At A Glance

Honeywell has announced the appointment of Mai Trang Thanh as president for Thailand, expanding her role as president of Honeywell Indochina including Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Thanh will relocate to Bangkok and focus on enhancing the management of all operations in country, implement a comprehensive business strategy and accelerate growth across Honeywell’s broad business portfolio in the kingdom.
Briand Greer, president of Honeywell Asean, said: “Mai Trang Thanh has shown impressive results working effectively as president of Honeywell Indochina, driving excellent business success and building Honeywell as a trustworthy partner to local government authorities and strategic customers throughout Indochina, one of Honeywell’s global high growth regions.
“I am confident she will achieve the same results in Thailand. Thanh served as the first president of Honeywell Vietnam in 2011 before taking on the Indochina portfolio, and has a solid grasp of the region’s potential and how Honeywell can implement its strategy to accelerate growth, particularly in Thailand, while executing a strongly focused regional approach.”
 Thanh brings over two decades of experience having served in numerous positions beginning in the oil and gas industry. She has been instrumental in developing an extensive network in both the public and private sectors in Vietnam and has played an important role in supporting US companies as trusted partners in establishing operations in Vietnam.
 Thanh is an expert in emerging markets and has developed considerable expertise in identifying markets with strong growth potential, business mapping and implementing long-term growth plans. She demonstrated the ability to form strategic relationships with key local players throughout Indochina and will build on Honeywell’s leadership position to further strengthen its presence in the Thai market. Thanh graduated from the National Economic University in Vietnam with a bachelor of arts degree in economics and holds an MBA from Columbia Southern University in the United States.

SCB completes investments in PayKey and IndoorAtlas

Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), through its financial technology subsidiary Digital Ventures, has completed Series B investments in PayKey, an Israel-based social payment solution provider, and IndoorAtlas, an Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS) technology provider from Finland. The investments mark a major step in furthering Digital Ventures’ mission of expanding knowledge in deep technologies, strengthening relationship with global startups and exploring new business opportunities for Siam Commercial Bank. 
Orapong Thien-Ngern, CEO of Digital Ventures, said: “The investments in PayKey and IndoorAtlas are significant strategic moves in broadening Digital Ventures’ technology footprint in key technologies such as blockchain, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and location-based technologies essential to shaping both the near and long-term future of business and financial services.
“They also grant us a toehold in the Nordics and Israel, vitally important fintech and core-tech markets for SCB. It has been our strategy from day one to identify and learn from the best and host relevant technologies and startups, wherever in the world they may be found, resulting in the development of new services and enhancement of customer experience for both SCB and its corporate customers.”
Siam Commercial Bank has expanded its investment network in fintech and innovation throughout Asia, the United States, Scandinavia and Israel.

Shell awards educational grants to graduate students

Shell has awarded educational grants worth Bt1.27 million to three PhD students and eight master degree students. These research grants are up to a maximum of Bt100,000 for a master’s degree and Bt200,000 for a postgraduate degree (PhD). The 11 awardees were selected from 11 science and engineering projects. They come from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Prince of Songkla University, Kasetsart University, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Mahidol University, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Mahasarakham University and Chiang Mai University.
The Shell educational fund was set up in 2002 to commemorate Shell’s 100th year of operations in Thailand. The project was initiated following Shell’s discussions with the Office of the Higher Education Commission. The aim of the programme is to support graduate school students doing research projects at both the masters and doctorate levels and to encourage more innovation and technology development as part of their research.
The grants are awarded in the research fields of science, engineering, logistics, petrochemicals, renewable energy, natural resources and environment. This is in accordance with the current government’s policy for Thailand 4.0, which supports the development of innovative science technology and research and development.
Asada Harinsuit, chairman of the Shell Company of Thailand Ltd, said: “This grant project is in line with Shell Thailand’s mission to make life’s journey better and to help promote innovation and technology among Thai youth. We are pleased to see that some of the projects we have been supporting since 2002 have already benefited the country’s agriculture and industry.
“The success of these projects has strengthened our commitment to support more Thai students as part of our national development efforts. Shell will continue to encourage and support quality research in science and engineering. We believe that by promoting innovation and technological advancements, we can help to lay a strong foundation for the future of our country and for the wellbeing of the Thai people.” The research programmes are selected based on four criteria: they must be innovative; be deemed suitable for international publication; be completed within the time scheduled and the research result should have positive impact academically, commercially and socially.

Kerry Express adds vehicles to keep up with demand

Taking advantage of the boom in e-commerce, Kerry Express, a major express delivery service in Thailand, says it is confident about the future.
The company said it has been taking a proactive role to prepare for increasing demand. “In order to maintain the leading role in this express delivery service market, apart from adding an extra of 1,000 service points throughout Thailand to our network in 2018, there is no doubt that our fleet has to be expanded to meet the market need,” said Jakpecth Ratcharoensook, assistant general manager of Kerry Express.
“Five hundred extra trucks and motorcycles will be added to Bangkok’s fleet.
“Traffic congestion has been the one of the obstacles of our on-time delivery, or even missed deliveries, therefore there is a need to make such investment in order to maintain our customers satisfaction.
“According to last year’s experience, there was a huge demand from the customer side at the year end, and to a certain extent, our overall performance was affected. Expecting a similar trend this year, this wave of fleet expansion, especially our motorcycles, can ensure delivery of small parcels without much concern. We are confident that this will allow Kerry Express to meet our customers delivery needs.”