Chain reaction race face atlas

The Hanoitimes – It is important to avoid stagnation during the transportation process of input materials for production and of agricultural products in Covid-19-hit-areas, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has said.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung instructed local authorities to soon clear the hurdles for the smooth distribution and sale of farm produce affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

People in Danang are buying farm produce from Hai Duong province. Photo: Quang Hai.

Over the past few days, the fact that Hai Duong province became a pandemic hotspot has caused difficulties for traders to ship agricultural products out of the province, due to strict anti-Covid-19 measures imposed by neighboring localities.

Under this context, Deputy PM Dung requested related government agencies and provinces/cities, including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Transportation, and Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development, to create favorable conditions for the movement of goods for timely exports and distribution.

“This is particularly important for input materials for production and agricultural products in Covid-19-hit-areas,” said Dung, adding it is important to avoid stagnation during the transportation process and  disruption to economic activities.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is tasked with promoting and expanding consumption markets for Vietnamese goods and products  both at home and abroad.

A report from Hai Duong Department of Industry and Trade revealed over 90,000 tons of agricultural products are facing sales stagnation.

“If not properly resolved, the issue could impact the supply chains and cause disruption to economic activities of multiple provinces/cities,” said Pham Thanh Hai, director of Hai Duong Department of Industry and Trade.

According to the MoIT, the main reason is that drivers from high risk areas are required to have Covid-19 negative testing result certificate, but health facilities currently only carry out such tests for people under quarantine, and not open for on-demand.

“Certain provinces do not accept testing results from private health facilities,” stated the MoIT, referring to the fact that the Hai Duong Center for Disease Control (CDC) was designated by Hai Phong’s authorities as the only qualified center for Covid-19 testing.

The MoIT also raised concern from the lack of a uniform safety procedure during the production and distribution of agricultural products from Covid-19 zones to other localities, leading to  conflicting measures from cities and provinces.

The Hanoitimes – Vietnam has been on way to pursue an energy transition that reduce carbon emission and develop renewable sources in an effort to combat climate change .

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) has been considered a source of energy that is able to meet Vietnam’s rising power demand and clean enough in comparison with coal power which the country is advised to minimize from now on.

Vietnam has been on way to pursue an energy transition that reduces carbon emission and develops renewable sources in an effort to combat climate change and there will be room in the country’s mix for fossil fuels as long as they are clean, a local expert has said.

Dang Huy Dong, president of Vietnam’s Planning and Development Institute. Photo: MPI

“Gas is by far the cleanest fossil fuel,” Dang Huy Dong, president of Vietnam’s Planning and Development Institute, said at the Future Energy Asia 2020 forum in Bangkok last month.

Gas, particularly LNG, is the only meaningful solution for Vietnam to reduce emissions in the context that the potential of hydropower is almost exhausted while solar and wind power are not reliable enough, the Bangkok Post quoted Dong as saying.

“Only gas could provide Vietnam with a practical energy supply, in particular LNG,” according to Dong, who is a former deputy minister of Planning and Investment.

He attributed the choice of gas to falling fuel prices, improved efficiency and technologies. At the same time, the price of coal-fired power is rising due to supply and financial limitations.

For the aforementioned reasons, Dong believes Vietnam needs to move away from coal to other sources, as China and many other countries are doing.

“In the interests of environmental protection and sustainable development, more and more provinces in Vietnam are demanding a change from coal projects to LNG power projects,” he said.

Vietnam’s power demand and the government’s choice

Vietnam’s energy sources. Data: MOIT/Bangkokpost. Chart: Linh Pham

Currently, coal-fired power plants generate about 39% of the electricity consumed in Vietnam. Hydropower accounts for 35%, gas-fired power 18.5%, and renewables 7.2%.

Over the past decade, hydropower generating capacity has recorded the highest growth rate in Vietnam. The country now has 5,500 megawatts (MW) solar capacity, representing 40% of all such capacity in Southeast Asia. This suggests a boom in renewable energy projects in Vietnam, where more attractive feed-in tariff (FIT) policies have been introduced for solar and wind power.

