The Covid-19 pandemic has frozen the manufacturing industry, but it is a driving force for digital transformation, improving competitiveness, creating breakthroughs in production and business, towards smart manufacturing.

Digital transformation is an inevitable development trend of businesses.
Photo: ST

On August 27, in Hanoi, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) cooperated with Microsoft to hold a webinar titled "Practical solutions to support digital transformation for manufacturing enterprises".

Innovating to meet challenges

Speaking at the webinar, Hoang Quang Phong, Vice President of VCCI, emphasized the importance of digital transformation for manufacturing enterprises. Therefore, businesses need to have a clear transformation strategy, develop a detailed plan for each stage and define all criteria to have clear measurements.

According to Mr. Phong, digital transformation in the manufacturing industry is not only about automating production lines or better analyzing data, but this also involves a change in thinking, new approaches and solving problems. The willingness to change thinking and apply new technologies will help managers improve production efficiency in their businesses.

At the webinar, a number of businesses shared successful experiences in the digitization process. For example, Nanoco that manufactures and distributes electrical products in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia has been able to maintain its business and operations amid the Covid-19 pandemic thanks to its decision to digitize the entire system with the Microsoft 365 solution on Microsoft Azure's cloud computing platform.

Tecomen Group (a manufacturer of Karofi water purification equipment in Vietnam) has also performed digital transformation for all six branches on the cloud platform, helping the company's staff to quickly extract reports anywhere and anytime, in just a few hours, instead of taking a few days as before.

According to businesses and experts, although the Covid-19 pandemic has "frozen" the manufacturing industry, it is a factor that urges businesses in the industry to innovate to cope with immediate challenges and prepare for the future.

Nearly 80% of machines are old technology

However, regarding the current situation of digital transformation of enterprises, Mr. Le Van Khuong, Director of Northern Small and Medium Enterprises Support Center, Ministry of Planning and Investment, said that according to statistics from Cisco, the digitization process of small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam can contribute from US$24-30 billion to GDP in 2024. However, there are still more than 70% of small and medium enterprises reacting passively to market changes. Nearly 80% of the machines used by Vietnamese enterprises comprise old technology of the 1980s and 1990s, so they face big barriers in digital transformation.

Moreover, the current situation of digital transformation of Vietnamese enterprises is still difficult due to the lack of digital skills and human resources; a lack of strong enough information technology background; lack of cultural thinking or challenges; the digital conversion model does not match.

Therefore, Mr. Khuong said the Ministry of Planning and Investment is implementing a program to support businesses in digital transformation in the 2021-2025 period through integrating and applying digital technology to improve the efficiency of production and business activities, enhance capacity and competitive advantage, and create new values for enterprises.

The goal is that by 2025, 100% of businesses will have increased awareness of digital transformation; at least 100,000 businesses receive support from the program; the 100 supported businesses are successes in digital transformation, targeting manufacturing and processing enterprises; and establishing a network of experts including at least 100 consulting organizations and individuals to promote digital transformation.

In addition, according to experts, the manufacturing industry needs to focus on important orientations such as transforming the workforce, building flexible factories by applying technology and the internet of things (IoT), connecting with customers in new ways, building sustainable supply chains, innovating and creating new services.