As Postef engages in smart manufacturing

Postef’s fiber optic project added an hour, building confidence in its commitment to investing in smart manufacturing technology.

Postef’s fiber optic production project is an example of many high-tech projects supported by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. High return on investment August 2019, Postal Equipment Joint Stock Company (Postef) inaugurated an optical fiber factory with a capacity of 3.2 million km of optical fibers per year, marking a big step for domestic telecommunications technology enterprises to actively source raw materials, making Vietnam the first country in the world. Southeast Asia can produce this material. With a high degree of automation and precision, this is the first factory of Postef to apply smart production model Smart workshop. Data of fiber optic production stages is continuously updated to the server, and automatically transmits processing signals to equipment and machines. Perhaps, few people know that, since 2014, Mr. Tran Hai Van, director of Postef, has quietly cherished the idea of ​​​​building a factory. fiber optic production . At that time, Vietnam had dozens of units producing optical cables for optical communication networks, but all optical fibers for optical cable production had to be imported from abroad. Going into deep learning, Mr. Van became more confident knowing that the signal transmission system on optical fibers has been developing strongly in the world. In 2014, the world used 172 million km, it is forecasted that by 2020 it will continue to increase sharply to 234 million km. In Vietnam, fiber optic cables are formed at a galloping speed, especially international connection sea cables and transnational backbone routes. Problem after problem When “handing over” this idea to research and development associates, many problems arise. The economic problem is nothing to discuss, the investment efficiency is quite clear. But when it comes to technology, one problem follows another throughout the project construction process. First, it is necessary to clarify the technical characteristics, features – the main quality of the product is optical fiber according to the international standard G562, because in the Vietnamese market, optical fibers are mainly imported from manufacturers. famous as Sumitomo, Corning, Fujikawa, Furakawa. The second problem is the choice of spinning method. The horizontal pulling method has the advantage of being safe and convenient in the process of installing the workpiece, but the efficiency is not high due to the low pulling speed, up to 500 m/min. The vertical pulling method is more efficient, due to the 4-fold pulling speed, from 2,000 m/min, but requires a large tower height, 25 m or more. Final, Postef choosing vertical spinning technology due to its higher performance, better quality of spinning yarn and the world’s major yarn manufacturers such as Sumitomo, Fujikura… all use vertical spinning tower technology, therefore capable of receiving technology transfer from yarn manufacturers. In addition, there are dozens of problems on product selection and quality; product consumption plan; form and scale of investment; form of project management … in which, the problem of capital is the most difficult. Postef chooses vertical spinning technology due to its higher performance and better yarn quality. The problem is not that Postef can’t raise capital, but the regulation. The estimated capital of the project was more than 287.1 billion dong, excluding technology transfer costs, which was larger than the equity at that time (276 billion dong), so Postef had to come up with a plan to increase bond issuance. fixed capital is larger than project capital. During the implementation process, Postef also had to accept to transfer the entire investment project to build a multi-functional complex at 63 Nguyen Huy Tuong, Hanoi to another investor to focus on the fiber optic project. That said, in order for the fiber optic project to be successful, Postef had to struggle between many problems. Support two important stages khâu The most difficult thing in setting up a project is choosing equipment, technology and arranging capital with partners, which Postef overcame. Thoughts can easily “hug” the application to be listed on the list of high-tech prioritized for development investment under Decision 66 of the Prime Minister. But this is the first time creating a project of this type, so the file is not valid and has been returned. When “knocking” the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Trade, considered that the project really deserved preferential treatment under Decision 66, but it took the staff of the Department many months with Postef to complete it. standard set of documents as prescribed. Along with that, the Department also approved a budget of nearly 7 billion VND from the Ministry’s budget for science and technology activities for research to help Postef master the technological process of optical fiber manufacturing and the measurement technology process. Check and check product quality criteria. Especially, the factory was built to meet international clean standards level 6, designed and constructed by TAIKISHA Company (Japan) in the form of EPC turnkey. This is also the first factory of POSTEF to apply smart production model, smart factory and achieve the goal of smart factory by 2020. To date, the goals of a high-tech project on the economy and society of Postef have been achieved. But more importantly, the company’s fiber optic project added an extra hour, building confidence in its commitment to investing in smart manufacturing technology. High technology has 4 fields: Information and communication; new material; biotechnology; Smart production. These are very new fields in our country, while the Law on Bidding puts the standard of “capacity and experience” of enterprises participating in the bidding first, leading to a vicious circle of “chicken and egg”. Because it is the first production in Vietnam, “capacity” is not equal to foreign high-tech enterprises; Because they are not allowed to participate in the bidding, they do not have “experience” in bidding. With the risks when participating in the market as above, businesses are very hesitant in the process of setting up high-tech projects. On that pioneering path, there are many question marks when entering a new field, a new market that has not been clearly and clearly foreseen. Therefore, when there is the companionship of state agencies in project implementation, businesses feel warmer and more confident.