2021 CEEMS Award

Mr. Sophors Em (Cambodia)

Introduction

At the online 56th CIML Meeting, the CIML President, Dr Roman Schwartz, announced that the recipient of the 2021 OIML CEEMS Award was Mr. Sophors Em (Cambodia), who had been nominated by the Director of the Cambodian National Metrology Center, Mr. Ngi, in acknowledgement of his significant contributions to many projects in the development of industrial and legal metrology in Cambodia.

His many accomplishments and contributions not only for the NMC, but also for the Kingdom of Cambodia, become evident by the impressive supporting document that is annexed to the nomination letter of Director Ngi, which is summarised below.

National Metrology Center (NMC)

The NMC was established under the 2009 Cambodian metrology law and was founded in April 2011 under the supervision of the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology & Innovation as the governmental organisation responsible for managing all activities and services related to metrology within the Kingdom of Cambodia. The NMC currently has 75 staff working in scientific, industrial, and legal metrology, as well as administration. It also has six laboratories for mass, thermometry, pressure, volume, temperature and humidity and length.

Sophors Em’s technical expertise, dedication and commitment have contributed significantly to the work of the NMC.

Training

Sophors Em has delivered many training courses in metrology to both the public and the private sectors between 2014 and 2021. These include courses on metrological law enforcement, taximeters, quality infrastructure and metrology, the science of measurement, fundamentals of metrology, the quality and safety of products, the role of metrology in the context of Sustainable Development Goals, and an introduction to the OIML Certification System.

Regulations

Sophors Em is also a convener for developing technical regulations for metrological instruments under government control. He has contributed to the creation of national verification regulations on water meters, weights, electricity meters, NAWI, fuel dispensers, and type approval control systems.

Consultation and customer engagement

He has made a considerable contribution to the NMC’s consultation and customer engagement activities including on-site visits to industry, surveys on industry calibration demand, a workshop on “Awareness Raising in Metrology” for industry in Cambodia, consultancy on repairing metrological instruments, and many other roles in strategic development, national metrology coordination, quality manual development, mass intercomparisons, etc.

Sophors Em’s technical excellence has also enabled him to provide consultancy to numerous private companies and governmental agencies with regard to metrological questions and aspects.

Additionally, he is the author of several publications dealing with various metrological aspects, which are useful for small and medium-sized enterprises, local metrology offices, and also for the academia.:

International cooperation

Sophors Em is a key player in the NMC’s international cooperation programme. Thanks to his expertise he also supports the NMC in developing regulations and procedures to operate on a daily basis. He has been involved in many international projects with the NMIJ (Japan), NIM (P.R. China), AQSIQ, Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology & Innovation (P.R. China). He has also coordinated international meetings, workshops and training courses related to metrology in Cambodia, has developed proposals for a Quality Infrastructure Project at the PTB.

Innovation

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sophors Em conducted initiatives to make electronic systems align with digital transformation. Metrology services and work processes are being transformed from traditional ways to digital ones, as summarised below:

All the NMC metrology services such as calibration, verification, registration and licenses now use QR code scanning to display the certificate data.
E-system/paperless system: All work process have been set up online in a robust, holistic and reliable system. No paper is now used.
Tracking system and online application: During the pandemic, this has been very helpful for customers who want to apply for services at NMC. They just submit their applications online and NMC staff will notify them if they need further documents, or need to ask customers to bring their instruments to the NMC.
Metrology Cloud for legal metrology: This project is still under discussion due to the considerable expense involved.
Preparing a digital transformation strategy for metrology, including digital calibration certificates, remote calibration, remote verification, etc.

Links for the promotion of metrology in Cambodia:

Website: www.nmc-misti.gov.kh)

YouTube: National Metrology Center