Participants and facilitators posing for a group photo

Recognizing the importance of enhancing the resilience of businesses and their wider supply chains, iPrepare Business, a joint initiative by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH within the framework of the Global Initiative on Disaster Risk Management (GIDRM), has launched a 2-year pilot project in partnership with Isuzu Motors Co., (Thailand) Ltd. Currently, the project is providing technical support to 8 Isuzu Tier-1 suppliers to develop a business continuity plan (BCP) tailored to their specific business operations and goals.

On 7th June 2017, the final workshop was conducted for Inoue Rubber (Thailand) Public Co., Ltd, (iRC), based in Ayutthaya, which provides two products ranges 1. Industrial elastomer parts and 2. Motorcycle tires and tubes.

iRC experienced the Thailand Great Flood in 2011 with water level around 300 centimeters high outside the factory. Although iRC assets and production lines were not directly damaged since the flood water did not get inside the factory, their business was significantly disrupted. The company could not deliver finished goods to customers due to flood water outside the factory and many of their employees could not come to work since their houses and transportation routes were flooded. The company also became a temporary shelter for some local residents.

Employees commuting by boat in front of the company during the 2011 floods

Following the experience, iRC has built a concrete wall to protect the factory from flood water and prepared power generators and water pumping as prevention and mitigation measures to reduce flood risk. Moreover, foreseeing recurrence of flood in the future, top management decided to take some measures to better safeguard their business processes more systematically. As part of it, iRC has participated in the project and formed a cross-functional BCP team comprising of representatives from different departments mixed with male and female employees.

Attended by 18 participants, who are part of the BCP team, the morning session at the workshop reviewed the outputs of the three workshops conducted before. The first draft of BCP developed was presented by Chief of Safety & Environment Section of iRC, Secretary of BCP team. With facilitation of the iPrepare Business facility, the participants reviewed the BCP including the purposes of the BCP, business continuity strategies developed to address two prioritized hazards i.e. floods and fire while clarifying the roles and responsibilities of respective BCP team members. The workshop also introduced the concept of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) while highlighting that the BCP developed through workshop needs to be reviewed and modified on a regular basis to best cope with changing business environments. In the afternoon, tabletop exercises were conducted with two given scenarios of flood and fire incidents. This was intended to test the operationalization of the plan and verify the roles and responsibilities assigned for each personnel in the BCP team.

The Deputy Executive Director of iRC, Co-leader of BCP team appreciated the project saying that “during the 2011 floods the company was not clear on what actions need to be taken and everyone had different ideas, however through the trainings necessary steps and measures at the time of incident are clear and the company can now work toward the same target to address such disaster events to ensure continuity of the business operation”. Following the completion of the training, the company is planning to report back the BCP developed to top management and also decided to review the BCP once a year.

Presentation by iPrepare Business during the workshop