Woodworking Industry Take on the fourth Industrial Revolution

Woodworking Industry : Take on the fourth Industrial Revolution

Technological innovation includes the replacement of old technologies which waste of using raw materials, and the change in the management of technology. Improving the productivity of the timber industry requires the reduction of low quality labor involved in manufacture, replacement with high quality labor force; reduce the number of direct labor, replace with technology and machinery. This can only be done with the manufacture of highly synchronous products.

Technological innovations include design and product design. This is two of the weaknesses of Vietnam’s wood processing industry. The direct interactions of Vietnamese businesses with the furniture consumption markets from Vietnam about demand, tastes, styles, designs, changes of the market etc aren’t mostly carried out. This limits the ability of enterprises to innovate. The information on market needs and tastes is crucial for businesses to decide on innovation. The way which businesses access this information not only requires the effort of the enterprise itself but also the important role of the State authorities and associations. One of the ways toward automation is to specialize in a kind of product.

Vietnamese enterprises are manufacturing too many models and they change constantly, they have to produce too many items. So it is not effective but they are forced to do, the factor which impacts on automation is the order. When the orders are stable, large quantity, products change less, the enterprise can focus on specialization and automation. Automation is only easy when the enterprise has the orientation of the product line which is manufactured in the direction of specialization. In the US, for example, most of their furniture is modularized, which means that there is a strict agreement on product standards between designers - manufacturers - distributors. In addition to the main export markets of the EU and the US, Vietnamese wood businesses should think of Southeast Asia with a population of more than 600 million, in which Vietnam is leading in furniture production. Thus, the market for Vietnam’s wood industry is very large.

 Currently, there has been a shift in the market of furniture production to Vietnam but we have just exploited the opportunity of processing, many other values have not been exploited, those are design, brand and trading. Out of the processing, Vietnam’s wood industry is really explored the potential for developing. Therefore, enterprises need to invest more in design as well as in technology to increase their competitive advantage.

Especially when the fourth technological revolution is evolving strongly, the wood processing technology and manufacture are constantly being set up. Vietnamese enterprises cannot look on this revolution. Only when we truly appreciate the significance and importance of modern technology in wood processing, can we accelerate the sustainable development for the wood industry.