Samsung Viet Nam on Wednesday officially kicked off their consultation programme for Vietnamese enterprises, assisting them in joining the component supply chain for the year 2017.

The consultation programme started in 2015 with focus on industries such as printing, packaging, and plastic moulding. In 2017, Samsung will expand their consultation to hi-tech industries such as electric, electronics (PCB, speakers built into TV, wire harness) to help Vietnamese enterprises produce sophisticated electronic parts which have added-value and hi-tech content in the global supply chain.

Samsung targeted to provide consultation for 12 Vietnamese suppliers, which would bring the total number of business consultees to 26 since the year 2015. Samsung affiliates like Samsung Display Viet Nam and Samsung Electro-mechanics Viet Nam join this programme for the first time.

Samsung will also launch a pilot model for tier-1 vendors to guide tier-2 vendors, creating a ripple effect in Viet Nam’s supporting industry. This turning point demonstrates the Samsung’s commitment in increasing localisation rate, supporting Vietnamese businesses to get further involved in Samsung’s component supply chain and contributing to the development of Viet Nam’s supporting industry.

With 12 Vietnamese firms participating in the consultation programme in 2017, Samsung will continue to send South Korean experts experienced in the field of final product technology and production quality control to directly guide them for 12 weeks. The South Korean experts will survey and assess local firms for two weeks and directly consult and work with them in the following 10 weeks in reforming production procedures and complete all standards in the product/parts supply process for Samsung’s factories in Viet Nam.

Through the consulting, all suppliers have achieved good results, including an average 25 per cent reduction in defect rate and a 30 per cent increase in manufacturing capacity

Han Myoung Sup, president of the Samsung Complex Viet Nam said, “During the past two years, Samsung has always endeavoured to support Vietnamese enterprises in increasing their competitiveness in production and product quality. The consultation expansion into hi-tech industry with the aim of assisting local firms in producing sophisticated parts and joining the value chain is a strong affirmation for Samsung’s long-term and sustainable commitments in Viet Nam.”

This consultation programme is one of the Samsung’s efforts to dramatically increase the number of local firms participating in its supply chain with 201 vendors in total (23 tier-1 vendors and 178 tier-2 vendors). They are participating in supply chain for three Samsung plants in Viet Nam, including Samsung Electronics Viet Nam (SEV), Samsung Electronics Viet Nam Thai Nguyen (SEVT), and SEHC Complex (HCMC). It is expected that, Samsung’s total number of tier-1 vendors will increase to 29 in 2017. Besides, Samsung Viet Nam has also recorded the significant breakthrough in raising the localisation rate of products from 35 per cent in 2014 to 57 per cent at present. This year, the turning point in supporting programme for high-tech enterprises will promisingly create more opportunities for Vietnamese suppliers to join Samsung’s global value chain as well as help Samsung achieve its goal of increasing the localisation rate in 2017. — VNS