ASEAN moving towards smart production

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) has been strongly affecting every field and subsequently promoting digital transformation, and ASEAN countries have therefore been working hard to adopt smart production.

The factory of the ITM Semiconductor Vietnam Co. Ltd in the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park in Tu Son town, Bac Ninh province

In 2020, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) proposed an initiative to build a road map and adopt solutions to foster smart production in Southeast Asian countries.

Vu Thi Tu Quyen, an official from MST’s Directorate for Standards, Metrology, and Quality, said the results of the agency’s survey of smart manufacturing methods in 93 enterprises from 10 ASEAN countries pointed out the importance of smart manufacturing solutions in the region amid ongoing global trends.

Industry 4.0 has shown that promoting the development of digital production by boosting the digitalisation of and connectivity between products, value chains, and business models will contribute to GDP growth, she noted.

She cited many reports suggesting that to increase workplace productivity, it is important to foster production by linking machinery, data, and value chains towards digital transformation and smart manufacturing.

Smart production is forecast to grow strongly in the ASEAN region from 2025, Quyen added.

The official emphasised that ASEAN countries have been taking different steps in accessing and promoting smart production, proving Vietnam’s initiative to build a road map and adopt solutions to foster smart production in the region is necessary and more practical than ever.

In Vietnam, the Prime Minister has issued a directive on enhancing the capacity of accessing Industry 4.0; the Politburo a resolution that gave orientations for making national industrial development policies until 2030 with a vision to 2045; and the Prime Minister a decision to approve the national programme on supporting businesses to improve productivity and goods quality for 2021-2030, which includes the promotion of smart manufacturing.

Meanwhile, MST adopted a national science and technology programme, and another programme called “Make in Vietnam” was launched by the Ministry of Information and Communications with a view to stepping up digital transformation and the domestic ICT industry.

Nghiem Xuan Thanh, Chairman of the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), stressed that in its development strategy for 2030 and vision to 2045, the bank looks to become the leading financial - banking group in the country, one of the 50 largest banks in Asia, and one of the top 200 financial - banking groups in the world.

To that end, it will bolster digital transformation, improve operational efficiency, invest resources in innovation and science - technology development, and strengthen cooperation with foreign partners in technology transfer, he went on.

The report on the road map and solutions to boost smart manufacturing in ASEAN noted that many member countries have been implementing policies to support and facilitate smart production so as to make breakthroughs for their economies.

The ASEAN Consultative Committee on Standards and Quality (ACCSQ) is the body coordinating with partners and relevant committees of ASEAN in this regard. As Chair of ACCSQ, Vietnam is responsible for working closely with other member countries to effectively carry out the road map and solutions to boost smart production in the region, thus contributing to regional integration and assisting enterprises to develop sustainably./.

VNA