Ayutthaya, THAILAND – On Thursday, April 27th, 2023, the Strategic Area – Business Continuity Management (Area-BCM) workshop was organized by the SATREPS Area-BCM Project, supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in cooperation with Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. The workshop aimed to disseminate knowledge of risk and disaster management, as well as area business continuity management, to the target audience from companies. This time, professors and researchers from Chulalongkorn University and Japanese institutions organized the workshop for six companies from Rojana Industrial Park and one company from Bang Pa-In Industrial Estate, Ayutthaya. The total number of observers and participants was 19, as follows: 

• Pioneer 
• KIAC 
• H-One Part 
• Nippon Steel Thai Sumilox 
• Hane Package 
• Kikuchi Narrow fabric 
• MMC Tools Thailand 

The session started with an opening ceremony by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Natt Leelawat from the Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University. Following the photo session, the workshop sessions commenced as follows: 

The first session, Scenario-based BCM/BCP Practice, was conducted by Mr. Katsumi Kurita and Mr. Shigeo Otani of the Fujitsu Research Institute. In this session, participants worked within their respective companies according to the 14 scenarios of using infrastructure and transportation, confirming the crisis response capabilities of their own organizations. The session aimed to improve the effectiveness of their business continuity plans (BCP) and strengthen their Area-BCM system. 

Next, the second session, The Area-BCM Seminar, was presented by Ms. Kunruthai Meechang, a Ph.D. student from Nagoya Institute of Technology. This session aimed to raise awareness regarding Area-BCM and investigate and find issues, including contributing policies for regional cooperation. Participants worked in groups and discussed how they could solve problems among themselves, the other companies in the industrial park, and government sectors. Additionally, Prof. Kenji Watanabe from Nagoya Institute of Technology presented the issue of “Common Timeline” on how to set the timeline for working mutually among companies in the Industrial Park. After the group discussion, Ms. Kunruthai presented the example of initiatives of Akemi Industrial Park and Kani Industrial Park  in Japan to expand the viewpoint of Area-BCM management. 

After the Area-BCM introduction session, the last session, Area-BCM Toolkit Walkthrough, was presented by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Natt Leelawat from the Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University. The presenter demonstrated the website as a toolkit for participants to learn about business continuity management in the area level, including account customization, basic information sharing timeline, business impact analysis tools, flood monitoring, and business continuity plans as educational materials. After the session, questionnaires were conducted to help the project improve its implementation. 

The closing session was given by Prof. Kenji Watanabe, expressing gratitude to all participants for the accomplishment of the Area Business Continuity Management workshop. This workshop served as a pilot implementation for both companies in the industrial park and researchers to exchange information, share ideas and processes of risk and disaster management, and business continuity management. Hopefully, we will enhance and develop our implementation for the best in the future. 

The SATREPS DREAM (Area-BCM) Project is a joint research project between Japan and Thailand under the SENDAI framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The project aims to launch a sustainable economic growth platform through disaster resilience enhancement at Industry complexes in Thailand and input to ISO/TC292 by the year 2023.

Written by Phongnarin Sukcham

Checked by Assoc. Prof. Natt Leelawat, D.Eng