KOREA AND PH PARTNERSHIP LAUNCHES THE MOLD TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT CENTER
by: KAI H. NEGADO
One way to strengthen the economy is to fortify a country’s manufacturing capabilities. This is the objective of the Mold Technology Support Center (MTSC), a facility established through the partnership between the Republic of Korea and the Philippine government.
The Department of Science and Technology (DOST), through the DOST-Metals Industry Research and Development (DOST-MIRDC), has been working towards building the MTSC since its Groundbreaking Ceremony in October 2019.
After three years and through the COVID-19 pandemic, the MTSC will be holding its launching and hand-over ceremonies on 10 November 2022 at Gen. Trias, Cavite.
Housed in the MTSC are equipment, tools, and various technologies for mold and mold-related requirements of the industry. The MTSC aims to help advance the country’s local die and mold companies, increase their productivity and become globally competitive, and contribute to the industrial cooperation between the Philippines and the Republic of Korea.
The MTSC is poised to be a premier training hub for mold technologies. A total of 118 trainings, attended by 6,036 of both local and foreign participants, have been conducted by the MTSC beginning August 2020. The MTSC trainee-graduates will make up the pool of talents that will fill in the requirements of local mold companies.
The MTSC will be instrumental in beefing up the local economy. Within the province of Cavite alone, there are over 200 companies that the MTSC will be able to provide its services to, while the country’s local die and mold products are projected to have a market size of Php4B.
Developed in cooperation with the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT), Korean Association of Machinery Industry (KOAMI), Machinery Industry shared Growth Promoting Foundation (MGF), Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) - Board of Investments (BOI), and the Philippine Die and Mold Association, Inc. (PDMA), the MTSC is envisioned to be the country’s leading facility to advance the human resource needed in the local die and mold industry, and to create products that will be commercially applied to mold-dependent manufacturing industries.
