Vietnam’s mechanical engineering industry is lagging behind the country’s development milestones and demands. Domestic mechanical enterprises are currently facing many challenges, weaker competitiveness than mechanical enterprises in countries in the region and around the world.
Identifying opportunities and challenges of Vietnam’s mechanical engineering industry, the article proposes a few recommendations to help Vietnamese mechanics overcome challenges, take advantage of opportunities and develop sustainably in the context of the Industrial Revolution 4.0.

Development situation of Vietnam Mechanical Industry
Mechanical engineering is one of the industries with a long history in our country. Initially, it was manifested in the form of craftsmanship creating production tools, weapons … serving the construction, development and preservation of the country.

During the French colonial period, although this profession was strongly developed, it could not become an industry in the true sense of engineering. It was not until 1958, when Tran Hung Dao Mechanical Factory was built, that the foundation of the mechanical industry was rekindled.

Since then, the industry has developed quite comprehensively, has specialized in a number of areas, the level of technology is also at a certain level and plays a role as the “backbone” industry of social production, supply of equipment, machine tools, movers … for all economic sectors, meeting the daily needs of the people, making an important contribution to the development of the land economy country.

Identify the important and fundamental role of the mechanical industry in socio-economic development. On October 17, 2003, the Politburo issued Conclusion 25-KL / TW on the development strategy of Vietnam’s mechanical industry with specific views and guidelines: “Mechanical engineering is a base industry. foundation, has a particularly important role in the socio-economic development “and” must build the mechanical engineering industry to be competitive enough to rise up in the market mechanism and international economic integration. “

Institutionalizing the Party’s guidelines and policies, the Government has promulgated a Strategy for the development of Vietnam’s Mechanical Industry to 2010, with a vision to 2002, mechanisms and policies to prioritize the development of a number of specialties and key mechanical products.

The Prime Minister issued Decision No. 10/2009 / QD-TTg of January 16, 2009, on the mechanism to support the development of production of key mechanical products and the List of key mechanical products and the List of key mechanical products. key investment projects on manufacturing mechanical products, period 2009-2015; Decision No. 1791 / QD-TTg dated November 29, 2012 of the Prime Minister approving the mechanism of pilot implementation of domestic design and manufacture of equipment for thermal power plants in the period 2012-2025; Decision No. 1556 / QD-TTg dated October 17, 2012 of the Prime Minister approving the Project “Supporting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the field of supporting industries”; Directive No. 494 / CT-TTg of April 20, 2010 of the Prime Minister on the use of domestically-produced materials and goods in bidding for projects using state capital.

Taking advantage of the attention and support of the Government and the Vietnamese mechanical engineering industry in recent time has achieved certain results.

Specifically, a number of fields recorded changes and breakthroughs such as: Manufacturing hydraulic equipment (providing for large and small hydroelectric plants throughout the country), manufacturing oil rig ( supplying oil and gas exploration and exploitation drilling rigs to a depth of 120m, self-elevating drilling rigs of 90m water, oil well-drilling rigs), electric equipment, manufacturing and supplying equipment for cement and shipbuilding plants. types (oil tankers up to 105 thousand DWT, liquefied gas tankers with a tonnage of up to 5,000 tons, bulk carriers, etc.), complete equipment and facilities (sugar plants with a capacity of 1,000 tons of sugarcane / day, processing rubber latex with a capacity of 6,000 tons / year).

Domestic mechanical engineering has also produced and assembled almost all types of cars, trucks and passenger cars; Motorbike manufacture has the localization ratio of 85-95%, meeting domestic demand and export.

A number of research and design agencies and mechanical manufacturing enterprises have been gradually renovating and improving their consultancy, designing and manufacturing equipment and technology capacity, taking part in implementing a number of bidding packages of projects. national key projects.

The number of mechanical enterprises increased rapidly, from about 10,000 enterprises (in 2010) to more than 21,000 enterprises in 2016, accounting for 28% of the total number of manufacturing enterprises, creating jobs for more than 1 million employees, accounting for 17% of the total number of employees. in processing industry. According to calculations by the Industrial Strategy and Policy Institute (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the industrial production value of the Mechanics industry in 2015 accounted for 16.36% of the production value of the processing and manufacturing industry.

According to statistics, in 2016, the export turnover of mechanical products also reached over 13 billion USD, mainly of all kinds of home appliances and spare parts of cars and motorcycles. If including steel, all kinds of export turnover of mechanical products of Vietnam in 2016 reached over 16 billion USD. These results have partly contributed positively to socio-economic development and accelerated industrialization and modernization of the country.

Although certain results have been achieved, the mechanical engineering industry in Vietnam still has many limitations, reflected in the following specific aspects:

Firstly, about the market: Mechanical industry is diversified in products but competition from imported products is quite fierce. The expansion of the market is still difficult due to the lack of market information and the competitiveness of domestic enterprises is not strong enough.

Even in the domestic market, mechanical enterprises are also difficult to participate in investment projects to install equipment in the country.

Opportunities and challenges for Vietnam’s Mechanical Industry in the Industrial Revolution 4.0
According to experts, Industrial Revolution 4.0 has an important impact on mechanical production in the present and in the future, especially on the issues of technology management, production management … Specifically, Industry 4.0 will bring many opportunities for the development of Vietnam’s Mechanical Industry, which are:

Firstly, Industry Revolution 4.0 allows mechanical enterprises to access information, knowledge, access to advanced technologies …

Secondly, Industry Revolution 4.0 with breakthroughs in new technologies greatly reduces robot manufacturing and operating costs, drastically reducing production costs of additive manufacturing technology (3D printing technology), because That increases the ability to apply robots, embankment technology to replace cutting technology in mechanical production for countries with limited economic potential such as Vietnam.

