Festo, a German supplier of automation technology and technical education, plans to set up a plant in Vietnam to take advantage of the increasing foreign investment and production in the country.

The cyber-physical learning factory of Festo (Photo courtesy of the company) 

But it has not announced the time frame for it.

Ansgar Kriwet, member of the management board of Festo, said Vietnam has the fastest growing economy in Southeast Asia with a growth rate of 6.5 percent.

Manufacturing is its strongest sector and accounts for more than 50 percent of FDI, he said.

As Asia’s new manufacturing hub, Vietnam requires strong support from motion automation, he said.

Putting industry 4.0 into action means both intensively investigating new technologies and preparing employees for the challenges of future production, he added.

Festo's cyber-physical systems encompass the new developments of networked production in industry 4.0 and offer a modular smart factory system for teaching and research purposes.

In Vietnam, the company has partnered with 25 schools, universities, and industry-wide institutes to train specialists.

It annually invests around 8 percent of its revenues into research and development and makes 100 new products ready for patenting.

It has more than 300,000 customers in 176 countries in more than 20 industry sectors like pneumatics, servo pneumatics and electrical automation.

It expanded its regional logistics centre in 2017 to better support the Vietnamese and other markets in Southeast Asia.