However, as the second largest power market in ASEAN, the country of 95 million is facing a critical supply challenge, with a need to triple capacity by 2030, the expert said.

“Rapid urbanization and industrialization have driven up electricity consumption in Vietnam dramatically,” he said, adding that southern Vietnam was at risk of being undersupplied.

In addition to expanding capacity, Vietnam has encouraged energy efficiency and renewable energy, reduction of CO2 emissions and creation of an energy market through the country’s eighth National Power Development Master Plan for the 2021-2030 period.

Furthermore, the government sees an efficient and reliable power supply as critical for socio-economic development. In 2016, it abandoned plans for nuclear development, citing safety concerns following the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. It has resulted in a shift in long-term planning to include other sources to replace the planned nuclear capacity.

Remarkably, Vietnam is also interested in greater integration of power development throughout Southeast Asia, deploying cheaper sources as well as optimizing system operations.

“I think this is somewhat in line with the (goals of) interconnectivity and interconnection within ASEAN,” Dong emphasized.

Automation technology can reduce most common causes of injury in manufacturing environments

Automation technology can help increase productivity and reduce up to 72 per cent of the common causes of injury in manufacturing environments.

According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam recorded 3,349 occupational accidents from January to June 2020 with total deaths numbering 378.

The accidents were most prevalent in the manufacturing sector (27.41 per cent), construction (23.24 per cent), and services (12.35 per cent) while the remaining 37 per cent was spread across other sectors.

Most local manufacturers are currently facing a growing skilled talent shortage which strains their overall productivity and growth. At the same time, employers are also facing immense costs associated with workplace-related injuries.

“Cobots can perform tasks that may be dangerous or injury-prone for humans. With built-in safety features that slow the robot arm when a human enters its workspace, cobots can keep human colleagues safe from occupational injuries as they address repetitive and dangerous tasks in the manufacturing sector,” said James McKew, regional director of Asia-Pacific at Universal Robots.

Universal Robots’ adjustable safety system allows companies to adjust a range of parameters to reduce the risks involved with implementing an industrial robot application.

These include limiting the force, speed, power, or momentum of the robot, or restricting its workspace using safety boundaries. Productivity gains, along with the inherently safe design of cobot solutions, signify this new automation technology could reduce up to 72 per cent of the common causes of injury in manufacturing environments.

“As we move closer to the vision of Industry 5.0 where man and machine work together on the smart factory floor, the need to consider the safety and compliance requirements of this new kind of workplace has become paramount. In a collaborative workforce, human and robots complement each other in their roles which offers significant opportunities to enhance manufacturing productivity, innovation, safety, and overall job satisfaction in the workplace,” said McKew.

McKew pointed out that companies can achieve a faster Return on Investment (ROI) by using cobots to free up workers’ time, allowing them to tackle higher productivity processes and ultimately acquire new skills.

Unlike traditional robots that require engineer-level programming, cobots are designed to make programming simple through human-machine interfaces (HMI) familiar to anyone who has used a smartphone.

For more complex applications, Universal Robots has a comprehensive network of Certified System Integrators and Authorised Training Centres ready to support users with day-to-day operations after the initial installation.

By eliminating the need for formal education in programming or robotics, such interfaces and capabilities make the skills gap and learning curve for using cobots diminishingly small.

Universal Robots encourages local manufacturers to adopt the perfect man and machine collaboration. With cobots, manufacturers in Vietnam need not fear the impacts caused by the growing skilled talent shortage.

The collaboration greatly reduces the time, effort, and cost associated with using the same cobot for various tasks as a cobot’s flexibility translates to a significantly faster return on investment.

Universal Robots (UR) was founded in 2005 to make robot technology accessible to all by developing small, user-friendly, reasonably priced, flexible cobots that are safe to work side-by-side with people.

Since the first cobot was launched in 2008, the company has experienced considerable growth with the user-friendly cobots now sold worldwide. The company has regional offices around the world, such as in the US, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Russia, China, India, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea, among others. In 2020, Universal Robots had a revenue of $219 million.