Seriousness, flexibility and creativeness

Factory Z173 under the General Department of Defence Industry has tasks of building ships and floating structures; building and repairing military ships to serve defence missions; and participating in shipbuilding for domestic economic sectors and for export.

Colonel Tran The Son, Secretary of the Factory’s Party Committee, said that since the beginning of the 2020–2025 term, the Party Committee and the factory’s leadership have focused on implementing Directive No. 05, Conclusion No. 01 of the Central Party Committee, and Resolution No. 847 of the Central Military Commission on promoting the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s thought, morality, and style.

Accordingly, every year, the Party Committee studies, builds, and issues plans for implementing directives, conclusions, and resolutions; while directing Party committees and Party organisations to guide cadres, Party members, and employees to commit to self-cultivation and strive for improvment, especially learning to improve scientific and technological knowledge.

In communication work, in addition to organising conferences grasping through directives, conclusions, and resolutions, every year the Factory’s Party Committee directs Party cells to build thematic study contents on learning Ho Chi Minh’s thought, morality, and style suitable with the specific tasks of each unit; encouraging cadres and Party members to learn about Uncle Ho’s teachings for the army via posts on online pages such as the “Hoathep group” and the unit’s website.

The studying and following of Uncle Ho are integrated by the Party Committee with the campaign to uphold tradition, dedicate talent, and live up to the title of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers,” in addition to the army’s emulation movement for decisive victory, in order to promote the spirit of labour and creativity of each person.

The Party Committee of Factory Z173 has issued a set of criteria for studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s thought, morality, and style, focusing on regulations on exemplary spirit of cadres, Party members, and heads of Party committees and units.

Party organisations regularly organise thematic study sessions on building the working style and methods of leaders, cadres, and Party members, promoting the study and practice of revolutionary ethics by soldiers as they strive to be worthy of the title of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” in the new era.

Every year, the Party Committee and the factory’s leaders commend and reward outstanding collectives and individuals in studying and following of Uncle Ho, thereby creating an exciting emulation movement, promoting soldiers’ spirit, will and determination of winning victories on the front of labour and production. As a result, despite many difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and fierce competition in the regional and global shipbuilding market, the factory has made breakthroughs and developed strongly.

Towards building a smart factory

Colonel Nguyen Bien Thuy, Deputy Director in charge of technique at Factory Z173, said that through the movements of studying and following Uncle Ho, the factory’s cadres have self-studied and improved their technical competence. To date, they have proficiently applied the results of technology design software into production. Instead of assembling many components on site, cadres and workers have precisely manufactured them in workshops and then assembly them on ships, contributing to saving human resources, shortening construction schedules, and improving product quality. Previously, it took two and a half to three years to build a 3,000–3,500-tonne ship, but it now it can be achieved in only 18 months.

Since 2020, Factory Z173 has had 25 scientific research projects and 192 technical innovations and improvements; creating the basis for successfully building many projects of warships, military vessels, auxiliary ships, transport ships, and specialised ships for the forces of the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Public Security, and domestic and foreign investors and enterprises.

Products built by the factory have operated stably, fully promoting their technical and tactical features, meeting mission requirements, and giving peace of mind and confidence to the forces during long-term operations at sea, which has been highly appreciated by investors and users.

“We always keep in mind Uncle Ho’s words ‘nothing is difficult if one’s will is strong,” shared Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, a staff member of the Technical Department. In the course of work, Thuy diligently researched and completed the project on the “research, design, and manufacture of a 500kVA three-phase load test system with water.”

As a result, the factory successfully designed a water-based dummy load cabinet system that ensures safety and compactness. When operated, it has all protection modes and gauges, water temperature, voltage, frequency, power, and current indicators to meet practical requirements, bringing high economic efficiency.

In addition, Thuy and cadres have researched and created many valuable projects and initiatives such as: “research and manufacture of an industrial drying cabinet system” and “design and manufacture of a testing device for separately excited DC generator engines”, among others.

According to the report of the Party Committee of Factory Z173, during the 2020–2025 term, the unit’s production and business targets have all increased compared to the 2015–2020 period, in which total revenue reached nearly 5,000 billion VND, with an average income of over 18 million VND per person per month.

In the next term, the factory’s Party Committee has been determined to continue promoting to study and follow Uncle Ho in association with emulation movements in the army, creating a nucleus for accomplishing the set goals and tasks.