A new era for manufacturing industry in Vietnam

Although many of its economic fundamentals remain strong, the country’s manufacturing industry need to shift its productivity to higher standard. Whereby, Metalex Vietnam 2017 which will be held on 12 – 14 October, focusing on metrology and automation technology to serve. The organiser will share as following the reason why now is time to make the mark in preparing for new transactions in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s economy has become an extraordinarily long way in a short time. It has transformed from one of the poorest in the world since 30 years ago to not only becoming one of the major international hubs for manufacturing, but the biggest global exporters of mobile phones. According to the report from Global Competitiveness Index, Vietnam is now considered more competitive than six countries of the European Union. Even more notably, 4 out of these 6 countries, namely Slovenia, Cyprus, Slovakia and Greece, are considered as advanced global economies, and have the GDP per capita of at least US$17,700, eight times more than Vietnam.

Vietnam’s producers intend not only to strengthen positions in the domestic market but also to expand exports. Mr. Chris Humphrey, executive director of the Singapore-based EU-ASEAN Business Council, noted that “The zero-tariff regime (under the ASEAN Economic Community) does allow Vietnam to assemble components and parts to serve the auto-manufacturing industry elsewhere – for example, developing a supply industry to serve the auto-assembly industry in Thailand” – a country short of skilled labour. Indeed, ASEAN remains traditional export market for Vietnam.

However, the role of ASEAN for Vietnamese exporters changed due to their higher interest in premium markets. In particular, over January-September 2016, the share of ASEAN countries in total foreign shipments accounted for 51% versus 85% during the same period last year. Vietnam is focusing on non-core but premium markets such as the US, South Korea, Japan and Europe, according to Metal Expert in Focus.

Ms. Kasinee Phantteeranurak, Project Manager of Reed Tradex shared “Europe, Japan, Korea and USA are potential premium markets for Vietnam. They are high-end manufacturer, thus, dimensional stability and precision requirements are extremely high. When discussing with industry experts, we received the idea that metrology technologies should be given more attention.”

Dr Henry Shih, CEO of SuperAlloy Industrial Company Ltd. (SAI) - a supplier of high-quality lightweight forged metal products to the world's top-tier car makers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Ford, Toyota, GM, Honda and many others, shared the same view, “When we entered the European market in 2008, we discovered the need of metrology solutions to meet customer’s demand. We began with CMM measurement which could deliver in-process measurement control and real-time data feedback on our existing CNC machines, thereby providing effective precision manufacturing control. This was a massive help in terms of increasing production efficiency and precision.”

The manufacturing industry has already evolved from focusing on basic requirements and performance towards enhanced efficiency, precision, and reduced emissions. Enhance businesses’ capacity to absorb technology is the main purpose of running Metalex Vietnam 2017. Besides the above-mentioned metrology technology, Metalex Vietnam will bring the future technologies for manufacturing industry, such as 3D technology, automation & robotics from leading brands such as Hexagon, Misumi, Keyence, Weldcom, SMC, Hiwin, etc. The exhibition will also welcome the presence of local manufacturers and vendors such as New Century, Tri Viet, Nhat Cuong, Vina Machines, An Viet Long, to name a few, which promises to bring the effective interactions among all the parties.

Dimensional metrology is one of the key technologies used in the quality control process to inspect accuracy of produced components, and is considered as an integral aspect of the manufacturing process. All updated incumbent manufacturing and quality inspection technologies with emerging approaches will be ready at Metalex Vietnam 2017 on 12 – 14 October, at Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC).