Other Industries

The industrial sector is a significant part of the global economy, encompassing diverse fields such as chemicals, textiles, food, and many other industries. For each sector, automation presents unique challenges, characteristics, and benefits.

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

What are the challenges of the chemical production industry? Why apply automation in this sector?

• Intense Competition: The global chemical market is becoming increasingly competitive. Businesses must continuously improve production efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance product quality to maintain market position. This requires significant investment in technology and production processes.

• Safety and Environmental Requirements: Chemical production often poses risks of environmental pollution and workplace accidents. Therefore, companies must strictly comply with safety and environmental protection regulations.

• Market Volatility: The demand for chemicals can change unexpectedly due to various factors such as economic fluctuations, policy changes, or technological developments. This creates significant pressure on businesses to predict and respond to market demand.

• Labor Shortage: The chemical industry requires highly skilled and specialized labor, but there is currently a severe shortage. Recruiting and retaining talent is a major challenge for companies in the industry.

What is chemical automation?

Chemical automation involves the application of automation technologies to control and manage chemical production processes, including the use of automated equipment, automatic control systems, production management software, and other automation solutions.

Benefits of Automation in the Chemical Industry?

• Increased Productivity: Automation can help eliminate time-consuming manual tasks, reduce downtime and waste, speed up production, and optimize costs. Automated systems continuously monitor and adjust production processes, leading to the best possible productivity and product quality. Thanks to automation, businesses can produce more products in the same amount of time.

• Improved Product Quality: Automation ensures uniformity and stability of products, minimizes production errors, and enhances quality. This not only helps businesses save costs but also enhances brand reputation.

• Reduced Production Costs: Automation helps minimize labor costs, maintenance costs, and material and energy costs, enabling businesses to save on production costs, increase profits, and significantly improve their competitive advantage in the market.

• Enhanced Workplace Safety: Automation reduces the risk of workplace accidents, protects workers' health, and creates a safer working environment, thus lowering legal risks. The application of automation also helps minimize direct human exposure to chemicals, thereby enhancing safety for workers.

• Increased Flexibility: Automation allows chemical manufacturers to quickly adapt to the increasingly complex changes in market demand.

Automation Technology in the Chemical Industry

• Distributed Control Systems (DCS): DCS is a central control system that helps monitor and control chemical production processes efficiently.
• Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC): PLCs are compact controllers that manage automated equipment in production processes, ensuring smooth operations.
• Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA): SCADA collects and analyzes data from automated devices, providing critical information for managers to make decisions.
• RFID and IoT Technology: Track inventory information, forecast demand, and optimize supply management.
• Industrial Robots: Industrial robots are used to perform hazardous, repetitive tasks in the production process, helping to improve workplace safety and increase productivity.

Chemical Production Plant Operation Process

The operation process of a chemical production plant is often automated, including the following steps:

• Production Planning: Identify the product, production volume, necessary materials, and time required for production.
• Material Preparation: Materials are transported, quality tested, and stored according to regulations.
• Feeding Materials into the System: Materials are introduced into the automated production system.
• Operating the Production System: The automated production system operates according to the pre-installed program.
• Quality Control of Products: Products are quality tested to ensure compliance with established standards.
• Packaging and Storage: Products are packaged, labeled, and stored according to regulations.
• Product Transportation: Products are transported to warehouses and customers.
• Monitoring and Maintenance: The production system is monitored and regularly maintained to ensure stable and efficient operation.

TEXTILE INDUSTRY

The textile industry is one of the key industries in Vietnam, significantly contributing to the economy. This industry not only creates millions of jobs but also exports a large volume of products to international markets.

Challenges in the Textile Production Industry

• Intense Competition: Like other sectors, the textile market always faces fierce competition, requiring businesses to invest in technology and processes to create leading products that meet the increasingly high demands of the market and customers.
• Continuous Changes in Fashion Trends: This requires textile companies to quickly adapt, update designs and product styles, while flexibly adjusting production scale and processes accordingly.
• Labor Shortage: The textile industry needs a large workforce, but there is a severe shortage of high-quality labor, especially as younger workers increasingly prefer office jobs and high-tech roles.
• Rising Production Costs: The increasing prices of raw materials like cotton and yarn raise the production costs of the textile industry, impacting business profits. Companies need to seek cost-saving solutions to maintain profitability.
• Environmental Protection Requirements: The textile industry generates a large quantity of waste, causing environmental pollution, which requires companies to implement eco-friendly solutions. This not only protects the environment but also enhances the brand image of the business.

What is textile automation?

Textile automation is the application of automation technologies to control and manage textile production processes. The applicable technologies include modern control systems such as software, computers, industrial robots, and programmed machinery to operate electronic devices and optimize production processes.

Benefits of Automation in the Textile Industry

• Increased Production Productivity: With automation, machines can operate continuously 24/7 without needing breaks. Simultaneously, they can fully replace manual labor with faster, more accurate speeds. This significantly improves work productivity.
• Enhanced Product Quality: Before operation, automated devices are pre-programmed, providing all product specifications, which helps minimize errors. Furthermore, a consistent working system delivers the highest uniformity in products. The minimal errors will help businesses save on substantial costs such as material costs, production costs, spoilage costs, or compensation costs.
• Reduced Labor Costs: The involvement of machinery with increased productivity minimizes the need for human labor, which is one of the factors helping businesses reduce labor costs. Automation technology will replace humans in the more arduous and dangerous processes, ensuring workplace safety in manufacturing facilities. Additionally, when machinery takes over difficult tasks, the workforce can be shifted to more complex and higher-value jobs.
• Enhanced Competitive Position: As a consumer, you will naturally choose better-quality products at lower prices. This is one of the great benefits of automation.

Textile Automation Technology

Textile automation technology is increasingly developing, with many advanced technologies being applied:

• Industrial Robots: Robots are used to perform tasks such as sewing, cutting fabric, folding fabric, and transporting products, helping to reduce manual labor and increase productivity.
• CAD/CAM Systems: CAD/CAM systems help design product samples, program machines, optimize production processes, and improve production efficiency.
• Automated Machinery: Automated machinery is used in processes such as cutting fabric, sewing, printing, and dyeing, helping to increase productivity, improve product quality, and minimize production errors.
• 3D Printing Technology: 3D printing technology is used to produce new product samples, create unique designs, and manufacture according to customer specifications.
• Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES): MES helps businesses manage and monitor production processes, control machinery, check product quality, and manage inventory.

Industries such as chemicals and textiles face numerous challenges in the increasingly competitive market. However, applying automation to production processes not only helps improve efficiency but also enhances product quality, reduces costs, and increases workplace safety. To survive and thrive in a volatile business environment, companies need to invest in technology and innovate production processes. Intech Group aims to be a partner in solving this challenge alongside your business.