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Published on October 3, 2007

"Simply enjoy your work" is the advice of Adisak Rohitasune when it comes to the question of contentedly serving one organisation for many years.

He should know. As senior vice president of Asian Honda Motors, he has worked for the company for 34 years. He is recognised as one of the leaders of Thailand's automotive industry, and he still enjoys his work.

Adisak began his professional life at Thai Honda Manufacturing after graduating in 1973with a bachelor's degree from Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Engineering. He was immediately sent to Japan for two years' training before beginning work on the production line at the Thai plant.

At that time, the automotive industry was enjoying rapid, continuous growth, and the big challenges were exporting local content and penetrating international markets.

Not long after returning to Thailand, Adisak decided to study for a master's degree in business administration at the National Institute of Development Administration. He finished in 1996 - just in time to use all of his knowledge to help the company survive the financial crisis.

Honda's Thai operation cut all its fixed costs and reduced its production from 700,000 units per year to only 300,000.

Nevertheless, with two decisions it turned the crisis into an opportunity. It invested in the production of more local contents, boosting the Thai content of its vehicles from 70 per cent to 90 per cent. It also selected 100 workers and sent them to learn in Japan instead of dismissing them. The company realised it would need skilled workers to drive its business once the crisis was over.

Two years later, its production increased, and the Japanese parent company decided that the Thai operation would become its regional production hub for exports.

Adisek recalls he was happy when faced with the tough situations and chaotic environment of 10 years ago.

"If I had not loved and enjoyed my work, there would have been no point in working," he says.

These days, Adisak is every bit as hard-working as any other successful executive. His working hours are 7.30am to 10pm weekdays, and he says he sometimes becomes stressed with his daily burden. His demeanour belies that admission; his appearance is one of cool-tempered professionalism.

He says his way of releasing tension is to "share" his problems with others: "I always talk to many people when I get stuck with troubles. I like to listen to their opinions and discuss various solutions."

"I believe tension is an illusion," he continues. "If you think positively and know how to let things go, then tension will not be a problem."

As for Thailand's automotive industry, he says it is stepping towards its "second milestone", which is total production of 2 million units a year by the end of 2010, making it one of the world's top 10 automotive manufacturers.

However, he's not totally happy with that prospect. He believes the industry should be focusing more on advanced automotive technologies and concentrating on quality rather than following targets of higher quantity.

"It's time for us to take seriously the promotion of research and development, using advanced technologies. If we don't do this, we'll certainly lose our competitiveness to other countries, particularly China and India, which are developing rapidly and have an advantage over Thailand in terms of market size," he says.

He also sees the vital need for increasing social responsibility in the struggle to survive tough competition and sustain business in this era of globalisation. Asian Honda Motors, he points out, has a vision of becoming a socially wanted organisation by the end of 2010.

"We must care for not only our customers, but also the public decisions that we depend on," says Adisak, adding that environmentally friendly products are another way of creating more value for society generally.

He believes one of Honda's strong points is its constant creation and development of new technologies, such as the Asimo robots that are well known around the world. The company is thus trying to inspire and encourage Thai children to learn eagerly about new things, so they will grow up to contribute to the country's development.

At present, Adisak is not only a senior executive at Asian Honda Motors, but also vice president of the Automotive Industry Club, president of the Asean Automotive Federation and president of the Thai Automotive Industry Association.

He is determined to use all of his knowledge and skills to develop and promote Thailand's automotive industry as a regional leader. Taking precedence over any other goals in his mind, he says, "I always fancied that Thais would one day be able to make their own cars."

With that on his mind, he dismisses any thought of stopping.

"As long as I still enjoy my work and remain attached to this industry like I am today, I will never ever think of saying 'enough'," Adisak says.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

 The Nation