The first Automotive Focus Group (AFG) meeting of 2013 was held on Friday 25th of January at the Amari Orchid Hotel, Pattaya. The session was billed as the ‘AFG Open Forum’, a new format to inform the members on the status of the AFG and the plans for 2013. Members were asked for feedback and the sitting AFG committee members provided an update on the forthcoming AGM and the AFG committee, the upcoming elections and introduction of the candidates for the new committee.
This first meeting of the year turned out to be very lively, with much emphasis on the desirability of good speakers during 2013. It was acknowledged that whilst some speakers last year were excellent, others were not as stellar in their performance.
Uli Kaiser (left) and Frank Holzer (right).
Topics of interest that came from the meeting included the ‘apprenticeship’ program, supply chains and logistics amongst others. Another popular topic last year was plant visits, and the new committee will be looking at this also for 2013.
One suggestion that was very well received by the members were to have ‘mini’ forums with three speakers on stage, each speaking for around 10 minutes and then to be involved in Q&A. This had been run very successfully in Australia last year and looks like being a feature for the AFG here.
Current Treasurer Frank Holzer intends to plan and produce a calendar for the AFG functions in 2013, an idea that was met with approval by all.
Ken Hinckley spoke on the proposed golf tournament, and whilst the concept met with approval, finding a suitable date was going to be a problem. However, this will be got over shortly and the golf tournament date will be published in Frank’s calendar.
After the meeting, the AFG members were invited to join the joint chambers networking evening, which they did with gusto, hosted by the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) in the garden of the Amari.
