Smart and steady with relocation to Vietnam

What is the spillover impact of the relocation wave in Vietnam?

Ryohei Oda, managing director of ABeam Consulting Vietnam

The wave of relocating for many foreign corporations’ operations into Vietnam has become an upcoming trend, mainly due to the political tension between China and the United States. This has greatly benefited Vietnam’s economy, which has become the fastest growing economy in Southeast Asia. This has led Vietnam into high positive demand and created spillover impacts in many ways for the need for digital transformation and smart manufacturing.

Accordingly, there is an increase in demand for better digital infrastructure to support all the operation efficient needs in these companies. This will spur the growth of the country’s digital ecosystem, especially around digital technology platform and high-speed internet connectivity.

In addition, the wave will also push for a higher adoption of advanced technologies, especially in AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data for companies to optimise their processes, ensure effective cost management, and improve product quality.

Furthermore, this trend will indirectly accelerate the local technology companies to grow to meet the sudden surge in the digital transformation arena. As a result, it will simulate the local economy growth by creating more job opportunities and offers more innovative solutions to foreign companies.

To stay competitive in the digital technology space, companies will also increase investment in research and development, and seek more innovation to be the leaders in digital technology. This will make Vietnam more visible to the world in charting the digital transformation roadmap.

What are the requirements for foreign manufacturers to build a smart factory in Vietnam?

There are many requirements that need to be fulfilled. Firstly, manufacturers need to ensure compliance with local regulatory requirements by securing the right permits and licences, environmental regulation, and labour law. Secondly, they need to make initial investment in technology and infrastructure such as high-speed internet, automation technologies, and tools. Third is to hire and train a highly skilled workforce to support the smart factory vision.

Despite the challenges, the Vietnamese government has been very supportive in driving the country into smart factory by encouraging more foreign corporations to invest. Vietnam’s efforts can be seen by its commitment to drive digital transformation by 2025 as part of promoting more opportunities.

How does ABeam Consulting help foreign manufacturers resolve their pain points?

We offer digital transformation consulting service to foreign manufacturers so that they can smoothly kick-start their projects in Vietnam.

One of our solutions is implementing a paperless project by analysing current paperwork and suggesting digitalisation as well as automating the approval process, using digital signatures, and taking on document management.

Another area is using a digital twin solution to design the best factory and warehouse layout. We also offer a smart factory assessment service, in which we analyse the current state of the factory, define the future factory, and create a roadmap to close those gaps.

Other solutions include building data platforms and suggesting IoT sensors to increase the quality and productivity of a smart factory.

ABeam Consulting is well known as one of the largest SAP partners. How can SAP solutions resolve issues for Vietnamese companies?

ABeam Consulting is Asia’s leading SAP partner and we are the first Regional Strategic Services Partner (RSSP) globally.

ABeam Consulting has been a long-time partner to SAP, consistently delivering corporate transformation, quality services with high added value, and cutting-edge initiatives to customers.

With the RSSP initiative, ABeam Consulting will benefit from SAP’s strategic support. This may include coordinated industry-aligned solutions, joint go-to-market strategy, and access to regional and market unit industry expertise. ABeam works very closely with SAP to deliver the latest technology and updates to our customers.

Our biggest asset is our people. ABeam Consulting is committed to investing in our employees so that they keep up with the latest developments in the SAP Learning and Certification Hub.

Can you share upcoming plans that ABeam Consulting will launch in Vietnam?

We will launch a green transformation initiative. ABeam works together with our partners to help our clients to visualise greenhouse gas information by identifying the amount of reduced carbon to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Our consulting team also assists clients in developing a roadmap to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century.

We also venture into the area of personal data protection. The Vietnamese government plans to release a new personal data protection law soon. According to the draft, most Vietnamese companies will need to modify existing company procedures and system settings. ABeam Consulting has worked with companies in Japan and Thailand to help them comply with personal data protection laws.

Talk show the path to smart factories in Vietnam Industry leaders will gather at VIR’s talk show on June 24 to discuss digital transformation with 5G and the path to smart factories in Vietnam.