PHL metalworking industry gets boost from DOST

The metalworks, machinery and electronics sectors are getting a competitive push from Makina at Teknolohiya Para sa Bayan, or MakiBayan, a program of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in collaboration with industry giants and the academic sector.

 

This partnership was formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding signed by DOST Secretary Mario G. Montejo on April 16 with leaders of the metal and electronics sectors and with the Engineering Research and Development for Technology, a consortium of engineering schools from eight universities across the country.

 

Industry associations involved in the tie-up include the Electronics Industry Association of the Philippines, Inc. (EIAPI), the Metalworking Industry Association of the Philippines (MIAP), and the Philippine Die and Mold Association (PDMA). 

 

The ERDT is currently led by the University of the Philippines Diliman. The other members of the group are the engineering schools of Ateneo de Manila University, Central Luzon State University, De La Salle University, Mapua Institute of Technology, Mindanao State University-Iligan, UP Los Baños, and the University of San Carlos.

 

The MakiBayan program will advance a more enabling environment for the metalworks, machinery and electronics industries by the sharing of technology, expertise, skills, manpower and facilities among the partners. 

 

Through a collaborative research and development plan, MakiBayan allows the partners to frame its projects to boost the industries’ global competitiveness from 2012 to 2016. 

 

Transportation, robotics, and machine building for manufacturing processes, disaster mitigation, and food processing for small and big enterprises will benefit from the program, which expects to generate more jobs, more efficient production, and higher quality output in these areas. 

 

One example of this is the proposal made by the PDMA at the launch that a Die and Mold Solution Center be established as a common service facility to accommodate small and medium enterprises that cannot afford to purchase costly pieces of equipment. 

 

“We are privileged to be part of this event in crafting the roadmap of the metalworking sector,” said MIAP president Virgilio F. Lanzuela. “As a gesture of gratitude, we are taking a bold stance by accepting the challenge as one of the government partners in working towards improving productivity in the metal sector.”

 

Project partners hope that MakiBayan will go some way to making up for the country’s shortfall of researchers, scientists and engineers. UNESCO put the benchmark for a developing country at 360 researchers, scientists and engineers per year in order to cover the country’s research and developing needs. According to ERDT Program Leader Dr. Aura C. Matias, the Philippines produced 125 researchers, scientists and engineers in 2005, and only five after two years, with a total of 130 in 2007. In addition, neighbors Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore produce six, 25 and 200 Masters graduates, respectively, for every one produced in the Philippines.

 

“[MakiBayan] is an investment to make the Philippines globally competitive by addressing R&D manpower needs,” she said. “Through this partnership, the industry can tell us what expertise they need, and we will supply them with what they need.” — TJD, GMA News