Metalex Vietnam 2015 helps promote support industries

Participants at these exhibitions included more than 500 industrial brands from 25 countries. Metalex Vietnam 2015 presented advanced technologies, equipment and technological solutions as well as modern manufacturing processes in the field of support industries.

The Business Alliance for Supporting Industry Show 2015 presented a range of metal and plastic components and spare parts. It offered a chance for Japanese businesses that wanted to buy made-in-Vietnam components to meet Vietnamese component manufacturers. The show was a result of cooperation between the Ho Chi Minh City Investment and Trade Promotion Center (ITPC HCMC) and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) over the last many years.

Visitors to Metalex Vietnam 2015 had a chance to meet ABB Robotics’ dual armed robot, known as YuMi. YuMi was intentionally given a human-shaped design. Its compact, dual-arm body requires no more space than a human workstation. Each magnesium arm flexes on seven axes in order to achieve human-like movements and dexterity. YuMi is the world’s first robot that can safely handle tasks side-by-side with humans, such as assembling super-small parts and components that require high accuracy and automation. YuMi was built to handle anything from the delicate parts of a wristwatch to the components found in tablets and mobile phones. It performs with an accuracy which enables it to thread a needle. YuMi’s performance helped visitors better understand the importance of precision engineering.

Metalex Vietnam 2015 also featured a Vietnam Support Industries Forum, Engineer Master Class, Business Matchmaking Service, and the Koma Taisen Tournament, broadening visitor vision and helping improve the knowledge of people who work in the Vietnamese support industries.

The exhibition offered Vietnamese businesses a chance to meet new customers and discover new technologies that can help them manufacture standard products or improve production efficiency and productivity. It also helped domestic and foreign businesses seek reliable, potential partners.

Duangdej Yuaikwarmdee, Deputy Managing Director and General Manager of the Reed Tradex Co., Ltd. in Vietnam, said Vietnam was one of the leading Southeast Asian auto spare parts, motorcycle components and steel products manufacturing centers. However, even businesses based in Ho Chi Minh City’s industrial and export-processing zones and foreign companies operating in Vietnam still have to import materials for manufacturing these products. Therefore, Metalex Vietnam 2015 was expected to help Vietnamese businesses develop support industries to meet the domestic demand for these materials.

According to ITPC HCMC Deputy Director Nguyen Tuan, manufacturers from Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Chinese Taipei are tending to move their factories from other countries to Vietnam. This will bring about high demand for on-site manufactured components. Vietnamese businesses need to grasp these opportunities to become components and spare parts suppliers for foreign manufacturers. Metalex Vietnam 2015 will help domestic businesses improve their capabilities in the field of support industries.

In his speech at the opening ceremony of Metalex Vietnam 2015, JETRO’s Chief Representative in Ho Chi Minh City Hirotaka Yasuzumi said that 88 Japanese companies participated in the exhibition with the aim to seek suitable Vietnamese components suppliers and opportunities to cooperate with Vietnamese businesses in developing support industries. These Japanese companies operate in fields such as molding, casting, engineering, metalworking, heat treatment, and surface treatment.

Atsushi Hisano, Director for Attraction of Foreign Direct Investment in Tokyo, Commerce and Industry Division, Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs, said Vietnamese support industries were still at their initial period of development and therefore need assistance from Japanese businesses. Vietnamese companies can cooperate with Japanese businesses in fields such as manufacturing precise details and spare parts of aircrafts and machinery for textile and garment production. Cooperation will promote their mutual development. Tokyo has a lot of small and medium companies that can cooperate with Vietnamese businesses in support industries. However, the quality of Vietnamese products is not particularly high - this is the main reason hindering cooperation between Japanese and Vietnamese businesses. 

My Phung