Third, Industrial Revolution 4.0 is an opportunity for Vietnam to “leapfrog”. Vietnam’s mechanical engineering industry has not yet been developed, the scale is small, so the inertia is small, the risk may not cause too much loss.

Fourthly, mechanical workers are eager to learn and quick to adapt to new things, so it is very easy to adapt to new opportunities and technologies from Industry 4.0. , improve proficiency, create and capture advanced technology for application.

Fifthly, with quick access and flexible application of the achievements of Industrial Revolution 4.0, our country’s mechanical engineering industry will have many opportunities in improving technology level, increasing productivity, shortening time. time to bring products to market, produce products with quality, competitive prices … thereby, changing the way of management and management in mechanical production.

Besides the opportunities, Industrial Revolution 4.0 also brings many challenges to Vietnam’s Mechanical Industry, which are:

Firstly, during the Industrial Revolution 4.0, mechanical workers may have difficulty finding jobs, because manual jobs will be automatically replaced by robots and automated machines. The formation and development of a mechanical workforce equipped with skills and qualifications to exploit and master technologies and new modes of operation are also a big challenge for human resource training. Mechanical force in our country today.

Secondly, our country’s mechanical enterprises are mostly small and medium-sized enterprises, not yet capable of competing, not ready to access new technologies. Many enterprises are still passive in new development trends, not ready to change the business organization model, in which, competition pressure is increasingly fierce and facing pressure on investment resources for transformation. , innovation, breakthrough.

Thirdly, the Industrial Revolution 4.0 with new technologies, especially 3D printing technology (additive technology), has completely changed the traditional cutting technology of Vietnam’s Mechanical Industry. This technology allows customers to order products with customized designs and be produced at a faster rate and in the world, this technology is changing rapidly, not limited to manufacturing. products made from plastic materials, now metal materials are being applied this technology.

Not to mention, the mechanical manufacturing systems in Industry 4.0 must be systems capable of deep connection, identification, data collection and exchange such as Cyber ​​Physical Systems or Internet of Things, which are considered as Key technologies have not been applied in mechanical production in our country.

Issues raised for Vietnam’s Mechanical Industry
From the analysis of development practices, the limitations, challenges and opportunities of the Mechanical industry in the context of Industry 4.0, in order to promote the sustainable development of Vietnam’s Mechanical Industry, the Vietnam Mechanical Development Strategy needs and consider implementing the following:

– Regarding the market: Creating a market is a prerequisite for developing and handling trade fraud and the widespread importation of used equipment.

– Regarding investment capital: Creating a source of long-term loan capital with stable interest rates according to production investment characteristics for mechanical engineering enterprises.

– Regarding bidding activities of domestic constructions and projects: To promulgate bidding regulations in such a way as to contribute to raising the rate of use of home-made materials and goods and managing general contractors under contract forms. designing, supplying technological equipment and constructing works (EPC) of machinery and equipment, in order to create a market for domestic mechanical enterprises.

– Regarding industrial promotion, investment promotion and trade promotion: Develop mechanisms and policies to support production and encourage the consumption of mechanical products in the country in accordance with Vietnam’s international commitments. .

– Regarding business links: Deploy business connection programs to strengthen links and joint ventures between domestic enterprises and large enterprises in the world in the value chain to access technology and standardize. product.

In order to achieve the goal of 2035, Vietnam Mechanical Industry is developed with the majority of specialties with advanced technology, product quality of international standards, further participating in the global value chain, basically meet the demand for mechanical products of the domestic market; Export output reaches 45% of the total mechanical engineering output, in the coming time Vietnam should synchronously deploy the following strategic solutions:

Firstly, complete the system of mechanisms and policies synchronously and strong enough to support the development of the mechanical engineering industry. In the immediate future, the Government should formulate and promulgate a decree on development of manufacturing industry.

Secondly, developing downstream industries in the field of large-scale mechanical engineering in the supply chain to create opportunities for domestic mechanical enterprises to participate in supplying spare parts and components for manufacturing and assembling enterprises. final product assembly. In particular, focusing on the development of mechanical industries with development potential such as automobiles, industrial equipment, household engineering and tools …

Thirdly, improve the quality of trade promotion activities, attract investment from branded mechanical enterprises in the world to gradually form the domestic supply chain and seek to expand export markets for businesses. domestic engineering.

Fourthly, building and updating the database on mechanical enterprises; effective implementation of business connection programs, linking domestic enterprises with foreign businesses. At the same time, improve the quality of statistics as a basis for industry analysis and forecasts.

Fifth, ensure long-term loans with stable interest rates for mechanical businesses through support programs, preferential packages in accordance with domestic regulations and international commitments.

Sixthly, quickly completing synchronous standards and regulations for mechanical products, and at the same time, developing and improving the capacity of inspection and testing agencies according to the registered standards and regulations. .

Seventhly, building and developing a system of management, evaluation and granting of national vocational technical certificates, especially for vocational skills in the field of mechanics; Develop incentive mechanisms to encourage linkages between training institutions and enterprises in training activities and develop training programs and curricula that are appropriate to reality.