Transforming Businesses in the “Thailand 4.0” Era

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“Thailand 4.0” envisions the country as an advanced economy driven by science and technology, which has spurred the ongoing transformation of the country’s key industries. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in the Thai economy, comprising 99.7% of Thai businesses[1]. The “Transforming Businesses” industry track recognises the importance of Thai SMEs in the country’s “Thailand 4.0” goals and the increasing need to transform and upgrade their capabilities to compete globally. We bring you some key takeaways from Dassault Systèmes’ technical experts and guest speakers at the “Transforming Businesses” industry breakout track from the 3DEXPERIENCE Forum Asia Pacific South 2019 in Thailand.

 

Skills of the Next Generation Workforce

Eric Chow, Dassault Systèmes Academia Lead for Asia Pacific South

  • People is at the heart of successful business transformation. For businesses to thrive in the “Thailand 4.0” era, they require a workforce not just with technical expertise to harness digital technologies effectively, but the ability to innovate, create and manage new solutions.
  • As automation technologies become more accessible for SMEs, repetitive tasks in production are being increasingly automated to fulfil time-to-market demands amid fast rising competition. The skills of the current workforce of SMEs needs to evolve away from execution of linear production workflows to management of complex new work plans focused on delivering customer value.
  • In training the current workforce and recruiting the future workforce, businesses need to focus on skills that artificial intelligence and automation cannot replicate. According the World Economic Forum’s “The Future of Jobs” 2018 report[2], the top three skills of future industry will be complex problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity.

 

Accelerating SMEs with 3DEXPERIENCE.WORKS

Steven Chiu, Dassault Systèmes’ Professional Solutions Sales Manager, Asia Pacific South

  • Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE.WORKS offers SMEs a full, comprehensive suite of solutions to execute enterprise-wide digitalization that will accelerate them into the Industry Renaissance.
  • By integrating these solution suites in a single digital environment on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, SMEs are empowered with scalability, able to grow their business and scale up production with new digitalisation capabilities without needing to integrate third-party software.
  • For more information on 3DEXPERIENCE.WORKS, go to https://www.3ds.com/press-releases/single/dassault-systemes-introduces-3dexperienceworks/.

 

3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace to bring designs to production quickly

  • Successful product design, engineering and prototyping are critically dependent on finding the right commercial components and selection of trusted manufacturers.
  • Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace is an online e-commerce platform aimed at providing businesses with on-demand manufacturing and intelligent part sourcing capabilities. It helps to connect designers and engineers with manufacturing service providers worldwide, streamlining design-to-production collaboration and increasing productivity.
  • The 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace provides two services: Make and PartSupply:
    • Marketplace Make gets parts made by leading digital manufacturers online worldwide across all manufacturing processes: 3D Printing, CNC Machining, Injection Moulding, Sheet Metal and more.
    • Marketplace PartSupply is a comprehensive and intelligent online 3D components catalog. With over 600 suppliers, all of which are trusted and recognized experts in their domains, it places over 30 million parts at the fingertips of every SOLIDWORKS user worldwide.
  • The 3DEXPERIENCE Marketplace is therefore a win-win for Thai businesses as it enables designers and engineers to get fast quotes from a global network to bring designs to production quickly.

 

