The complete equipment manufacturing industry has left its mark on many key projects.

Research institutes under the Ministry of Industry and Trade have the capacity to act as general contractors for a number of complete equipment lines for important industries of the country.

Mastering technology, leaving a mark on projects

More than 10 years ago, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 1791/QD-TTg approving the mechanism for piloting the domestic design and manufacture of thermal power plant equipment in the period 2012 - 2025. Accordingly, the Institute of Mechanical Engineering (Ministry of Industry and Trade) was assigned to preside over and coordinate with domestic mechanical enterprises to design and manufacture equipment for thermal power plants. Overcoming difficulties in research conditions, up to now, many scientific topics have left their mark on key projects.

Coal transportation system of thermal power plant

Citing the state-level project “Research, design, manufacture, integrate and put into operation the coal loading and transport system for a coal-fired thermal power plant with a capacity of up to 600 MW”, Dr. Phan Dang Phong - Director of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering Research affirmed that this is the first time Vietnam has researched, designed, manufactured, integrated and successfully put into operation the coal loading and transport system for the Song Hau 1 thermal power plant with a localization rate of 50.6% and equipment equivalent to technology equipment from G7 countries, opening up a new development direction for the domestic mechanical engineering industry.

Equally resounding is the project "Completing the design and manufacturing technology, testing the electrostatic dust collector with a capacity of 1,000,000 Nm3/h" which has been successfully applied at Vung Ang 1 and Thai Binh 1 Thermal Power Plants with a localization rate of more than 70%. Currently, the Institute of Mechanical Research has been trusted by Doosan Group (Korea) to award a contract to supply electrostatic dust collector systems for Nghi Son 2 Thermal Power Plant and is expected to continue to be assigned to perform the contract for Vung Ang 2 Thermal Power Plant in 2022.

Next, in the field of hydropower, the Institute of Mechanical Engineering was assigned to take the lead in receiving and transferring technology for the design and manufacture of hydromechanical equipment for hydropower projects according to Decision 797/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister for the first project, A Vuong Hydropower Plant. The success of the task has brought high economic and social efficiency, contributing to the success of industry development.

Up to now, the Institute has worked with domestic mechanical units to independently design and manufacture hydromechanical equipment for more than 29 medium and large hydroelectric projects in the country, including Son La (2,400 MW) and Lai Chau (1,200 MW) hydroelectric projects.

The success of the projects has created more jobs for the domestic mechanical industry with revenue from this sector bringing in about 8,000 billion VND, contributing to reducing product costs from 4.4 USD/1kg of product to 1.5 USD/1kg of product, contributing to generating electricity 3 years earlier with Son La Hydropower Plant and 1 year earlier with Lai Chau Hydropower Plant, bringing high economic efficiency to the projects.

Not stopping there, in the field of mineral exploitation and processing, the Institute of Mechanical Research has successfully participated in the implementation of the EPCM general contractor for 02 projects Tan Rai and Nhan Co with a designed capacity of 2 million tons of refined ore/year. In particular, the outstanding feature is the design and simultaneous manufacture of 02 conveyor lines with a total length of 5 km each for each factory.

Currently, these conveyor lines have been handed over and put into operation as required and have been granted acceptance certificates by the Investor for use. From the success of the task, domestic units directly participating in the task have been trusted by the Investors, continuing to assign other projects such as: Bao Loc Ore Processing Plant 200,000 tons/year, Lam Dong Processing Plant 1,700,000 tons/year, Nhan Co Ore Processing Plant 1,700,000 tons/year...

In the field of construction materials production, the Institute has coordinated with Vietnam Machinery Installation Corporation to implement a large-scale science and technology project: "Research, design and manufacture key equipment for a synchronous rotary kiln cement production line with a capacity of 2,500 tons of clinker/day, replacing imported products, implementing the localization process" with 03 topics (automatic bagging machine, large-capacity dust filter equipment and automatic control of factory equipment lines), successfully applied to the Song Thao rotary kiln cement project, achieving a localization rate of about 40% of the value...

In addition, in the field of new energy and high technology, the Institute has successfully implemented the complete supply of buoy and anchor systems for the Da Mi solar power project with a total capacity of 47.5 MW. The Institute is building and developing high-tech products in the direction of 4.0 technology, focusing on automating industrial production lines and smart warehouses in line with the development orientation of the digital economy.

The Institute also designs, manufactures and successfully applies many production lines, machines and equipment such as tea processing lines, river and lake dredging equipment for urban drainage programs, equipment for fertilizer and chemical factories, and automobile and motorbike assembly lines.

Priority should be given to domestic mechanical units.

