CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, April 10 (PNA) –The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Region III is continuously assisting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Central Luzon to acquire technology interventions that would increase productivity and enhanced competitiveness.
Dr. Victor B. Mariano, DOST-3 regional director, said that some 80 MSMEs in the region, which were engaged in food processing, metals fabrication, furniture production, marine and aquaculture production availed of their Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SET-UP).
SET-UP is a DOST’s nationwide strategy encouraging and assisting MSMEs to adopt technology innovations to improve their operations and thus boost their productivity and competitiveness.
“The program enables firms to address their technical problems through technology transfer and technology interventions to improve productivity primarily through enhanced product quality, upgraded manpower, cost reduction, effective waste management and operations tune-up,” he said.
Through SET-UP, he said the DOST provided assistance consisting of provision of trainings and consultancy on waste management systems, productivity improvement through acquisition of production equipment, and packaging and labeling services.
Last year, he said the DOST region III provided financial assistance, thru SET-UP, amounting to Php 55.981 million.
“We are also continuously monitoring the 108 ongoing projects of the MSMEs in the region,” he said.
He said that six MSMEs in the region which availed SET-UP were now doing well both in local and international markets.
These are Ellen’s House of Frames and Crafts, Muñoz Science City Food Products, Amanda’s Marine Products, DVT Food Products, DN Vigo Machine Shop and Zambrox Corporation,
He said the Ellen’s House of Frames and Crafts was able to minimize their rejects by 60% which led to additional markets both locally and in other countries.
The Muñoz Science City Food Products, he said, was able to diversify and develop new variants in its herbal tea products like turmeric tea, lemongrass tea, malunggay tea and carrot tea.
Amanda’s Marine Products, with improved production capacity, was able to explore other markets both here and abroad, he said.
The DVT Food Products, on the other hand, was able to develop new product lines, such as veggie-based pansit canton noodles using the modern processing equipment which they acquired through SETUP.
“The DN Vigo Machine Shop was able to significantly reduce machining time from 48 hours to 3 hours then to only 1 hour which is equivalent to 98% faster service,” he said.
On the other hand, the Zambrox Corp., Mariano said, was able to produce a wide variety of products from serpentinite rocks using equipment acquired through SETUP thus, providing gainful employment among residents in the community. (PNA)