Danish Business Association in Singapore (DABS) was on a trip to see PANDORA’s factory in Thailand and network with their Thai counterpart, Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce (DTCC) on Friday the 17th of October.
Danish Jewelry manufacturer PANDORA had arranged shuttle busses to take DABS members the short trip from Suvarnabhumi Airport to their impressive factory that is located about three kilometers west of the runway and employs almost 8000 people. A traditional Thai lunch was welcoming the delegation in one end of a large workers canteen. According to the chairman of DABS Lars Kyvsgaard, the visit to Thailand is part of DABS plan to ready their members to get the most out of the new stronger economic ties between the ASEAN countries.
“The program this fall is based on the new free trade agreement in the ASEAN countries and the EU ratification of the bilateral cooperation between EU and Singapore. We want to give our members a perspective on how to use Singapore as a base for opportunities in neighboring countries, because of its position as a gateway to Southeast Asia”, Lars Kyvsgaard says
The tour started with a presentation by managing director of PANDORA Production Thailand, Thomas Nyborg. He gave an introduction to the company and explained how PANDORA has handled the challenge of maintaining a high quality production and work environment while experiencing massive growth.
One of the innovative ideas that PANDORA has introduced is a training program based on active learning, it makes sure the huge amount of new workers coming into the factory have the right qualifications. The program is stripped of any lecturers and consists of a series of tasks that forces the trainees to find the answers by themselves. The program has increased the efficiency of the training process drastically.
“Personally, I thought it was very interesting to get an insight in PANDORA’s principles of management. I found it very inspiring to see how the company communicates with their young employees through their own in-factory radio and tv-station,” Lars Kyvsgaard says.
After a tour of the factory Thomas Nyborg hosted a Q&A session, where guests asked curious questions about the company’s structure and how the political turmoil in Thailand has affected business operations. The evening continued downtown with networking dinner with DABS and DTCC.
