Vietnam Supporting Industry: Sustainable Manufacturing and Development with Automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

In this context, the representative of the organizing committee, Mr. Vu Trong Tai - General Director of RX Tradex Vietnam said: "This year, in addition to the latest equipment and technology, we also bring two new fields in VME-SIE. Firstly, the industrial junction part gives industrial manufacturers new technologies for joints. Secondly, technology and solutions for material management in warehouses and products in industrial manufacturing plants. This is very important because it brings solutions for Vietnamese enterprises to increase productivity, reduce costs as well as increase quality in production."

Mr. Vu Trong Tai – General Director of RX Tradex Vietnam

The supporting industry is an attractive field, attracting a large amount of foreign investment capital into Vietnam. However, it is necessary to create mechanisms and motivations to promote the domestic supporting industry to develop more in order to create a spillover effect for domestic enterprises. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has been actively implementing the Supporting Industry Development Program from 2016 to 2025. Thereby, Vietnamese supporting industry enterprises are facilitated to apply modern quality management standards and systems as well as improve product quality, reliability and step-by-step participate in the supply chain of FDI enterprises and global value chains of multinational corporations, increasing the localization rate in important manufacturing industries such as automobiles, textiles, footwear, electron.

Ms. Do Thi Thuy Huong and Mr. Savi Phan Nhan signed a cooperation agreement on the enterprise initiative community project

Under fierce competitive pressure from the market in increasing productivity, reducing labor costs, improving production efficiency and product quality, automation is increasingly widely applied in industries. If automation has effective application, manufacturing enterprises can create breakthroughs in production and business activities. Along with that, the combination of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and other technologies with robotic process automation will have the potential to reshape the business environment.

Ms. Do Thi Thuy Huong – representative of the Vietnam Association of Supporting Industries (VASI) also shared about sustainable development in the global supply chain and Vietnamese businesses have been doing to take advantage and seize opportunities in the supply chain shift. In 2021, Vietnam had a trade surplus of 4 billion USD, especially the electronics industry has a trade surplus of 11.5 billion USD. In 2022, Vietnam had a trade surplus of 11.2 billion USD, the electronics industry alone has a trade surplus of 11.24 billion USD, accounting for 30.08% of the proportion of exports compared to the whole country (371.85 billion USD). The electronics industry had greatly contributed to the foreign exchange balance and trade balance for the whole country.

Although there has been a certain improvement, many opinions still believe that Vietnam's supporting industry enterprises have not met the requirements and expectations of large corporations in the world. The capacity of supporting industry enterprises is still limited in terms of labor force, science and technology. However, Vietnam has integrated into the international economy with many Free Trade Agreements, which brings opportunities as well as brings great challenges to domestic supporting industry enterprises when competing with supporting industry enterprises from abroad investing in Vietnam.

At the meeting, Ms. Tran Thi Hong Lien – Deputy Director of BEA, Vietnam Confederation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) provided more information related to production standards when entering the European market for Vietnamese industrial and supporting industry enterprises when participating in the global supply chain.

Ms. Tran Thi Hong Lien – Deputy Director of BEA, VCCI 

Seminar with the topic: Improving understanding of the Law on Supply Chain Appraisal - the responsibility of enterprises when participating in the global supply chain

The forum continued with the "Improving understanding of the Law on Supply Chain Appraisal - the responsibility of enterprises when participating in global supply chains" topic. The meeting had the attendance of Mr. Nguyen Hoang Ha - ILO Senior Programme Officer; Ms. Tran Thi Hong Lien, Deputy Director of BEA, VCCI; Ms. Nguyen Xuan Thuy - Project Specialist of GIZ (Germany) and the moderation of the seminar was conducted by Ms. Do Thi Thuy Huong, Vice President of VASI.

The speakers answered many questions and concerns from enterprises and organizations about the advantages and disadvantages of Vietnamese small and medium enterprises, especially in the field of supporting industry and electronics industry, when implementing the new Law on Due diligence Responsibility in the Supply Chain were answered by the speakers. The seminar also became lively with many interactive questions from the audience. Suggestions and good practice models in public-private cooperation were also shared and suggested by speakers in the next activities of the project with the Social Responsibility Practice Business Support Department located at VCCI with technical support from GIZ.

Finally, the Forum introduced the exciting next activity of the 14th Vietnam Manufacturing Expo (VME 2023) which will be held from August 9 to 11, 2023 at Ha Noi I.C.E Exhibition Center (Palace of Culture). With the participation of more than 200 exhibitors who are manufacturers, distributors, business manufacturers, technology and advanced machinery manufacturers from 20 countries, many activities will be held throughout 3 days. The exhibition is expected to support businesses and visitors in connecting with dealers, distributors and business partners.

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