CHON BURI Having seen other industrial estates north of Bangkok submerged, executives of factories at Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate are still not completely confident they will be spared from a similar calamity, despite government assurances and the site's distance from the Bang Pakong River.
Amata Nakorn houses more than 400 companies, mostly Japanese with a few Chinese, European, American, and Taiwanese ventures. Most are manufacturers of auto parts, paints and petrochemicals.
For Japanese executives, the nightmare of the March earthquake and tsunami and subsequent impact on supply chains worldwide is still fresh in their minds.
It's no surprise that factory managers at Amata shuddered at the sight of the huge Honda plant at Rojana in Ayuthaya under nearly two metres of water.
The location of Amata Nakorn has given some confidence to the investors that the same floods that devastated their peers should not affect them directly since it is located more than 20 km from the Bang Pakong River, through which some flood runoff is to be steered to the Gulf of Thailand.
Amata Nakorn managers are providing regular updates to clients, and invited Irrigation Department officials to further assure the factories will be safe.
However, many businesses are taking nothing for granted and have built walls and put up sandbags.
Kanapoj Suranart, safety manager at the auto parts maker Siam Denso, said one of its factories at Rojana was inundated last month. As a result, it has a four-step plan to protect its Amata Nakorn premises.
If the flood is 10 km from the factory, the first step would involve stopping production and moving machinery to higher ground. At 5 km, workers will be evacuated, he said.
If water enters the factory compound, all gates will be closed and the 10 senior executives will be the last group to leave.
Our Japanese executives are very concerned about the floods because if it happens, it will instantly affect production,'' he said. ''We have to protect it until the whole flood crisis is over.
''The tsunami that hit northern Japan earlier this year has made the executives alert. They went to examine and monitor the water levels in many canals such as in Ayutthaya and Rangsit as well as the Bang Pakong river many times to make sure the waters are at normal levels.''
Floods at Rojana have damaged at least four of Denso's suppliers and also hurt the credibility of the government, he said, which clearly lacked experience and was proceeding by trial and error.
''We invest a lot here and if we can protect the factory, we can give confidence to our customers in producing vehicles,'' he said.
Siam Denso helped to move some equipment from supplier companies in Rojana to safer places in Chon Buri and nearby provinces and is also seeking new suppliers to prevent a protracted shortage of parts.
''We are monitoring Lat Krabang industrial estate closely where the water is approaching as Isuzu is our supplier there but I think it could be protected because it has 40 pumps to drain water if it comes in,'' said Mr Kanapoj.
Samruay Sakham, safety and environment manager of Kao Company, said it put its prevention plan in place in mid-October.
''Now the situation looks better and some are confident it might not reach Amata Nakorn, but we still monitor water levels in canals and the Bang Pakong River every day,'' said Mr Samruay.
An Amata Nakorn executive expressed confidence that the estate would be spared because it is 1.8 metres above mean sea level and only 2 km from the sea if it needs to drain the runoff.
Our executives have 95% confidence that we can manage the floods. The other five percent uncertainty is due to the rains. All canals around the estates can divert water to the Bang Pakong river, so we are not concerned about flooding in the estates,'' he said.
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