In recent years, to complete their assigned tasks, Party Committee and Board of Directors of Factory X61 (under Chemical Corps), have adopted many robust, synchronous solutions, in which increased study and imitation of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality, and style is a vital one, getting a very positive response from cadres, staff, soldiers, and workers.

The Factory X61, previously known as the Chemical Equipment Workshop X61, under Chemical Corps, was founded on 15 August 1967. It is entrusted with manufacturing and repairing chemical protection equipment used for combat training and readiness in units of Chemical Corps and throughout the military. It also produces and restores some materials, components, and spare parts in support of repair and innovation; conducts research and applies advances in science and technology to the manufacture of defence, security goods and dual-use products. Over the past 55 years’ building and development, under the direct leadership of the Chemical Corps’ Party Committee and Command, and thanks to help of local party committees, authorities, and people, generations of cadres, employees, and soldiers of the Factory have made every effort to overcome difficulties and successfully accomplish their assigned tasks. The Factory has been awarded 3 Third-class Orders of Combat Merit, 1 First-class Fatherland Protection Order, 1 Second-class Labour Order, 1 Third-class Order of Military Merit, and many other noble prizes by the State in recognition of its achievements.

In recent years, given increasingly high demands of national defence, the Factory has been entrusted with many important missions, especially participation in major key projects of the Chemical Corps and Ministry of National Defence (MND), thus confronting numerous difficulties and challenges. To fulfil its tasks, apart from promoting solidarity, endogenous strength, and collective intelligence, the Factory advocates stepping up studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality, and style in conjunction with carrying out all kinds of work by many synchronous solutions, including strengthening leadership and direction of party committees and commanders at all levels; managing and developing high-quality human resources; boosting scientific research and application of new technologies; controlling product quality and working environment; and enhancing quality and effectiveness of manufacturing and repairing chemical protection equipment.

Commandant of Chemical Corps checks the reparing line of recce equipment

On being deeply imbued with Uncle Ho’s teaching: “The more difficult the work is, the more connected with the masses the leadership must be, the closer alignment the general policy and private instruction must develop”, the Factory strengthens leadership and direction of party committees and commanders at all levels and leverages the exemplary role of cadres, party members, and mass organisations in implementing the Conclusion No. 01-KL/TW of the Politburo (13th tenure) in conjunction with its political tasks. Given its specific mission, the Factory both strictly maintains combat readiness and carries out repair and production with very high demands in terms of production progress and quality. Meanwhile, the Factory suffers a lack of personnel, especially leading technical cadres and highly-skilled workers. The working environment is dispersed, extreme, and noxious. Consequently, to meet requirements of annual missions, the Factory Party Committee and Board of Directors concentrate on enhancing propagation to raise cadres’ and soldiers’ awareness of the position and significance of further studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality, and style, arousing and leveraging their self-reliance and resilience to overcome difficulties and make contribution. Additionally, they request party committees and commanders of departments and units to review and adjust the plan to step up studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality, and style in conjunction with their own programmes and plans. The emphasis is on implementing breakthrough aspects; adjusting and rearranging forces and technological levels; reforming command and control in repair and production processes; practise thrift in every activity. In addition, the Factory attaches importance to bringing into play the exemplary role of cadres and party members in performing tasks, especially the leading and management cadres. It also accelerates implementation of the “Good, firm, safe, economical management and exploitation of weapons and technical equipment and traffic safety” in conjunction with “Promoting traditions, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s Soldiers in the new era”; successfully carries out policies towards working people; and predicts and properly deals with soldiers’ ideological instability, thereby generating consensus, solidarity, and unity of will and efforts in the entire Factory as well as facilitating cadres’ and employees’ proactiveness, creativeness, self-reliance, and resilience in overcoming difficulties to develop a strong attachment to the Factory.

