Enterprises can’t stand outside the smart manufacturing trend

Flexible production

At a recent online seminar themed “Smart manufacturing – promoting the development of Vietnamese enterprises”, Dr. Ha Minh Hiep, Deputy Director General of the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality under the Ministry of Science and Technology, said smart manufacturing has three main characteristics. These are the integration of the virtual and actual production processes (based on information technology platforms) in order to optimize production; the integration of the production and business processes to shorten them and create profits; and solutions for meeting customer needs in real time, shortening the capital recovery time, and creating flexibility during production process. “The application of smart manufacturing helps businesses save from 10-20 percent of production and logistics costs. Inventory costs will also decrease by 30-40 percent,” said Hiep.

Smart manufacturing, a relatively new concept in Vietnam, is the connection between information technology (IT) and production technology to optimize management and operations.

Deputy General Director of the Son Ha Group Hoang Manh Tan recounted that in the past, the group’s production followed monthly plans or agents’ orders. Now it applies ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), which means that when an order comes in from an agent or branch, information is provided immediately to corresponding production, materials, or financial units.

“As a result, we can minimize logistics, delivery and inventory time, responding to customer’s needs quickly and accurately,” he said.

Businesses need to be active

Tan said Vietnamese manufacturers no longer compete in a small domestic playground, and must adapt to the global playing field, particularly the terms of partners to free trade agreements.

“Smart manufacturing can quickly respond to product quality management, and handle faults on the spot. We cannot control production with humans, with the naked eye in every step and every place but we can do it on an intelligent platform,” Tan explained.

Dr. Ha Minh Hiep added that smart manufacturing firstly requires vision, knowledge, awareness, and leadership ability. The second factor is the management system and for Vietnamese enterprises, an urgent issue is to determine their production levels as well as their development orientations.

Quynh Nga