Enterprises urged to take action amid Industry 4.0 wave

Despite the Government priority given to leveraging the use of Industry 4.0 technologies and local firms’ additional attention to the advantages which the technologies could bring in, the widespread adoption faces considerable barriers relating to underqualified workforce. (Illustrative photo: VOV)

A recent survey by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) indicates that up to 75 per cent of manufacturing enterprises in Vietnam have run operations based on fully-depreciated machines.

Many also said that they had failed to remove out-of-date technologies from their manufacturing process. Up to 24 per cent of the queried firms affirmed that the technology they possess is of an average level of innovative performance. Indeed, only 1 per cent confirmed the use of advanced technologies.

Le Cong Thanh, CEO of InfoRe Technology firm, said that despite the Government priority given to leveraging the use of Industry 4.0 technologies and local firms’ additional attention to the advantages which the technologies could bring in, the widespread adoption faces considerable barriers relating to underqualified workforce. Therefore, Thanh called for the re-training of local IT engineers in order to make them adaptable to new technological waves.

Big data remains a common weakness for many companies, he added. “Vietnamese data sources are overused by overseas entities as they are primarily collected via software installed on local users’ smart phones. Therefore, domestic entities do not have much data necessary to build useful applications for the society.”

Another weakness is computing infrastructure which has forced most Vietnamese artificial intelligence researchers to stick to the free infrastructure provided by Google, he stressed.

Trinh Minh Giang, chairman of the Venture Management Consulting Group (VMCG), said that the key to domestic enterprises amid Industry 4.0 trends is to outline a clear and detailed plan to both update and make good use of technological advances.

In recent years, local firms have been paying closer attention to changes in digital advancements and technological applications.

“There are businesses operating with only four to five staff but they can earn hundreds of millions of USD thanks to a proper operation scheme and the drastic application of technologies to optimize their business models. In the past three years, we have made investments into some subsidiaries to develop core technologies.”

Experts said that with Industry 4.0 approaching, businesses must sharpen changes to their perception of production methods and business environment, while also seeking ways to develop future technologies.

Vo Tri Thanh, Director of the Research Institute for Brand and Competitiveness Strategy, emphasized the significance of perfecting a legal framework of data development. This would be the first and foremost step in the process as data has close links to ownership, access rights, privacy, and data transfer, especially in cross-border shifting.

“We must take a drastic step in terms of data development for businesses, residents, and e-Government.”

A sufficient skill-based education system is also needed to provide the market with qualified workforce while efforts should also be raised to eliminate outdated and irrelevant technologies that hinder corporate development, and attract additional investment in developing and applying cutting-edge technologies into new business models.