Textile and footwear industry innovation under the industrial revolution 4.0

Apply new technology to increase the competitiveness of textile and garment industry in the international market. Picture: Nguyen Hue.

Applying new technology

Mr. Pham Xuan Hong, Chairman of Textile and Apparel Association of Ho Chi Minh City, said that textile and garment enterprises have gradually applied the spirit of the industry 4.0 from 4-5 years ago through the improvement of equipment, applying new technologies in textile production, applying software in production management, etc. However, the application of technology in enterprises in previous years was still low due to low competitive pressure. From 2017 until now, enterprises are under pressure to compete with other countries in the region requiring faster conversion. In addition, the pressure on labor force also forced enterprises to apply technology to reduce labor-intensive production.

According to Mr. Hong, the wave of the industrial revolution 4.0 has had a dramatic impact on textile and apparel enterprises that forced businesses to change to survive and thrive. However, the application of technology 4.0 for each company is different depending on the situation and financial ability of each enterprise. Currently, the majority of garment enterprises have been automated in some stages such as cutting fabric, adding bags, packing bags, lean production process is also applied at higher levels. Some textile and dyeing enterprises have applied advanced European technology into production such as laser technology, nano... in production. The overall technology of the textile industry in Vietnam, especially the garment industry is higher than many countries in the region such as Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Bangladeshi...

As one of the leading companies in the application of new technologies to production, Mr. Phan Van Viet, Director of Viet Thang Jean said that in nearly 5 years, Viet Thang Jean has gradually applied the world's most modern technology into production. Typically the laser technology of Spain, Italy to wash fabric, and using ozone technology, Nano Italy, Germany, Spain to dye...

According to Mr. Viet, applying new technology to textile production, dyeing not only improves the quality of products, minimizes labor use, cost of premises, factories (down from 50-70%), but also arranged management in a scientific way of handling, especially solving the weakness of the textile dyeing on the environment by completely eliminating waste gas, sewage and solid waste. In addition, the new technology also helps businesses shorten the majority of production time (before it took 45 days to be able to create new models, now only takes about 1 week), so catching up with the trend of the market, increasing the competitiveness of products ...

Just like the textile industry, the industrial revolution 4.0 has changed dramatically in terms of raising productivity and science and technology, and cheap labor competition is no longer an advantage for the footwear industry. In the footwear industry, there are foreign companies using robots to carry out glue scraping and detailing.

According to information from the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association, there are also many large companies in Vietnam that have invested in machinery to switch to some stage in production. Typically, Viet A Chau Development Investment Joint Stock Company has invested in 3D scanners and printers to serve as molds. Thai Binh Shoes has been equipped with a large number of new technology machinery for sample development and production, such as programmable sewing machines, computerized embroidery machines, laser cutting machines... to automate the production stages. These technologies not only help businesses increase labor productivity, shorten delivery time and reduce costs, but also reduce risk in some production stages for workers.

Enterprises forced to change

From his experience, Mr. Viet said that to catch up with the industrial revolution 4.0, enterprises must turn to automation, must have market. Particularly, materials must be synchronized from traditional materials to high-tech materials.

To change in the spirit of industry 4.0, enterprises not only have to take some preparation time of at least a few years, but also must have large capital because compared with old technology which only took 3-5 years to recover capital, the recovery time of new technologies takes 10-15 years. Besides, in order to use new technologies, enterprises must have human resources capable of receiving and exploiting technologies. This is not easy for all businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, but businesses still have to make the effort to change and integrate, especially businesses in Ho Chi Minh City.

Although the footwear industry is making a lot of effort in applying management methods and technology to solve the problem of productivity, but, according to Mr. Nguyen Van Khanh, general secretary of Leather Association in Ho Chi Minh City, the application of technology in the spirit of industrial revolution 4.0 is still the dream of the footwear industry due to investment. This requires a lot of capital, while the size of the enterprises is very small, financial capacity is limited and the leather industry is still the main processing. At present, there are very few enterprises applying modern technologies to automate some stages of production process.

Although difficult, but according to the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Association, leather shoes companies cannot stand outside the industrial revolution 4.0. Therefore, enterprises must strive to change their vision and new investment strategy in an increasingly competitive environment.