Projects > Brief descriptions > Management Information Systems for Industrial Pollution Prevention and Control

Contact person

For further information please contact:
Mr Burghard Rauschelbach
Email: burghard.rauschelbach@giz.de

Management Information Systems for Industrial Pollution Prevention and Control

Project description

Title: Management Information Systems for Industrial Pollution Prevention and Control
Commissioned by: Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ) (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development)
Country: Thailand
Lead executing agency: Department of Industrial Works (DIW)
Overall term: June 2005 to May 2007

Context

In Thailand, governmental agencies lack reliable information on the environmental impact caused by industry and there is a great potential for improvement in efficient industrial emission control. Existing regulations require certain industrial sub-sectors viewed as having a significant impact to report on environmental issues, but the reported data are not being used, verified and analysed efficiently. Furthermore, due to the lack of consistently managed base data, information on industrial emissions is not being disclosed to the public as a matter of routine.

At the same time, most small and medium scale enterprises (SME) lack suitable management tools to analyse their production processes and identify areas for improving their eco-efficiency and general competitiveness. Management Information Systems (MIS) based on reliable and adequately stored data could strengthen their awareness on environmental issues, but the local consultancy services on MIS required by SMEs are so far not generally available.

Objective

At the end of the project, the policies and measures undertaken by governmental agencies and all stakeholders to facilitate eco-efficiency of SMEs will be enhanced. This will be verified through the fulfilment of the project’s key indicators defined as:

industrial environmental databases (air, water, waste) for selected sectors are effectively used
demand of SMEs in selected sectors for MIS application to improve their eco-efficiency is increasing.

Approach

All project activities deal with the introduction of modern information systems as the basis for better decision-making at different target groups.

The first main task is to implement an Environmental Information System (EIS) at the Department of Industrial Works (DIW) to efficiently track, analyse and control industrial emissions. The system will be based on data from inspection reports and the factories themselves. Currently, these data are reported and processed in analogue format (on paper). Consequently, the introduction of EIS initially focuses on improving the efficiency of the relevant revision and approval procedures. It will furthermore enable DIW to check more consistently the plausibility of the reported data and to monitor and analyse the development of industrial environmental issues by sub-sector and by region. The database on industrial pollution will also provide indispensable base information for policy-making on industrial development. From the industry’s point of view, the system will improve the quality of public services delivered by DIW.
The second main task focuses on the joint implementation of MIS at SMEs of selected sectors. For most SMEs in Thailand, MIS is a completely new decision-making tool. Very few companies already have experience with MIS; their systems concentrate mainly on accounting-related issues, such as acquisition of raw materials and sales. The MIS to be developed and promoted by the project will target on material flow analysis and provide valuable information for decision-makers to improve the eco-efficiency and competitiveness of the companies. The latter will be the key to encouraging SMEs to implement and use such systems efficiently. Although at the beginning only some of the companies in the selected sub-sectors will introduce MIS, it is expected that others will follow to stay competitive.
The third main task addresses the fact that up to now there are practically no local MIS-related consultancy services available for Thai SMEs. These services will be extremely important to guarantee the sustainability of result 2, since the SMEs will need further support in implementing and adequately using such systems. Therefore, the project will implement a training and evaluation programme for local consultants and encourage them to support the MIS implementation process in the two selected sub-sectors. It can be assumed that local consultants will be very interested in participating. Furthermore, the consultants will be interested in extending their services to other industrial sectors.
The fourth main task targets the design and implementation of a Public Information Centre (PIC) on industrial environmental issues considering the specific interests of the public as expressed by key representatives (multipliers such as journalists, scientists, NGOs and politicians) and the available information (probably provided mainly by the EIS). The information to be published has to be relevant, in the public interest, topical, correctly interpretable by non-experts, and reliable.