Although the Covid-19 pandemic is dramatically changing lives and economies around the globe and almost “freezes” the manufacturing industry, this is a factor accelerating digital transformation, improving competitiveness, and creating breakthroughs in business, towards smart production.

Philip Liang, business development manager of Transcend Information. Inc., made the statement at a video conference on November 5 in the framework of the Vietnam-ASOCIO Smart City Summit 2021.

This year’s summit has been jointly held by the Vietnam Software Association (VINASA) and the Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO).

Themed “Smart City,” the conference discussed the latest technology trends in smart cities with the participants of around 10,000 delegates from Vietnam and overseas with a view that smart city development translates into a better quality of life for citizens.

Digital transformation and improving competitiveness help create breakthroughs in smart manufacturing. Photo: Nguyen Hang

Speaking at the conference, Philip Liang said that the Covid-19 pandemic has exerted negative impacts on socio-economic stability and development nationwide, and is considered to be much more serious than last year, which has caused a great shock to the business community.

“However, on a positive side, this fierceness has changed the way the economy operates. Countries have focused on exploiting the strengths of digital transformation to unblock the global supply chain which was disrupted by the pandemic,” Philip Liang added.

He stressed that digital transformation is no longer a goal but an imperative action of businesses, especially of manufacturing businesses. Therefore, enterprises need to have a clear transformation strategy, make a detailed plan for each stage and quantify all criteria for a clear measurement.

Echoing Philip Liang, Le Minh Quan, production solution development specialist of FPT Software, said that digital transformation in the manufacturing industry is not only about automating production lines or analyzing good data but is also related to a change in thinking, approaching, and solving new issues.

“The willingness to change thinking and apply new technologies will help managers improve production efficiency in their businesses,” Quan said.

He noted that the Covid-19 pandemic is motivating businesses to innovate to cope with immediate challenges and prepare for the long-term future.

Nevertheless, General Director of Solpac Vietnam Dao Minh Quy said that most businesses currently lack an appropriate strategy for digital transformation.

“Digital transformation is not only about technology but also thinking and operating. Therefore, enterprises’ leaders must be sensitive and drastic in applying technology and have a digital vision to deploy specific strategies and action plans,” Quy said.

Overview of the video conference in the framework of the Vietnam-ASOCIO Smart City Summit 2021. Screenshot: Nguyen Ngan

He emphasized that to be able to successfully transform digitally, manufacturing enterprises need to focus on important orientations, with the most and foremost the transformation of the workforce through deploying technology solutions and applications to increase labor productivity.

Besides, building flexible factories by applying technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) into operation aims to ensure the production chain, thereby promoting quality and labor productivity is the way to go.

The next orientation consists of connecting with customers in new ways, delivering customer experiences in the fields of service, sales, and marketing channels.

Businesses should focus on building sustainable supply chains to improve traceability, establish risk assessment, crisis management plans, and implement autonomous supply chains.

Lastly, innovating and creating new services by discovering different business values ​​with digital services and sustainable products should be the direction.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic over the past two years has sped up the building and development of smart cities.

As Vietnam is pushing for digital transformation at a national scale, smart city development is in fact a digitalization process within each city or urban area.

Vice Chairman of VINASA Ngo Dien Hy said that along with digital transformation, smart city has become one of the global standards for development and a solution to optimize resources for sustainable growth, in turn providing a safe and convenient environment for the people towards prosperity.

About 40 Vietnamese cities and provinces have set forth projects on smart cities, Hy said, adding that smart industrial parks and factories have also been taken into consideration.

The development of the smart city has fast become an urgent need for countries around the world, with the Covid-19 pandemic serving as the main catalyst to accelerate such a process, the VINASA vice-chairman stressed.