A booth at the MTA Vietnam 2018, which opened at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre on July 3. — VNS Photo Xuan Huong

A wide range of intelligent machinery, equipment and solutions for the manufacturing value chain are on display at the International Precision Engineering, Machine Tools and Metalworking Exhibition that opened on July 3 in HCM City.

The latest edition of MTA Vietnam, and the largest so far, has attracted nearly 400 exhibitors from 16 countries and territories, including 13 international group pavilions from Germany, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and the UK, BT Tee, general manager of UBM VES, the exhibition organiser, said.

He said 74 per cent of the exhibitors are foreign, and the number of Vietnamese exhibitors has also increased compared to previous expos.

Koji Takimoto, chief representative of the Japan External Trade Organisation’s HCM City office, said 24 Japanese companies are participating this year, 11 of them for the first time.

They have brought labour-saving components and equipment; equipment and materials which can protect workers like press load monitoring device, safety valves and rust removers that are safe for humans; and devices and inspection tools that can help increase local content, he said.

“Viet Nam is a very attractive market for Japanese firms thanks to its steady economic growth and large population,” he said.

“Besides, Japanese firms are confident of their technologies.

“Japanese machinery cost rather more than Chinese machinery, and this is their disadvantage.

“But their strategy is to create a difference in terms of technologies and accuracy rather than competing on price.”

Viet Nam’s low labour cost used to be a key factor in attracting foreign investors, but no longer, he said.

Therefore, firms need to have machinery and equipment that offer high productivity and efficiency but require less labour, he said.

They also need to improve their working environment to ensure workers’ safety, and this would provide a competitive edge to Vietnamese firms when entering fastidious markets, he said.

Osamu Hata, sales department manager at NMC Co Ltd, which supplies rust removal and prevention solutions, said: “We are present in Thailand and Malaysia, but not many businesses in Viet Nam know us. Therefore, by participating in the show, we want to expand our market here.

“Many businesses were interested in our products, and asked for samples to see how their work.”

Seiji Ushiyama of the overseas sales division at Shinko Denshi Co., Ltd, which provides solutions to industries requiring high-accuracy weighing and measurement, said his company wants to find new customers and an agent in the north.

Tee said the exhibition has again attracted market leaders such as Amada, Bystronic, Blum, Carl Zeiss, Conic, DMG Mori, Dine, Doosan, Sodick, Mazak, Makino, Knuth, Kuka Robotics, Mitutoyo, and Nikon, he said.

On the sidelines of the expo, seminars and conferences would be organised by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, the Multi Engineering Solutions Laboratory, Lean Six Sigma Network, and other organisations, he said.

The expo, on at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre in District 7, will run until July 6. — VNS