By Perla Lena/PNA
ILOILO CITY — A fabrication technology laboratory that will focus on robotics will be established in Capiz this year as part of the shared service facilities (SSF) project of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
It will be the second fabrication technology to be established in Western Visayas. The first was established in partnership with the Iloilo Science and Technology University (ISAT-U) on December 21, 2018.
DTI Western Visayas Regional Director Rebecca Rascon, in an interview Thursday, said the provincial government of Capiz that was identified as cooperator has also partnered with the Spring Valley Technological Corporation for the establishment of the SSF.
“The provincial government has no full expertise to operate to fab-lab so they also partnered with Spring Valley,” she said.
The Spring Valley Technological Corporation is a seven-hectare Information Technology (IT) Zone in Roxas City. The equipment for the SSF is still up for bid.
Meantime, the SSF at ISAT–U sits at the PHP45-million research center of the university. It is equipped with facilities that could enhance product designs. It complemented the university’s existing PHP5-million worth of machines, said Rascon.
Soon the university will operate a technology business incubator (TBI) that could assist startup entrepreneurs. It will work to complement the fabrication laboratory, the regional director added.
“This calls for a new investment later because that (laboratory) is not for production. It is for prototyping design,” she said.
In 2018, DTI has established a total of 77 SSFs in Western Visayas.
This 2019, Assistant Regional Director Ermelinda Pollentes said that a significant number of SSFs will be implemented in Antique.
“More or less they will have 48 shared service facilities. The others are distributed in Aklan, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Guimaras,” she said.
The SSF includes machines for handloom weaving, food processing, baking, meat and fish processing, among others.
“They were chosen to support the priority sectors of the province,” Rascon said.
