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Hanoi (VNA) – As much as 5.46 billion USD worth of foreign direct investment (FDI) was injected into Vietnam as of February 20, equivalent to 84.4 percent of the figure recorded in the same time last year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment .

As many as 126 foreign projects were granted investment licences with total registered capital of 3.31 billion USD, a year-on-year fall of 33.9 percent.

Meanwhile, 115 existing projects adjusted their investment capital with a total additional sum of 1.61 billion USD, or 2.5 times higher than the same time last year.

Capital contributions and shares purchases by foreign investors stood at 543.1 million USD, down 34.4 percent.

Foreign investors pumped capital in 17 sectors, with processing and manufacturing holding the lead with over 3 billion USD or 55.7 percent, followed by power production and distribution with 1.44 billion USD (26.5 percent), real estate 485 million USD, and science-technology nearly 153 million USD.

Japan topped the list of 46 countries and territories landing investment in Vietnam , with 1.64 billion USD, equivalent to nearly 30 percent of the total. Singapore came second with 1.07 billion USD (19.6 percent), and the Republic of Korea third with 1.05 billion USD (19.3 percent).

The ministry said the southern province of Can Tho lured the lion’s share of FDI with 1.31 billion USD, accounting for 24.2 percent of the total. Hai Phong city was the runner-up since it attracted nearly 918 million USD, or 16.8 percent. Bac Giang came third with nearly 573 million USD (10.5 percent).

So far this year, the foreign-invested sector has earned 38.07 billion USD from exports, up 34 percent year-on-year, and making up 76.1 percent of the nation’s total export turnover. At the same time, it spent 31.6 billion USD on imports, up 31.2 percent year-on-year, and accounting for 66.6 percent of the country’s total import value. That resulted in a trade surplus of nearly 6.5 billion USD./.

VNA

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.

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.

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.