Improving productivity and product quality requires first and foremost the management and use of human resources. On realising Uncle Ho’s motto: “Using people is like using wood. A skilled carpenter can make the most of every piece of wood despite its size and shape,” the Factory Party Committee and Board of Directors adopt many measures to manage and develop the corps of technical cadres and employees, ensuring a sufficient number, high quality, and a balance between specialties. On the basis of closely following resolutions, directives, and instructions of higher echelons, the Factory Party Committee and Board of Directors request functional bodies to review and evaluate the state of technical cadres and employees, which lays the foundation for working out plans to develop human resources and do careful planning, in accordance with principles, procedures, and competence of technical cadres and employees in each specialty. During its implementation process, the Factory attaches importance to dignity and professional ethics and uses productivity and product quality as criteria for assessing professional competence and appointing people to technical command and management positions.

Additionally, the Factory takes initiative in proposing plans to select cadres trained abroad, graduates from military and civilian universities, and people with technical competence and experience from units in the Chemical for strengthening its staffing. It also pays attention to training and retraining of their technical cadres and employees, taking on the job training as the key solution. Accordingly, the more experienced people will responsible for training newcomers, ensuring that each person specialises in one aspect and is capable of taking up many other technological positions. Moreover, the Factory attaches importance to preparing its people and technologies for effective participation in technology transfer programmes and projects. This is a vital means to cultivate the corps of technical cadres and employees. Currently, the Factory has 1 doctor, 28 masters and engineers, and 70 highly skilled workers. This is the core force undertaking repair and production to fulfil both short- and long-term requirements.

In addition to the building of human resources, the Factory accelerates scientific research and application of new technological lines and technical innovation to raise quality of repairing, improving, and manufacturing equipment. Over time, the Factory has been provided with many new technological lines and modern infrastructure. These are fundamental conditions for the Factory to increase productivity and product quality. Nevertheless, this also presents the Factory with numerous difficulties and challenges in exploitation. To address the problem, the Factory focuses efforts on stepping up scientific research and access to modern technologies to enhance its ability to perform tasks. During implementation, the Factory proactively collaborates with relevant bodies of the Technical Department, the Chemical Corps, to develop plans and make careful preparations in terms of people, infrastructure, and technological levels for effective technology transfer, ensuring quick mastery of and effective application of technological lines to production and repair. Additionally, the Factory creates every condition and encourages its technical cadres and employees to actively conduct research, put forth technical initiatives, and apply advances of science and technology to production and repair. Over the past 5 years, the Factory has had hundreds of research projects and initiatives. Many of the research projects are of high quality such as the development of equipment for producing camouflage smokescreens and the A2 mission; production of B-64.VN oxygen regeneration systems used for the Project 636 Kilo-class submarines; production of IP-6 systems and PDA systems for naval vessels; conversion of mobile repair trucks; petrol to diesel conversion regarding the ZIL-131 and GAZ-66 trucks, etc., contributing to increased productivity and product quality as well as practical production and repair outcomes at the Factory.

In addition to the above-mentioned solutions, the Factory attaches special importance to quality control and working environment to ceaselessly enhance the position and prestige of a leading military units in terms of repairing and producing chemical protection equipment. Given its resolve to pursue the ISO’s quality management system and environmental quality management system, in recent years, the Factory has proactively collaborated with functional bodies of the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality, Ministry of Science and Technology, to develop a system of comprehensive quality standards from the input (raw material) to the output (products). On the basis of these standards, the Factory directs its functional bodies to study and develop a system of technological processes and schedules of operations; implement technical, hygienic regulations. During repair, production process, the Factory strictly adopts regulations on quality control in each stage, punishes those who violate technological processes, and resolutely removes products failing to meet quality standards. Presently, the Factory has completed 17 technological processes and successfully adopted the Vietnamese ISO 9001:2015’s quality management system and Vietnamese ISO 14001:2015’s environmental quality management system. These early but very important successes provide a solid foundation for the Factory to ensure that it always offers products of good quality and nice model to units in the military and nationwide.

Tapping into the tradition of “proactive creativeness, self-reliance, resilience, overcoming difficulties” and achievements, the Factory X61 continues to strive for enhancing productivity and quality of repairing and manufacturing chemical protection equipment to meet requirements of missions in the new situation.

Colonel, Doctor Nguyen Khanh Hung, Director of the Factory X61