Order "fate"

The "fate" of exporting color tapes came to ProDeTech One Member Limited Liability Company by chance.

At that time, SK Group of Korea urgently needed tape for the Nexilis Copper Foil Plant project in Kotakinabalu - a new industrial park in Malaysia. Searching for information online, SK's subcontractor in Malaysia found that ProDeTech's 3Wtape brand colored tape (PVC thin film) met the project's requirements, so he flew directly to the company's office in Hanoi to negotiate.

“Buying goods within the ASEAN bloc, they enjoy many tax incentives, and do not have to apply for a visa. At that time, the project completion time was very urgent, only about 5 days left for handover. So a group of 6 people flew to Vietnam, came to our office, bought 250 kg of PVC colored tape (blue, red), divided it into backpacks to carry on their shoulders, and brought it back by hand-carrying goods,” Mr. Nguyen Xuan Tai, Chairman of the Board of Members of ProDeTech, recalled the “fate”.

“After handing over phase 1, they continued to buy phase 2, also transporting hand-carried goods in a similar way. And recently, they proactively sent a large order by sea because they saw that the quality met the investor's requirements. A container of about 16 tons of our colorful tape was exported to Malaysia to serve the project of the Korean investor,” Mr. Tai excitedly continued the story.

ProDeTech's tape product catalog is currently quite diverse in color palette, from blue, red, purple, yellow, black, white, green, blue, indigo, violet..., in general, all seven colors of the rainbow.

ProDeTech's tape products are currently available in a wide variety of colors.

All products are researched and manufactured at ProDeTech's factory. The previous owner of this factory used to specialize in producing boots and raincoats. After the acquisition, Mr. Tai saw that the consumption of raincoats and boots was gradually becoming difficult, so he sought a new direction: producing colorful PVC films.

Seize the opportunity following world trends

During a working session with an Australian and American partner, who was an engineer trained at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Mr. Tai realized that the world trend is in need of coating products to separate lines for technological pipeline systems, especially for technical rooms, technological machine rooms, industrial factories, residential buildings, offices and commercial centers...

In fact, in the past, when implementing routing, to distinguish pipeline systems, many places marked them with colored arrows and added a few words for annotation. However, during the working process, some employees were not fluent in foreign languages ​​so they made mistakes.

Through many lessons learned from operating technical systems, in many advanced countries, state management agencies have used color tape routing, each system is assigned a specific color.

In Australia and the US, there are detailed regulations on the use of colors for pipeline systems for easy identification, manipulation, and operation, avoiding cases where workers are confused, operate incorrectly, should have turned on the pneumatic valve but turned it to the water valve by mistake, or turned the water supply system with the return water system by mistake..., causing disruption to the entire system. Some typical standards such as AS 1345-1995 of Australia, or ANSI/ASME A13.1 of the US help operators identify the components inside the pipeline.

Cold water piping system with supply and return insulation covered with colored PVC moisture-proof tape according to ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standards.
Fire fighting water supply and return water piping system according to ANSI standards

Cold water piping system with supply and return insulation covered with colored PVC moisture-proof tape according to ANSI standards in the machine room.

In Korea, the management agencies have also clearly distinguished different colors for gas systems, compressed air systems, water supply systems, return water systems, cold water systems, drainage systems, etc. When conducting production and business activities abroad, Korean organizations and enterprises, as a habit, also set similar requirements.

The trend of using colored tape for routing has now been updated in Japan, Taiwan (China)...

Vietnam is not out of the world trend. The market for production and consumption of PVC color tape products is expanding, serving the diverse needs of people's lives. In particular, the use of color tape for routing systems like in developed countries is still not popular, but in the future there will be a lot of room for development.

At present, Mr. Tai's company has begun to establish a list of customers using PVC colored tape for pipeline systems according to the requirements of large projects such as Samsung (Thai Nguyen, Bac Ninh), Foxconn (Bac Giang), LG (Hai Phong), JNTC (Phu Tho) ..., actively contributing to the formation of a consumer trend of using PVC colored tape for the supporting industry sector in Vietnam.

“The secret to attracting customers” of small businesses

It can be said that SK's subcontractor in Malaysia helped ProDeTech get a "windfall" order. However, ProDeTech's luck did not come naturally.

Orders cannot be closed if ProDeTech products do not meet quality and design requirements. The tape product has won over Malaysian customers because of its clean and smooth surface that meets ISO 105 A02 standards; breaking strength meets American standards ASTM D412, elongation according to ASTM D545...

