Hanoi Plastic Joint Stock Company: Constantly innovating and creating

Hanoi Plastic Joint Stock Company (NHH) is a manufacturer and supplier of more than 40% of plastic components for Honda and many other multinational companies operating in Vietnam thanks to innovating, creating, improving continuously. The reporter of the Industry and Trade Newspaper had an interview with Mr. Bui Minh Hai – Chairman of NHH’s Board of Directors – about the things that make the company successful.

As one of the suppliers of components and accessories selected and highly appreciated by many multinational companies in Vietnam, in your opinion, what makes NHH’s success?

We have been with Honda for more than 20 years. The output supplied to Honda has grown continuously, showing that NHH must meet the high requirements of quality – cost – supply. The company has constantly improved, improved quality, services, reduced product prices to meet the requirements of Japanese businesses – one of the most “fastidious” partners in the world.

Currently, more than 40% of Honda plastic components are supplied by NHH. Besides, we are also a supplier to Toyota – a major partner of NHH for nearly 10 years. In 2010, after 2 years of rigorous assessment of capacity, realizing the seriousness in the investment, development, effort and progress of the business, Toyota ordered NHH to produce 2 parts and 8. next year, the number of NHH parts produced for Toyota is up to 30 details. In 2020, Toyota continues to deliver 14 more components, showing that the cooperation between the company and Toyota is increasingly developing.

Up to now, the degree of cooperation between NHH and Toyota has developed to the level of self-designing, manufacturing plastic molds and processing automobile plastic detailed inspection sets. Not stopping there, Toyota is supporting and coordinating with NHH to localize more vehicles. In particular, in 2019, NHH added VinFast, with more than 50% of VinFast’s electric motorcycle plastic parts all manufactured by NHH. In the near future, VinFast will release 3 or 4 more vehicles, all plastic components for these models will be transferred to VAPA – a member company of NHH – for implementation.

The above success is due to NHH’s motto of continuous innovation, creation, and continuous improvement to satisfy customer’s requirements.

How specifically are the bank’s technical innovations and improvements implemented?

From 2015 to June 2016, NHH invested nearly VND 115 billion in modern machinery and equipment imported from Japan to restructure production and improve product quality. Not only in the Vietnamese market, for Europe, Japan, etc, the products produced by NHH also meet the standards set by those countries. Besides, NHH always invests in R&D, applying technology to manufacture important details and components such as body shells, doors, etc, for many types of vehicles. In order to improve competitiveness and meet customer requirements, the company has invested in new and modern equipment.

In particular, in order to improve labor productivity, the company put 5S in management and production. Up to now, 100% of the factory’s production block has successfully implemented 5S and the workshops are applying the higher stage, which is to build standard work and improve.

In addition, since 2016, NHH has implemented the Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) Program in cooperation with Japanese partners, especially Toyota. Thereby, all members at NHH, from leaders to workers, are encouraged to make suggestions for improvements, even small, starting from daily tasks. During the Kaizen implementation from 2016 up to now, NHH has solved many problems, especially improving production productivity. Most recently, NHH also conducted Samsung’s innovation program (3 months), which greatly improves business efficiency.

After the introduction of Kaizen, we have gained a lot of benefits: accumulating small improvements becomes big results; reduce waste, increase productivity; creating motivation for individuals to have ideas of improvement, teamwork spirit, solidarity; reduce waste; building company culture.

To become a link in the global supply chain, in your opinion, what steps should Vietnamese enterprises take?

With more than 20 years of experience with Honda, SYM, 12 years with LGE, 10 years with Toyota, 8 years with Piaggio, 7 years with Panasonic, NHH has had a long journey in the supporting industry. Every product comes out, every order comes out, we have new experiences. Working in supporting industry has to do from a little to a lot, from simple to complex, not for a day, two days, one or two years, etc, but that is centuries, a long journey.

As one of the few Vietnamese enterprises becoming a supplier to FDI manufacturers, we have been equipped with a lot of experience, including the spirit of perseverance, seriousness, unceasing creativity and development. Ministry of infrastructure, finance, science – technology, human resources, especially research, find new development directions. At the same time, constantly improving and innovating towards 3 goals set by customers: Quality – Price – Delivery time. As for cost, the greater the supply capacity of the business, the more competitive the price, and thus, enterprises must solve the problem of improving labor productivity.

Thank you Sir!

Productivity and Quality Office