Greening Supply Chains in the Thai Auto and Automotive Parts Industries

CONTEXT

Beside food and tourism, the automotive is among the most significant sector in Thailand. After China it became the largest exporter in the ASEAN region. Thai automotive supply industry is very diversified and involves over 160 fields of production e.g. plastic, rubber and electronics.

A large number of automotive parts industry suppliers (tier 2 and 3) in Thailand are still facing outdated prodcution processes which has an impact on the environment. Therefore, Green Supply Chain Management (SCM) shall aim at the evaluation and optimization of these processes to improve their environmental performances.

As part of the SWITCH Asia programme funded by the European Union (EU), this project commenced in February 2012 for a duration of 36 months.

The project is co-financed by the EU. Responsible for the project implementation are: German International Cooperation (GIZ), Thai Automotive Institute (TAI), The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), Thai SME Bank and the Center for Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP).

OBJECTIVES AND APPROACHES

The Overall Objective of the action is to improve sustainable production of SMEs in the Thai auto and automotive parts supply chains, with the following Specific Objectives:

1. To improve productivity and environmental performance of Thai auto and automotive parts production.
1.1. Productivity and quality of products of at least 250 SMEs have increased, while environmental impacts per production unit have been reduced.
1.2. Number of SMEs complying with international environmental regulations has increased.

2. To enhance networks, business and financial services for greening of the Thai auto and automotive parts industry.
2.1. New financial packages for SMEs to invest in improvement measures are widely used in the market.
2.2. Alliances and networks for greening the supply chain of Thai automotive industry have improved.

3. To disseminate good practices and promote the development and implementation of related policy and economic instruments.

3.1. Good practices and related policies have been promoted.