Transforming for global automotive industry challenges

Antoine GONSE, Dassault Systèmes’ Industry Sales Director T&M Industry

  • The automotive industry is going through major shifts due to the emergence of shared mobility, connected cars, autonomous driving and electric vehicles (EVs). These shifts are affecting the entire automotive ecosystem, from OEMs and suppliers to customers and other stakeholders.
  • Customers are demanding more functionalities from their vehicles than ever before, from smart technologies to autonomous capabilities. Consumers in many countries are also moving towards shared mobility, rather than ownership, pushing manufacturers to develop more than just functional cars, but a service experience on wheels.
  • Other global concerns such as climate change have led to increasingly tighter government regulations on emissions and a push towards the adoption of EVs.
  • In view of these industry changes, automotive manufacturers are facing three main challenges:
    • Slowing growth due to market maturity, putting the traditional supplier business model at stake;
    • Growing demand for EVs, which necessitates investment in new technologies;
    • The emergence of software competency as a key differentiator in a competitive market.
  • These challenges are driving transformation in automotive manufacturers in the following ways:
    • Diversifying by moving away from a hardware-only business to integrate more software enabled-products in their cars to improve their competitive advantage, through new partnerships with high-tech firms.
    • Continuously optimize and extend their product development process through digitalization to become more efficient and make better margins.
    • To become more value-driven by focusing of the customer’s experience, by transforming engineering capabilities and utilize 3D virtual design and simulation in product development.
    • Improve manufacturing capabilities by optimizing current plants through the use of a virtual factory to validate production lines and implement lean manufacturing practices for zero-waste.

 

Customer Showcase: JFOX Aircraft

Jettanakorn Pengsiri, founder of JFOX Aircraft

JFOX Aircraft is a Thai manufacturer of aircraft kits for aviation hobbyists and supplier of components, parts and services for aviation industry, aerospace industry, and defence industry.

At the industry track, Jettanakorn Pengsiri, founder of JFOX Aircraft, spoke about how digitalization transformed the company’s design-to-manufacture process:

  • Inspired by electric-powered vehicle technology, JFOX Aircraft envisioned the creation of an environmentally-friendly, high-performance electric aircraft with lower operating costs and lower noise pollution – the JFOX JX-200E-RG Sport Thunder electric aircraft.
  • To keep development costs low, the JFOX team embarked on complete end-to-end digitalization of the product development process, utilizing SOLIDWORKS.
  • SOLIDWORKS’ agile 3D design and simulation tools were crucial in developing various conceptual 3D designs of the aircraft, and simulating the performance of different aerodynamic designs to test and analyze the aerodynamic properties and performance of the 3D model.
  • 3D printing was utilized to produce accurate prototypes of the aircraft components after CFD (computational fluid dynamics) analysis by SOLIDWORKS flow simulation at the Design Clinic of Kasetsart University’s Aerospace Engineering department lab. The entire process helped to reduce aircraft development time by more than 60 percent, and the integration of SOLIDWORKS’ modelling software with 3D printing also meant more precise and accurate prototypes.

 

Customer Showcase: Leon Group

Pansa Pisaipan, Managing Director of Leon Group

Leon Group is a leading distributor of branded motorcycles in Thailand, such as Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Benelli, and provider of customized components, parts and accessories for motorcycles.

At the industry track, Pansa Pisaipan, Managing Director of Leon Group, spoke about how digitalization enabled them to enhance their customers’ experience and secure their leadership position:

  • Leon Group utilizes SOLIDWORKS in the product design and development of its best-selling range of mud/splash guards to stop mud, water and gravel from causing damage to motorcycle engines and enhance the safety of motorcycles.
  • The 3D design of the mud/splash guards are simulated in SOLIDWORKS to test their vibration and endurance performance on Thailand’s highways and mountain roads during different weather conditions, especially monsoons which can cause roads to be waterlogged, muddy and slippery.
  • SOLIDWORKS is also utilized to virtually test the performance, strength and durability of the mud/splash guards designs with different materials, such as high quality steel, proprietary blends of plastic and Kevlar, in these different road conditions. Virtual testing is correlated with physical testing results to ensure accuracy and reliability.
  • The result is the development of Leon Group’s Esatto Mud/Splash Guard product that can even withstand being run over by an aircraft that weighs more than 600 tons.

[1] “Mobilising SMEs towards Thailand 4.0”, The Nation, August 28, 2018.

[2] “Future of Jobs 2018 report”, World Economic Forum – http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2018.pdf

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Magdalene Tan

Asia Pacific South Content Manager at Dassault Systèmes
Manages digital content across channels, countries and industries.

@scribestudios