Major news for manufacturing at GM Thailand as first Thai national takes VP position

Amnat Saengjan will be the first Thai national to occupy the top manufacturing leadership position at GM Thailand, once his promotion to the vice president of Manufacturing at GM Thailand takes effect next month.

In his new role, he will be responsible for both the GM Thailand and GM Powertrain Thailand plant operations.

He will report directly to Robert Parcell, Manufacturing Manager for GM International Operations, and indirectly to Marcos A Purty, managing director of GM Thailand and Chevrolet Sales Thailand. Michael O. Perez who has served in that role as well as the role for GM Southeast Asia Operations for the past 18 months will move to another senior position within GM to be announced at a later date.

" Our manufacturing operations at Rayong are assured a smooth transition with the appointment of Amnat. He has proven his leadership capability as Assistant Plant Manager, Vehicle Operations, GM Thailand, effectively overseeing the entire plant operation in Rayong since 2010," said Tim Zimmerman, president of GM Southeast Asia.

During Perez's tenure, GM Thailand celebrated its 1 millionth vehicle built and its Rayong Truck assembly plant achieved the US Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry by reducing energy intensity within its operations by 20 per cent.

Before the promotion, Amnat was an assistant plant manager of vehicle operations as well as Shop Director, overseeing Press & Body and General Assembly operations from 2004 to 2007. Prior to that, he was the project implementation manager for the first Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck in Thailand in 2002. In 2000, he acted as shift manager for the General Assembly shop. Amnat joined GM in 1998 as process engineer on the Zafira programme.

During his career at GM, Amnat has managed over 3,000 people at facility level. He also took the lead on implementing facility-wide adaptation of safety processes. He has implemented Built-In Quality processes, including leadership reviews and audits, and coordinated with a joint venture OEM partner to meet launch timing, quality and cost targets for vehicle programmes.