Mr. Tai said that although it is only a small business, ProDeTech has seriously invested in technology research and development activities for many years.

“For a small business like ours, the boss must also be a research engineer, and there are no conditions to establish large departments for technology research and development. However, we always determine that investing in technology research plays a very important role in the existence and development of the business. We set ourselves the goal of having at least 3 improvements each year, from technology to human resources, business methods, management... to create better products,” Mr. Tai shared.

The production facility in Thuong Tin (Hanoi) has an average output of about 2.5 tons of products/day, an average of 60-70 tons per month, of which 10% is for export.

Not only diversifying the color palette, ProDeTech engineers are also ready to meet many other needs of international customers, for example, being able to make the product thinner, tougher, and actively modify it...

ProDeTech's export tape products use up to 80% recycled materials.

Interestingly, ProDeTech's export tape products use up to 80% recycled materials.

“ProDeTech can make it from raw materials, but the price will be difficult to compete. The tape products used for routing systems do not need to use 100% virgin materials as in applications related to food and beverage. We will collect PVC nylon products discharged into the environment and process them into tapes that meet export standards. This recycling activity contributes to protecting the environment and reducing plastic and nylon waste,” the Chairman of ProDeTech emphasized.

Having mainly used Korean products, after seeing the high price, he switched to using ProDeTech's colored tape. Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Quyen, Director of Global Th Vina Construction and Trading Company Limited, said: "We have been using ProDeTech's products for nearly 5 years now. Previously, the insulation was only black, making it difficult to distinguish pipes during operation. ProDeTech's colorful tape not only helps to prevent moisture but also helps workers to accurately distinguish the types of pipes in the factory. ProDeTech's products have the same quality as foreign products but the price is more reasonable."

Quality is the factor that helps ProDeTech products surpass many competitors from China, Korea, and many domestic companies.

Looking to expand international markets

Following Malaysia, many customers in the US and Japan are also interested in ProDeTech's color tape products.

In addition to colored tape products, this Vietnamese enterprise also has a number of other product lines that have had export revenue to demanding markets such as: Foam rubber gaskets (3Wtape), black adhesive tape (3Wtape), air vents (ProDeTech)... In particular, air vent products are very popular with customers in the US, with quite regular export output.

ProDeTech Chairman Nguyen Xuan Tai (right) introduces color tape products to customers at an international exhibition.

According to Chairman Nguyen Xuan Tai, ProDeTech is one of the Vietnamese small and medium enterprises that are benefiting from the “Made in Vietnam” trend.

“Made in Vietnam” brands started from attracting foreign direct investment in the technology industry (phones, electronics from Samsung, LG, Foxconn...) to Vietnam, not only helping Vietnamese brands and Vietnamese products gradually gain more attention from international customers, but also bringing many other benefits such as creating jobs, increasing tax revenue...

In particular, the presence of foreign investors promotes industrial style and industrial lifestyle for the Vietnamese business community. Many standards are raised, if not met, businesses will have less ability to survive, even be destroyed.

“Vietnamese brands and “Made in Vietnam” products are increasingly trusted in the world market. Thanks to that, young and small businesses in Vietnam have more confidence to invest and work seriously, creating products that meet international needs,” Mr. Tai expressed his personal opinion, while also frankly admitting that international business activities of Vietnamese enterprises still face many difficulties.

“One of the biggest difficulties today is capital flow. Korean, Taiwanese (China), Thai, Malaysian, Singaporean enterprises… all have strong capital flow and good technology, so they can easily dominate the market. As for us Vietnamese enterprises, we do not have capital flow, so it is difficult to find money to buy raw materials and invest in good machinery, which can reduce competitiveness in product quality,” Mr. Tai confided.

Back to ProDeTech, in the context of difficulties, we only dare to set a modest goal: In the next 3 years, we will increase the export output of color tape products from 10% of the current total output to 20%.

ProDeTech's Chairman hopes to receive more support from state agencies, associations, and Vietnamese organizations abroad, so that businesses do not have to struggle to find their way in foreign markets.

The Chairman of ProDeTech shares the same wish with many other Vietnamese business leaders: To have more support from state agencies, associations, and Vietnamese organizations abroad, so that businesses do not have to struggle to find their own way in foreign markets.

“Vietnam’s trade promotion organizations, especially trade counselors in other countries, need to operate more vigorously and closely connect with the Vietnamese business community. If there is an opportunity to promote domestic products, they should quickly connect and support businesses to seize the opportunity to expand revenue and influence for “Made in Vietnam” products in the international market,” Mr. Tai recommended.

Vietnamnet.vn