The Factory Improvement Programme (FIP), a project executed by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), marked its implementation with the final reporting session at Hanoi Horison Hotel on Thursday 15th November, 2007. Workers and managers from all participating factories, as well as donors, industry associations and Ministries attended the meeting to review the results and achievements after ten months of the FIP implementation.
Being implemented by the Vietnam Cleaner Production Centre (VNCPC), FIP aims to help factories improve their quality and productivity while also building better worker/management relationships through efficient communication and open dialogue. In light of Vietnam’s rapid integration into the world economy and joining of the World Trade Organization (WTO), factories must ensure the compliance with labour laws and customer requirements while improving production efficiency in order to remain competitive. In this context, FIP provides an excellent opportunity for factories to address a range of critical issues through a combined training and in-factory consultancy approach focusing on practical ways to improve management and production systems.
FIP in northern Vietnam has been implemented since January to October 2007 and factories are already seeing impressive results. Factories report improved communication and cooperation between workers and managers, leading to higher productivity and low defect rates. A number of factories have introduced significant new facilities for workers such as additional drinking water, improved canteen, enriched menu, new health and safety equipment and cleaner and more comfortable working conditions. Factories have learned new techniques to improve their performance, and are already seeing satisfactory results. For example, the Nguyen Hoang Exim Garment Factory has seen their end-line defect rate reduce by 75% since introducing a new quality system through FIP.
Factory Improvement Teams (FITs) of all participating factories includes workers, managers and trade union representatives. The teams have played an active role throughout 7 modules of the program in analysing problems in the factory, planning improvements and implementing changes. It is the involvement of workers into the management of changes in the factories that make the FIP different to most factory programmes. The results, which have benefited all sides at the factory level, workers and managers, have been highly supportive.
"FIP helps finding solutions for overcoming weak points and making the company management more decent. Besides, the cooperation relation between different levels in the company and production behaviours among staff and workers are improved," said the Vice Director of Printing and Cultural Products Company, Mr Ngo Van Vung.
"Participation in Factory Improvement Programme has brought about the impressive changes: stable jobs, improved quality and productivity, increased customers' satisfactory. In addition, FIP helps improved the production management and increase salary for workers," commented Mr Thang, a worker in the Printing and Cultural Products Company.
The Factory Improvement Programme, funded by the Swiss State Secretariat of Economic Affairs, running in the North of Vietnam includes 10 factories in the garment, printing and steel structure manufacturing sectors which is employing over 5,700 workers. The Programme has finished successfully as scheduled on October 2007.
T.N
Vietnamese
