers a day, working out at around items, which was quite low for such a business.

With the washing machines being more than 10 years old, the quality of the service suffered, he said. “That’s when we started to lose some customers, from as many as nine before to only around three to four. Most of them are small hotels.”

“It was a time for us to add new machines machine and find ways to boost our income.”

With the business showing its age and in need of a turnaround, Jakkapan said that he finally secured the Bt200,000 loan from the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives two months ago. The loan is guaranteed by the Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation.

“With the new machines, we are able to serve higher number of hotel clients,” he said.

Now, Jakkapan said, the laundry shop is serving some eight commercial customers, including a big, 100-room hotel.

“It is my priority to increase the service quality as well as increase our laundry capacity,” said Jakkapan, adding that the machine were a key factor in the enterprise’s reversal of fortunes.

Jakkapan said is on the lookout for more clients, especially in the Pratunam corridor – with its many small hotels and hostels – for the business to take advantage of proximity and offer quick and cost-efficient collection and return of orders.

“It is my dream to expand laundry service to upcountry areas as well as to potential markets in neighbouring countries such as Myanmar and Cambodia to serve small and medium-sized hotels and other accommodation providers over there. I would like to achieve this dream by the time I am 30,” he said.

Following its arrival at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, the aircraft took off for a special one-hour flight yesterday afternoon with representatives from the government, airlines, aviation authorities and members of the press on board.

The jet’s visit to Bangkok is part of a three-week demonstration tour that is bringing the A350-1000 test aircraft across the Asia-Pacific region.

The A350-1000 is Airbus’ latest and largest wide-body aircraft in the twin-aisle category. With a longer fuselage of seven metres, the A350-1000’s space in the premium cabin is 40 per cent larger than its smaller sibling the A350-900.

The A350-1000 can accommodate 366 passengers in a three-class configuration, featuring Airbus’ 18-inch-wide comfort economy class seats. It is a truly long-range aircraft with a flight range of 14,800 km at entry into service, enabling non-stop service from Bangkok to Europe or North America.

With its airspace cabin, the A350-1000 offers the latest in cabin design and technology for the best passenger experience.

Featuring a spacious and remarkably quiet cabin, the A350-1000 brings a new level of comfort and ambiance with the most modern entertainment service available in the air.

The A350-1000 is showing high level of commonality with the entire Airbus product line and, in particular, with the A350-900, sharing 95 per cent of common systems, part numbers and same type-rating.

The A350-1000 features a modified wing trailing-edge, new six-wheel main landing gears and the more powerful Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines.

As in the case of A350-900, the A350-1000 brings together the very latest in aerodynamics, design and advanced technologies for a 25 per cent change in operating cost, compared to aircraft of the previous generation

The A350-1000 being displayed, MSN065, is one of the three Airbus A350-1000 test aircraft and is equipped with a fully functional cabin (40 business class, 36 economy plus class and 219 comfort economy class seats).

The A350 XWB family has been especially successful in the Asia-Pacific region, where 14 major airlines have ordered a total of 287 aircraft, representing one third of the 854 orders recorded so far worldwide.

Carriers from the region already flying the A350-900 for their long-haul operations include Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways International and Vietnam Airlines.

Malaysian real estate conglomerate, AlloyMtd Group, led by Henry Robinson, right, development director, One Crown Place; together with Julien Mills, centre, executive director and head of international property marketing, CBRE UK; and Pornpimol Phuengkhuankhan, left, director of residential sales services, CBRE Thailand, recently hosted a press conference for the launch of “One Crown Place”, a development in the city of London by AlloyMtd Group, with CBRE acting as development manager and sales broker for the residential and commercial units.

Thai buyers will be among of the first in Asia to take advantage of the launch of residential sales of the South Tower. Located in the heart of London, One Crown Place is a major mixed-use scheme in the city’s historic Sun Street conservation area.

The first residents will move in to One Crown Place upon completion in the latter part of 2020.

Bombardier, Mahidol sign five-year MoU

Bombardier Transportation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mahidol University in Thailand to strengthen cooperation for graduate education and research in the field of rail transportation over the next five years.

Gregory Enjalbert, vice president Rail Control Solutions Asia Pacific and managing director Thailand, Bombardier Transportation, commented, “Bombardier remains fully committed to developing local talent in Thailand, as reflected in this prestigious agreement with Mahidol University.” He said with Bombardier’s 20-year presence in Bangkok, the firm have grown its team to over 500 employees working on some of the most advanced rail projects across the world.

