Issue 13^th: 29 Sept 2014

It was stress, not the sort of thing usually associated with the Land of Smiles, that made Paisal Wongwaikolayoot come up with a potentially world changing idea.

Paisal Wongwaikolayoot of Toewongwai Company

“The pressure made me think,” says Paisal Wongwaikolayoot. Building a house while financially troubled, he discovered that Thai rules about foundations needing pile drivers just added to his frustrations. Then one day noting that he had a truck on site and needed a pile driver, he put these two things together and though a proverbial light might not have gone on, he did do a very Thai thing. “I meditated on it,” he explains.

The result is one of those ‘why-didn’t-I-think-of-that’ inventions –a mobile pile driver.

Pile drivers are usually erected on site, something which can add days to the construction process,whereas a truck-loaded one is driven there and only takes a few minutes to assemble. “Everything is on the truck,” says Wongwaikolayoot. His reckoning is that one mobile unit can do the work of eight tower pile drivers due to its greater flexibility.

His company, Toewongwai, produces two types of pile drivers; one truck mounted and the other on a crawler. The latter places the pile driver on caterpillar wheels, which is very useful for soft soil areas such as Bangkok.

The commercial implications are huge. “The efficiency of the mobile pile driver is quite alot higher than the towers. So the business opportunities in Thailand are a lot,” he says.

Already Toewongwai has sold 400 units. And Wongwaikolayoot believes there are substantial business opportunities not just locally, but anywhere in the world that needs piling.

Initially though his goal is to focus on ASEAN and the Economic Community (AEC) it will usher in next year. “We can manufacture in Thailand and send to other countries … within ASEAN,” he says before adding quickly, “but global investors would be welcome.”

Those investors look set to reap a good return. Next year, Toewongwai expects turnover to be 200 million baht (US$6.2 million). But in the two years following the AEC’s inauguration (2016-17), the company anticipates growth of between 200% and 300%.

Whilst Wongwaikolayoot is enthusiastic about the AEC, he is keen to talk about the advantages that Thailand has for manufacturers such as himself.“If we compare to other countries in ASEAN Thailand is the best place for manufacturing,” he says, stressing the higher quality of infrastructure, software, investment law and the services available.

Nor will pile drivers be the only thing that he or Toewongwaimakes at itsSuphanburi factory some two hours out of Bangkok. A self-confessed tinkerer, he has two other ideas on the go. One is generating electricity through gravity, which will help Thailand’s renewable energy industry.The other is an exercise bed that is a more like a massage chair. Now, that might just change the world even more than a mobile pile driver looks set to.

Words by Michael Mackey