According to Dr. Phan Dang Phong, the above successes of the research institutes are achieved not only by the efforts of the institutes themselves, but also by the orientation of the Government, ministries and branches. Because without the Government's orientation on localization and without the research topics on mastering science and technology supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Trade, it would be very difficult for the institutes to achieve the above successes.

Slag boat system at Nghi Son 2 thermal power plant

“With the strong direction of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in the process of restructuring research institutes under the Ministry, the support of universities, domestic mechanical enterprises and the efforts of scientists, we believe that in the coming years, research institutes will become leading science and technology enterprises in the fields they are responsible for, contributing to the success of the country's industrialization and modernization” - Dr. Phan Dang Phong expressed.

The Director of the Institute of Mechanical Research said that in the coming years, according to the development planning of the electricity, oil and gas, mineral exploitation and processing, paper, construction materials production, new energy and renewable energy industries, the market capacity for developing mechanical equipment is still very large, especially complete equipment lines for domestic industries. This is an opportunity to promote domestic research potential.

Affirming that research institutes under the Ministry of Industry and Trade have invested intensively in the fields of design and technology transfer, thereby having the capacity to act as general contractors for a number of complete equipment lines for important industries of the country such as thermal power, hydropower, mining and mineral processing, etc., Dr. Phan Dang Phong admitted that, up to now, most of the synchronous equipment lines for domestic industries are being provided by foreign contractors, with the domestic value of implementation reaching no more than 20%.

For example, in the thermal power sector, most of the thermal power equipment lines in Vietnam are currently provided by foreign contractors in the form of EPC general contractors, mostly Chinese contractors because they have low bidding prices and the ability to arrange capital. When winning EPC contracts in projects, Chinese companies have brought to Vietnam both unskilled labor, raw materials, supplies and equipment that Vietnam has completely produced to carry out the work.

Thus, we invest in thermal power projects, but have not created jobs for domestic enterprises and workers, but have created jobs and revenue for the Chinese mechanical industry. The reasons why domestic contractors have not been assigned to design, manufacture, and supply equipment for domestically invested industrial plant projects include: Due to the situation of mobilizing investment capital for thermal power plant projects requiring a large amount of capital, domestic investors often apply the project arrangement form ECA (Export Credit Agency).

In the country, although some units have been assigned to carry out some thermal power projects under the EPC general contractor form, these units have limited economic potential and have not mastered part E technology, leading to dependence on foreign technology.

Another reason is the trend of some large enterprises and corporations spending money to own system design technology and main equipment to dominate and control the entire equipment market (Korea has Doosan, Huyndai; Japan has Marubeni, MHI, Sumitomo), thereby dominating the global supply chain including accompanying auxiliary equipment. Thus, they will gain high profits by cheaply outsourcing manufacturing from companies in the supply chain, but selling very expensively to investors because of monopoly.

“Accordingly, only foreign contractors can meet this criterion and they will cover the entire package from factory design, equipment purchase, factory construction, domestic contractors will only take on part of the mechanical structure according to their design and instructions” - Dr. Phan Dang Phong stated.

Proposing the need to create a market for domestic research units and encourage the use of technology products created in Vietnam, Dr. Phan Dang Phong, Director of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering Research, said that when developing plans and strategies for the development of the country's economic sectors, it is necessary to research to integrate the contents and goals of science and technology that need to be achieved and have preferential mechanisms and specific roadmaps to prioritize the development of science and technology products for related equipment lines.

Only then, after a number of initial projects, will Vietnamese enterprises be able to carry out similar projects themselves, helping to increase self-reliance in future domestic investment in similar projects, reduce trade deficits and avoid price pressure from foreign contractors. In addition, it is necessary to develop time-limited incentive mechanisms for projects using successfully researched scientific and technological products to encourage investors to use research results.

Along with that, the urgent task in the coming time is that research institutes and specialized mechanical units need to build research programs, invest in scientific and technological potential to study and receive technology transfer to master the design and manufacture of entire equipment lines in these fields.

To promote the core role in the network of science and technology organizations in the industry and trade sector, the development strategy of the institutes in the coming years needs to be built in accordance with the development orientation and restructuring goals of each sector as well as in accordance with the National Science and Technology Development Strategy, Industry and Trade sector for the period 2021-2030, focusing on building strong enough research institutes with source technology corresponding to each industrial sector and capable of completing the country's major socio-economic development strategy to 2030 with a vision to 2045.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/nganh-cong-nghiep-che-tao-thiet-bi-toan-bo-ghi-dau-an-tren-nhieu-cong-trinh-trong-diem-355185.html