A Day in the Life of our Colleague
Name: Somsak Garnjanakarn
Designation: General Manager, Account Development Centre / Communication Director, Lumada Center Southeast Asia
Company: Hitachi Asia (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
Understand you are currently holding dual roles as General Manager and Communication Director. Can you share with us a little about what you do in Hitachi?
As part of the newly set up Account Development Center in Hitachi Asia (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (HAS-TH), or commonly known as business development, the core of what I do is to develop key customers, especially the conglomerates in Thailand like the TCC Group, CP Group, Siam Cement Group, and Amata Group. I also maintain regular relations with the Thai government officials and visit the ministers’ offices to further enforce Hitachi’s solutions and presence in the country.
The other hat that I wear in HAS-TH as the Communication Director for the newly built Lumada Center in Chonburi, Thailand sees me working together with Mr. Akihiro Ohashi, Executive Director, and Mr. Hideyuki Takahashi, General Manager of the Smart Manufacturing and IoT Business Center. These two gentlemen take care of the overall operational aspects of the Lumada Center, while I act as the business channel and marketing evangelist to local customers for the Lumada Center.
The Lumada Center in Thailand officially opened in September 2018, what are some of the things we can expect from the Lumada Center?
This Lumada Center is the first in Southeast Asia and in the world. Clients will witness real-life demos and showcase of Hitachi’s solutions (software) and products (hardware) at the center. Using Lumada as a platform, clients will now see the integration of the software and how intelligent and highly customisable the whole process can be as we co-create solutions with them. I believe this will greatly help our clients and potential customers have a better understanding of how Hitachi can help grow the Thailand economy.
With the Lumada Center also comes NEXPERIENCE, where we hope to develop new businesses while visualising insights from multiple perspectives through workshops with customers, or collaborative creation.
As you know, Hitachi signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Office to apply Hitachi’s social innovation business solutions in the new economic zone. To date, EEC is the Thai government’s biggest project.
And currently, Thailand’s economy focuses heavily on manufacturing which is labour-intensive. Using Lumada, we will be able to introduce more automation and transform data into intelligent action such as process, inventory management and quality control so that our factories become smarter.
Which is why in the first year of the Lumada Center opening, the focus will be on the manufacturing sector. Upgrading the manufacturing sector is one way to help a country’s next stage of growth. Smart factories would mean lower production costs and higher manufacturing efficiency, which translates to higher productivity rates.
For this reason, Hitachi Metals (Thailand) Ltd. - Chonburi Factory was chosen to be the Lumada Center’s smart factory showcase.
Furthermore, if the Thai government collaborates with Hitachi for Big Data Analysis, making sense of those data means that Hitachi will provide solutions to help solve societal issues. Imagine the unlimited potential from Lumada!
What are you personally hoping to see the Lumada Center bring to or help the Thai society?
In my opinion, Hitachi has many untapped opportunities with the Thai government. While still amidst discussion, we may have the opportunity to work with the Thailand Post or even the Ministry of Agriculture. Exciting times are ahead!
Personally, I hope the Lumada Center will help the Thai people understand more of Hitachi’s capabilities in terms of ICT and IoT, and that Hitachi is more than just a home appliances manufacturer.
There is also the potential of the Lumada Center collaborating with Universities where we can help to foster data scientists and engineers who may get to work together for the good of the society. The Lumada Center has opened many possibilities so who knows what the next evolution would be?
