Digital transformation – Is Vietnamese enterprises being left behind?

One day in September, I received an email from SingEx Organizing Committee – Representative is Mr. Aloysius Arlando (CEO) invited to attend the Digital Transformation Exhibition in industrial factories in Asia Pacific (ITAP 2019, October 22-24 in Singapore). With nearly 10 years of experience in manufacturing, I had no hesitation when deciding to accept this invitation from SingEx. And I came to Singapore in the fall of 2019 with the desire to learn about new technologies & technologies of Industry 4.0 which have changed drastically in the last 5 years from developed countries, which in Vietnam is just being mentioned as a trendy concept.

The Asia-Pacific Industrial Transformation Exhibition (ITAP 2019), an event organized by Singex and Hannover Messe in Singapore from October 22-24, 2019, is designed as a “Receiving Journey. knowledge ”to access and support learning needs, apply 4.0 technology and digital solutions to manufacturing plants in the region including Vietnam. Guest to open the opening of this important exhibition is Mr. Heng Swee Keat – Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Finance of Singapore.

This is the second time this exhibition has been held, but its attractiveness is so great that by the end of the third day I remember when I was about to pull my suitcase full of solution brochures for production 4.0 out of the gate at 5pm. and still see interested businesses as well as individuals still there to talk to the solution providers. This is a good sign, guys.

When I entered the exhibition, the one that caught my eye the most impressive was the slogan “Rethink Manufacturing”. Yes, we really need to rethink production. Production 4.0 is essentially a manufacturing process. The difference is that with smart manufacturing, factories apply information technology (for example, IoT, MES) to manage any machines and products manufactured from factories around the world. world. This will help businesses easily manage and coordinate and quickly make their decisions based on intelligent data provided from these 4.0 technology solutions. That’s what we before – owners of small & medium-sized factories (SMEs) have not been able to do. Moreover, the data will be updated in the cloud and in real time (realtime) is happening at the factory so anyone can follow it quickly.

In addition, the system makes predictions based on actual collected data to not only support departments and managers to operate smoothly, but also strictly control the operation process. It can be said that the solution of factory digitization is an advanced tool to help factories diversify products (or products with a complex part) and many parts of the world to reduce unnecessary waste. Yes. According to Singapore expert – Mr. Brandon Lee has 8 types of waste in factories today.

The familiar keywords that are repeated over 3 days at this exhibition are smart manufacturing (smart manufacturing), smart factory (smart factory, digital factory), Internet of Things (IoT), data communication. smart (smart data), standards of artificial intelligence (AI), VR & AR, machine learning, blockchain, sensors, etc. And all those things are being applied to factories like Bosch, ABB, Siemen, Sanofi, DHL, …

In 3 days with more than 350 exhibitors from around the world, 50 leading experts shared the topics of application (Techtalk) into practice such as Data Management in Production 4.0 (Oracle). , HR in Industry 4.0, Agriculture 4.0 or Siemens’ Future of Automation, how government & manufacturing businesses develop solutions for the 4th industrial revolution with lessons from Brazil … On the same day, the Standard Forum & workshop is important to hear from Japanese & Singapore experts how to implement IoT or smart production according to specific practical roadmap with the required standards or protocols. default for 4.0 from UL.

The important thing here that I realize is that their complete solutions have been implemented in many factories around the world. That is no longer research or theory. According to a photo shared by an expert from Siemens, they are already preparing for the third step.

In addition, in this process, I also learned that the application of AR / VR to train new employees at large companies & corporations has been strongly implemented to avoid wasting training human resources in the traditional way. . This is also a testament to how close 4.0 technology is to accompany businesses.

In addition, specific universities such as Singapore Polytechnic (SP) have been quick to update SkillsFuture courses such as Engineer 4.0, Digital transformation in production, Construction of IoT projects, Data analysis. materials applied in industry, etc. to bring practical knowledge to students in the fastest way.

From this exhibition, a thought in me (an industrial unit) is that small & medium-sized manufacturers in Vietnam have been left behind. Companies or large manufacturing groups have applied production 4.0, the product seen from smart factories is a homogeneous product of quality to help consumers peace of mind. Perhaps in Vietnam today, only manufacturers in the Top 50 largest enterprises in Vietnam or a part of FDI enterprises can keep up with this trend. What do we have of Vietnam’s small and medium-sized factories other than people and simple machines? What do we have of Vietnamese factories other than owners who refuse to learn and have not caught up with the trends of the times? What do our Vietnamese factories have in addition to being easy on the product?

Finally, I hope that we take seriously 4.0 production. Step outside to see how modern factories are and choose a solution that fits your production scale. I believe that regardless of the size of the SME factory in Vietnam, production 4.0 can be used to turn it into a smart factory to help optimize 8 wastes in a traditional factory. And what we need to do right now is to choose an exhibition on digital conversion to access this information soonest. Everything will change very quickly in the next 5 years radius at factories in Vietnam. And the secret to success in this 4.0 revolution lies not in the factory digitization solution, but in the change of minds of factory owners with a clear and determined deployment roadmap to the end.

Do not forget to thank the Singapore expo organizers (SingEx) for helping me to have this complete trip.

Mr. Aloysius Arlando (CEO, Singex) & author

Source : Theo