Festo, a German supplier of automation technology and technical education, plans to expand investment in Viet Nam to take advantage of the increasing foreign investment and production in the country.

Ansgar Kriwet, member of the management board of Festo, said Viet Nam has the fastest growing economy in Southeast Asia with a growth rate of 6.5 per cent.

Manufacturing is its strongest sector and accounts for more than 50 per cent of FDI, he said.

As Asia’s new manufacturing hub, Viet Nam requires strong support from motion automation, he said.

Putting industry 4.0 into action means both intensively investigating new technologies and preparing employees for the challenges of future production, he added.

Festo’s cyber-physical systems encompass the new developments of networked production in industry 4.0 and offer a modular smart factory system for teaching and research purposes.

In Viet Nam the company has partnered with 25 schools, universities, and industry-wide institutes to train specialists.

It annually invests around 8 per cent of its revenues into research and development and makes 100 new products ready for patenting.

It has more than 300,000 customers in 176 countries in more than 20 industry sectors like pneumatics, servo pneumatics and electrical automation.

It expanded its regional logistics centre in 2017 to better support the Vietnamese and other markets in Southeast Asia. — VNS