“We place a high emphasis on deepening our academic partnerships to ensure the development of technical expertise and innovation in the industry,” he added.

The MoU with the University’s Faculty of Engineering supports a newly-established set of rail and logistics engineering post-graduate programmes and is Bombardier’s first academic partnership in Thailand to focus on this advanced level of research and education.

The agreement covers areas such as academic programmes and teaching, joint research in the areas of rail control and signalling, as well as the opportunity for internships and practical training. In Thailand, Bombardier is also developing undergraduate rail engineering education with Kasetsart University and Navamindradhiraj University’s Urban Community College of Bangkok.

Shell, Banma testing gas station of the future

Imagine a gas station that can automatically detect when a driver arrives, and the entire process—from selecting fuel types to payment—can be done with just a few taps on the car’s touchscreen display. No cash, credit cards or smartphones necessary.

A Shell station in Beijing is testing out that technology, through a joint venture between Alibaba Group and SAIC Motor Corp, called Banma Network Technology.

Banma said it will launch the first “smart gas station” in China’s capital within the first half of this year, before expanding the model to other Chinese cities.

Leveraging its cloud computing technology, Alibaba’s operating system for IoT devices AliOS uses geo-fencing algorithms to sense when a car pulls into a designated spot alongside the pumps, and automatically triggers the system.

The monitor then lets consumers pick fuel types, select the amount of gas they need, letting them choose to pay via Alipay or their Shell membership accounts.

Consumers can even buy snacks and other items from the station’s grocery store, and have the staff bring purchased items to the car.

The new model can cut the average 10-15 minutes spent at gas stations by up to 50 per cent, according to Shell.

Nissan hones employees’ skills

Nissan’s annual “Nissan Skills Contest” saw winners from across the country representing sales, services and technicians.

“This is the eighth consecutive year Nissan has held its Skills Contest, which started with just a few categories, but over the years has grown to today’s 11 categories,” said Nissan Motor (Thailand) president Antoine Barthes.

Some 1,400 staff from dealerships countrywide participated at the Nissan Education and Training Centre in Bangkok.

The contest is designed to help sales consultants, service advisers, CROs and technicians reach their utmost capabilities and polish their skills.

“This contest is just one of the many ways Nissan Motor Thailand continues to invest in customer care,” Barthes said.

Citibank, THAI promote ‘travel together’

Citibank Credit Card and Thai Airways International Pcl(THAI) jointly presented a special promotion for Valentine’s Day. Kitima Luengsitong, Vice President, head of co-brand partnership credit cards and loans, Citibank Thailand, Korakot Chatasingha, Director for Thailand Regional Department, THAI, Palawee Bunnag and her daughter “Wayla” ThawsaengIssarahave joined announced the promotion titled “Happy in Love”, inviting travelers to fly together as a couple with special-priced tickets from THAI during the month of love.

This special promotion covers popular routes such as Hong Kong, Japan, Moscow, London and Paris, starting from Bt4,900 per person. Citibank cardmembers will enjoy double privileges: up to Bt5,500 baht cash back, a free iFree SIM Card for three- days global data usage, valued at Bt350 when purchasing tickets via Citibank credit card on http://www.thaiairways.com from Bt20,000.

Citi Royal Orchid Plus cardmembers will enjoy a 25 per cent discount when using Citi Reward points in the same amount as the purchase, or redeem 4,000 points for Bt1,000 cash back.

The promotion is valid from now until February 28 with June as the last month of travel period. For more information, visit http://www.facebook.com/CitiThailand.

The event is held with the theme of “wealth transformation” and visitors will get to enjoy special financing and investment promotions from major banks, finance companies, government agencies and private companies, said organisers in a Friday press release..

They include interest-free loans and high-interest savings offers.

Surat Leelataviwat, KBank executive vice president, said KBank, business partners and 50 leading franchises are joining forces under the “Value for Money and Completeness with Full Solutions for Franchises” concept.

Aside from franchise loans at a special rate, the exhibition will feature booths offering premises for immediate rent and seminars providing business knowledge and advisory services by leading gurus.

The exhibition is aimed at supporting those interested in investing and expanding franchise businesses.