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Nai
Province,since FCV is a strong company and boasts the country's
highest export sales, at around US$600 million in 2000. FCV had
been growing since its launching date to 2000. Many new plants
were built and at one time the number of its workers reached
2,700. The company also planned the second-stage expansion of its
printed circuit board (PCB) assembly plant, after pouring US$120
million worth of investment in two plants producing PCB and
printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA).
Yet doing business in a globalized economy requires change,
however good or bad. In early 2001, demand for information
technology (IT) products was on the decline, which industry
experts say had resulted from many companies producing the same
products. Because of this, products piled up in warehouses and
companies boosted sales to reduce their stockpiles. Many had a
shrinking turnover. Fujitsu group in Japan announced job cuts. The
parent company's goods storage division also announced the
suspended production of hard drives for the laptop computer market
for further concentration on the server, filing machine and mobile
phone market. "This sudden decision seriously affected the
PCBA plant, as half of its turnover came from the hard-drive
market," said Shuzo Kawashima, general director of FCV. He
noted the global IT stagnation is seriously affecting the PCBA
plant, so changes this year will send our company's turnover down
30-40% compared with last year." In the face of the market
upheaval, FCV had to reduce staff seeking a more suitable business
strategy.
However, as an exemplary company in complying with the Vietnamese
Government's policies and because of its close relations with
workers, downsizing was for it a difficult decision to make.
Therefore, the company neither made a list of workers nor
proceeded with massive layoffs. Instead the company turned to
calling on workers to voluntarily apply for retirement, with which
the outgoing workers would be provided with VND3 million in
addition to the legally stipulated retirement allowance. The
measure was logical, with no complaints heard from the 420 workers
who eventually accepted early dismissal. In a recent meeting with
foreign investors in Dong Nai, vice chairwoman Dang Thi Kim Nguyen
once again praised FCV's downsizing measure which caused no cracks
in the relations between the company and its workers.
Market experts predict the crisis to last 12 to 18 months. While
waiting for the turmoil to abate, FCV has taken into account
preparations for a post-crisis recovery. Previously, FCV
manufactured products based on its parent company's design and
sold to markets distributed by the latter, now FCV has begun to
send its officials abroad to market its products. Some engineers
have also been sent to Japan for further training on product
design to eventually play an active role in the
design-production-assembly process to better cater to clients'
demand, instead of covering just the last two phases as previously.
Kawashima said he is confident about the prospects of the printed
circuit board manufacturing industry as this is an IT product
badly needed in the booming IT age. The only thing that matters,
according to him, is that future business requires better skills
on management, technology and material supply, as this will
guarantee the production of high-tech and low-priced products with
which FCV will be able to sharpen its competitive edge on the
ever-changing globalized market.
Preparing for Better Days
Fujitsu Vietnam has restructured its
production to prepare for a revival of the high-tech industry. The
Saigon Times Weekly interviewed Fujitsu Vietnam general director
Shuzo Kawashima.
Could you elaborate on your company's practice of sending skilled
workers overseas for work?
The information technology (IT) industry is facing a slowdown,
especially the production of hard disks for desktop computers
because of overproduction in the global market. This has created a
surplus and now is the time for clearance. However, production of
electronic circuit boards still has a promise because they are
hi-tech products. We are waiting for an early recovery of the IT
industry and are making preparations for such an opportunity. One
of these is sending engineers to Japan to train for new jobs.
Has restructuring reduced jobs?
Fujitsu Vietnam cut 17% of its workforce in September and October.
We hope the IT industry will recover within a year and a half. In
the meantime, we will try to keep jobs stable for our employees.
We have sent Vietnamese employees to Japan, Taiwan, Singapore,
China, Malaysia and European countries to promote the sale of
electronic circuit boards made in Vietnam.
What are your main products for the future?
We are a hi-tech company specializing in hard disc production and
we predict that hard disc production and sale will remain a
prospective business. Future business requires better management
skills, technology and materials as well as more cost cutting
measures to improve the competitiveness of our products on the
global market.
What do you think of the future of the hi-tech industry?
I think that society will develop to a higher level. Everybody
wants a better life with more comforts. So the production of
electronic circuit boards will grow to meet this demand and we
will have a lot of work to do. The current industry slowdown is
not worth so much concern. We believe that we could overcome these
hard times and are preparing for a brighter future.
Reported by Kim Loan
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