PUNCHANID TEMTUM

Quality Manager, BNL Thailand

What did you want to be when you were at school?  What did you study?

At school, I was very interested in pharmacy, so have always had a scientific mind. At university, I majored in Industrial Development and I graduated with a master’s degree in Engineering from Thammasat University (Bangkok, Thailand).

What do you enjoy most about your role?

I like the logic and framework of the quality management systems we work within, from the complexities of the IATF16949:2016 which is for automotive customers, to the ISO9001:2015, which guides our overall quality standards. I enjoy establishing and implementing the processes and seeing how they help us achieve customer satisfaction. I like following the path set by them and seeing them drive our business to succeed.

My best time is when there are zero quality issues and all my KPIs are achieved on target.

What do you do in a typical day?

In everything we do, we have the customer’s satisfaction at the heart of it. We want to do the right things to make our customers happy.

My day is built around making sure that the products we ship externally and internally are good quality and meet any requirements and specifications of the design. The Quality Team and I prevent any product that is not 100% correct from escaping.

We ensure that all the processes and procedures of our quality management system are followed, and we investigate any issues and problems with a product, a manufacturing process or work instruction.

Our aim is to identify the actual root cause and find ways to prevent it recurring.

Who or what inspires you?

My manager at my first company and my religion.

My manager at my first company had graduated with Master’s degree in Biological Science and had strong knowledge and experience in the medical device industry. She was a very good manager and developed her team to be professional plus she was a very warm person and welcomed us into her family. She encouraged me to study my Master’s degree in the evening after work. She is my idol in terms of expertise, leadership and personnel management.

I am a Buddhist. The Buddha attained enlightenment and preached religion. Buddhism encourages following the principles of science:

“Science brings knowledge from the laws of nature, by teaching people how to use technology to control nature. As for Buddhist philosophy, it teaches people to use truth to create ethics in order to live in harmony with nature. Teach people to use wisdom in solving life problems and improving the quality of life.”

For me “Meditation to follow my Buddha way” helps me to be more clam and conscious in life and think of both positive and negative outcomes before making a decision to prevent making the wrong decisions. This fits very well with my engineering career and day to day work.

I started my working life in QA for a company that made medical devices and I did my best to ensure we shipped good quality products that would only help patients recover. It is an indirect and easy way to create merit in my religion. Otherwise, I always think about the safety and satisfaction of the end user of all industrial products for which I am responsible.

How do you think we can encourage women into STEM/Engineering/Manufacturing careers?

I think every woman can be an engineer. Women’s abilities are equal to men and this needs to be recognized in engineering, manufacturing and other STEM industries. More opportunities need to be made for women to make the most of their abilities.

In addition, the fundamentals of an engineering career can also be used in decision making in our lives in general. They encourage you to look at things more logically. The skills and mind set developed in investigation, analysis, organisation, problem solving and innovation is very useful in all walks of life and should be promoted as a transferable skill in itself. This might help encourage more women into basic engineering and then into further education.

Any advice for young women, or anyone, wanting to start a STEM/Engineering/Manufacturing career?

If you have chance to be engineer – congratulations! It is great opportunity, enjoy it.

The key to being successful in this industry is to not be a full glass of water. Please always pursue new knowledge, technology and follow market changes and demands. Success will soon be in your hands.