In recent years, technology has witnessed continuous changes, the lifecycle of products has become shorter, the supply and cost of materials for production have been sharply changed, and competitive pressures have been more intense; therefore, the market for traditional products of the Factory Z134 under the General Department of Defence Industry has been shrinking. Meanwhile, the Factory’s facilities have deteriorated, its equipment and technologies have been old-fashioned, and its targets of national defence production have not been stable (reduced to below 40% of its production value), thereby greatly impacting on its production and business as well as its staff members’ employment and income. Against that backdrop, the Factory’s Party Committee and Board of Directors have determined to renew the way of thinking, adhere to the market demands, maximise financial, technological and human resources, restructure production and business, develop new products and seek for new markets as the basis for “stepping into the great sea.”

The Factory’s exhibition at the VIETBUILD trade fair of 2020

In spite of a decrease in its targets of national defence production, the Factory has always focused its resources on this central political task. At the same time, it has brought into play its technology, equipment, and human resources for economic production as one of its major missions and the basis for its integration and development. Moreover, it has diversified its products to satisfy the market demand, achieved a breakthrough in raising the quality and competitiveness of its products, developed key products, and prioritised export before penetrating the domestic market. Promoting its experience and prestige in national defence and military products, the Factory has enhanced the advertisement of its high-quality products and introduced its production capacity to foreign partners in order to earn their trust and expand the market. It has also reviewed the catalogue of products and formulated a strategy to sharply decrease the quantity of unimportant, low-value goods and increase key, high-value products manufactured in bulk, thereby meeting the strict requirements for product quality, variants, and delivery. At the same time, it has made investment in transforming its technology to manufacture optical transmission products and many other strategic ones to meet the long-term market demand and keep pace with the development of telecommunications.

Furthermore, the Factory has accelerated the rationalisation of its production process, while rearranging its premises, stepping up specialisation within each section of the assembly line to save time for materials, semi-finished products, and finished products, minimising indirect labour, and maximising its workers’ strengths to increase productivity. Due attention has been paid to classifying materials and goods, actively offering products for sale, withdrawing debts, minimising the amount of goods in stock, and speeding up capital turnover. It should be noted that the Factory has closely managed the quality of its products under the ISO 9001:2015, adopted the 5S management system, developed and perfected standards and norms for drains and breakdowns in each phase, adjusted technical standards in accordance with each shipment and customer, and actively monitored the quality of semi-finished products in each stage to control the percentage of waste products.

To promote its human resources, the Factory has enhanced the work of education, information and propagation to improve its cadres and employees’ determination and build up the corporate culture and industrial civilisation, while promulgating statutes on commendation, punishment and entitlement for its staff members. It has directed commands at all levels to renew their leadership style and method, reduce administrative orders, promote democracy, and encourage cadres and workers to give opinions about the decision-making and production process and the safety regulations in order to bring into play collective knowledge and heighten the determination to surmount difficulties and fulfil their task.

Due regard has been paid to undertaking scientific researches to increase productivity and the quality of products. Under the policy on “acquiring labourers’ ideas,” the Factory has promoted scientific researches and technical initiatives to develop new products and enhance the effectiveness and capacity of its existing equipment and technologies. Since 2015, the Factory has undertaken, completed, and applied 7 scientific researches at General Department and grass-roots levels to its production. Typical examples include 5C-FB.2C camera signalling cable, railway signalling cable, S90 plastic assembly line, and solar cable, which are worth tens of billions of VND. Renewing and mastering technologies, the Factory has mobilised capital surplus to execute the projects to manufacture high-quality electrical wires and cables, acquire machines for manufacturing fiber-optic cables, construct the quality control laboratory under the national standards, and supplement machines and equipment for production. At the same time, it has developed a number of high-quality, unique new products, such as fiber-optical cable, coaxial cable, tripwire, in-vehicle electrical wire network, smart, portable devices’ electrical wire network, low-voltage electrical cable, and marine electrical cable, which have been consumed in a large quantity in the market. Between 2016 and 2020, the Factory provided the Military with over 1.2 million paper tubes and moisture-proof lids for preserving ammunition and shells as well as nearly 52 million metres of signal cable and wire. It also sold nearly 180 million metres of tripwire, 20 million metres of electrical cable, 51 million metres of fiber-optical cable, and 10 million metres of electrical wire. At present, the Factory’s products are being exported to the U.S., Laos and Cambodia, and used by 50 domestic large businesses. The Factory has gradually entered the market in Ho Chi Minh city and Southwestern provinces.

To keep increasing its competitiveness in response to the market’s dramatic transformations, the Factory has placed emphasis on improving its cadres and workers’ management capacity, skills, labour power, and creativity. While rearranging its workforce according to their strengths, the Factory has regularly organised on-the-spot refresher courses to better its workers’ knowledge and workmanship. It has employed its top cadres and skilled, experienced workers and invited top workers within the General Department of Defence Industry to give instructions to and share experience with its staff members. Training courses have been closely combined with inspection of production and acceptance of semi-finished and finished products to draw lessons on the spot. Visits to typical businesses have been organised for the Factory’s staff members to study. The Factory has also sent its delegations to skill contests, while holding discussions to propose technical solutions. It has invited top experts to deliver lectures on management, production, business, marketing, risk control, and market analysis to its cadres, engineers, and senior technicians. Experts and all-level cadres have been assigned to inspect and manage the production process, point out weaknesses, and propose measures to overcome shortcomings and raise the quality and capacity of each phase and assembly line. Doing so has enabled the Factory to reduce the rate of waste products considerably, improve its cadres and workers’ professional competence and skills, and basically settle weaknesses in its production process.

In addition to promoting its internal strength, the Factory has proactively fostered cooperation in production and business to resolve difficulties in technology, material, and sale.

It can’t be denied that cooperation is the shortest road to success. Thanks to cooperation, relevant parties will exploit surplus capacity of one another and decrease investments in fixed assets, while cadres and workers will quickly grasp technological procedures and secrets as a free training course. Hence, the Factory has maintained close cooperation with businesses to ensure the supply and quality of materials for production. At the same time, it has sought for businesses with great prestige and technological capacity both inside and outside the Military to order several types of semi-finished products and share outsourcing with them. As a result, many of its contingency national defence missions have been fulfilled on schedule and barriers to import and export have been lifted for its products to be consumed.

A part from those above-mentioned measures, the Factory has frequently amended and completed its regulations on management and operation, implemented a preferential treatment policy for its skilled workers, given extra meals according to work shifts, provided regular health services, maintained the safety regulations for its staff members, while effectively executing the Campaign 50. By doing so, the Factory has made progress in its production capacity, achieved a breakthrough in the quality of its products, and gradually bolstered the brand of Z143 in the market. Since 2016, regardless of the outbreak of COVID-19, the Factory has always fulfilled and exceeded the assigned targets as an important prerequisite for its international integration and development.

Col. LE VAN MINH, Director of the Factory