TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION - PRACTICE AND ACTION - Part 1: Looking from practice

Technological innovation is always one of the important goals for businesses to increase competitiveness, reduce costs and increase profits.

For many years, businesses in the province, from many different sources, have been focusing on innovating production technology to improve competitiveness in the market, especially for export industries.

“LATE” ADVANTAGE

Tien Giang 's seafood processing and export industry has grown strongly in recent decades and is considered to have the potential for rapid development due to its many advantages. Thanks to that, Tien Giang's seafood processing industry quickly took the top position in the province's export industry group, with many large-scale enterprises established.

Production line of Thabico Tien Giang Food Industry Joint Stock Company. Photo: CAO THANG

One special thing is that around 2010, seafood exports ranked first in the total export turnover of the province, with a turnover of about 240 million USD out of a total turnover of 495 million USD; in which tra fish exports accounted for about 80%.

The products of seafood processing enterprises in the province are mainly pangasius, exported to many countries around the world . Of course, recently, the proportion of export value of this industry has decreased somewhat because Tien Giang has achieved positive results through attracting investment, especially with many foreign direct investment enterprises coming to Tien Giang.

However, by the end of 2024, Tien Giang's seafood export industry will still bring in about 340 million USD out of a total of about 6.5 billion USD for the whole province. Vietnam's seafood export products in general, and in the province in particular, are currently present in about 150 countries and territories.

The growth of the seafood export industry of the whole country in general, and Tien Giang in particular, is also partly assessed in terms of investment and innovation in modern technology. Although the seafood export processing industry of Tien Giang developed after some provinces and cities, the production capacity of enterprises has ranked high, only behind some provinces with advantages of development earlier such as: Ca Mau, An Giang , Soc Trang, Dong Thap.

General assessment shows that most of the production scale of enterprises in the province is at medium level, such as: Go Dang Joint Stock Company, Dai Thanh Company Limited, Ngoc Xuan Joint Stock Company, Ngoc Ha Company Limited, Vinh Quang Company Limited, Thien Ha Company Limited...

Looking at it from another perspective, thanks to the advantage of being a latecomer, the production technology of enterprises is relatively modern. Mr. Nguyen Van Dao, General Director of Go Dang Joint Stock Company, assessed that Vietnam's seafood processing technology in general is in the world's top 10 of seafood exporting countries.

In Asia, Vietnam ranks second after Thailand. In the province, seafood processing technology of enterprises is also at a fairly high level, meeting export requirements, even in the most demanding markets.

“Investment in processing technology is one of the important competitive measures today. This comes from the fact that consumer demand in markets is increasingly demanding in terms of technical standards, while many new businesses are opening domestically. Because in reality, seafood processing technology after about 5 years begins to wear out and degrade, not to mention invisible wear (due to obsolescence).

Outdated technology lines will create a relatively large rate of electricity consumption and product consumption, so they need to be upgraded but mostly replaced. The cost of changing technology is in the cost structure of about 15% - 20% annually. For businesses with large accumulated capital, they should boldly invest, but for small businesses, it is relatively more difficult, so the efficiency is not high" - Mr. Nguyen Van Dao commented.

FOCUS ON QUALITY

Besides processed seafood, rice is also a key commodity group, bringing in large export turnover for the province; because Tien Giang has many rice polishing and exporting enterprises located in the area. Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Tien Giang province, Luu Van Phi, said that Tien Giang currently has about 500 enterprises milling and processing rice for consumption and export, concentrated in districts and towns in the key agricultural production areas in the West of the province.

Technology for processing seafood for export is constantly being invested.

Accordingly, Tien Giang currently has about 20 rice processing and exporting enterprises that have invested in automated production lines from drying, sorting, polishing, color separation, grain selection to product packaging, helping to improve the quality of goods brought to the market, such as: Tien Giang Food Company, Viet Hung Company Limited, Dat Duc Thinh Trading and Service Company Limited, Dac Thanh Food Company Limited... Each year recently, exported rice brings in approximately 100 million USD and is exported to 20 markets.

For export enterprises, technological innovation is one of the strategic steps. Tien Giang Food Company (Tigifood) is one of the typical units. In practice, for many years, Tigifood has calculated the strategy of technological innovation in stages such as polishing, color separation, packaging, brand building... At the same time, Tigifood has also focused on changing the structure of rice exports, increasing the proportion of high-quality rice groups, including premium rice, fragrant rice, specialty rice, and glutinous rice.

With the advantage of rice being produced and processed on an advanced production line, with an electronic color separation system, in accordance with food hygiene and safety, many Tigifood rice brands are favored by domestic and foreign consumers.

Over the years, Tigifood has always determined the goal of "Quality and reputation" as its business motto through the application of the ISO 9001:2008 quality management system, so the value of the products has been increased. Thanks to investment in technological innovation, in recent years, fragrant rice and specialty rice products have accounted for a high proportion in the structure of Tigifood's products sold.

Tigifood's rice products have also won many awards for product quality and are consumed domestically as well as consolidating a solid position in many countries, including demanding markets: Europe, Japan, Hong Kong (China)...

Tigifood has also focused on investing in machinery, techniques and production means using modern technology to create high-quality products with clear brands according to Vietnamese and international standards. From the initial export market focusing on Asia, Tigifood has now expanded its market to America, Europe, etc.

In the coming period, for exported rice, the company will focus more on high-quality fragrant rice, specialty rice, and safe rice. Speaking at the Scientific Workshop on Improving the Capacity for Processing and Exporting Rice and Paddy organized by the Provincial People's Committee recently, Tigifood's leaders said that the company determined that in order to maintain and improve the efficiency of rice exports in the current situation, it should not pursue quantity, but focus on investing in improving product quality to increase value; at the same time, pay attention to exploiting new markets, especially markets that consume high-quality rice.

In the fruit and vegetable export industry, Tien Giang has recently attracted many businesses to invest in modern production technology. The highlight is that Thabico Tien Giang Food Industry Joint Stock Company has implemented the Fruit Processing Factory Project in Binh Ninh Commune, Cho Gao District, officially put into operation in early October 2021, a frozen fruit and vegetable processing line with a capacity of 150 tons of raw materials/day, mainly using the province's key fruits such as dragon fruit, mango, jackfruit, banana, etc.

In 2022, the company will continue to put into operation a coconut product processing line with a capacity of 300,000 fruits/day and night, contributing to promoting the development of the province's processing industry.

Enterprises have focused on investing in production technology, which has brought about positive results, contributing to improving competitiveness in the market. Not only innovating technology, enterprises in Tien Giang province also focus on building brands to promote product images.

THE ANH

(to be continued)

Source: https://baoapbac.vn/kinh-te/202505/doi-moi-cong-nghe-thuc-tien-va-hanh-dong-bai-1-nhin-tu-thuc-tien-1043462/