Building the foundational economy is crucial for sustainable, nationwide development. This research studied Eve Herbs for Health Community Enterprise in Mae Taeng District, Chiang Mai Province, focusing on enhancing herbal compress manufacturing by refining production methods for greater efficiency, aligning with Thailand’s national strategic goals. Data collection involved validated interview and observation forms, including in-depth interviews and small-group discussions with 14 stakeholders directly involved in the manufacturing process. The study aimed to identify opportunities to improve production and support sustainable community enterprise growth within the region. According to the research findings, this community enterprise successfully set effective strategies for refining production methodologies by promoting the local sources of raw materials or fresh herbs, manufacturing high-quality dried herbs at lower costs through the solar-powered drying technology, and increasing the production capacity of herbal compress from 9,000 to 20,000 balls/month. This achievement remarkably resulted from the workforce skill development within the community for partial outsourcing. Meanwhile, the production costs obviously dropped from 33.69 THB to 26.85 THB/unit, accounting for 20.30%. To achieve efficient production, the community enterprise should expand local herbal cultivation to increase fresh herb supply. Developing machinery to replace human labor is key to sustainably reducing costs and labor dependence. This research advances community enterprise and foundational economy theory by demonstrating how local production can scale through strategic resource management and technology. It provides practical guidance to strengthen community-led manufacturing, supporting rural economic self-reliance and sustainability policies.
Maneetorn et al. (Thu,) studied this question.