Businesses join hands to achieve growth targets

PART 2: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION POWERING PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH 

Digital transformation is increasingly becoming a fast track for enterprises to improve productivity, reduce costs, and enhance adaptability in a challenging business environment. In Dong Nai, businesses are accelerating the application of advanced technologies to raise productivity and product quality while reducing labor dependence and improving control over orders and inventories.

Application of technology in production operations at Action Composites Hightech Industries Co., Ltd. in Nhon Trach 3 Industrial Park (IP). Photo: Hai Quan

Digital transformation has become a key factor in strengthening enterprises’ competitiveness and enabling them to meet the strict requirements of multinational brands. Dong Nai is now home to a growing number of green and smart factories with low emissions, helping attract more export orders.

Pioneering the development of green and smart factories

As one of Vietnam’s largest industrial centers, Dong Nai has led the way in investing in and developing green, smart factories in line with global integration trends. These efforts are contributing to sustainable industrial development while minimizing the negative impacts of climate change.

Dong Nai currently has numerous green, smart factories operated by major foreign corporations and enterprises, including Nestlé, Bosch, Schaeffler, Meggitt, SMC, UPM, Fleming, Coherent, Kaneko, and Action Composites, in industrial parks. These factories have implemented digital transformation and Industry 4.0 technologies across their management and production lines, with their products supplied to many developed countries and markets, including the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Europe.

Dong Nai is also attracting growing investment interest from major corporations in the digital technology sector. In July 2025, Coherent Group, based in the United States, inaugurated its semiconductor manufacturing plant in Nhon Trach 1 IP. With total investment capital of US$127 million, the project further demonstrated Dong Nai’s attractiveness in the high-tech sector.

Nestlé currently operates three factories in Dong Nai with a total investment of approximately US$850 million. Among them, the Nestlé Tri An factory in Amata IP is the largest and most modern coffee processing plant within Nestlé’s global network spanning more than 190 countries and territories.

Khuat Quang Hung, Deputy General Director in charge of External Affairs and Communications at Nestlé Vietnam Co., Ltd., said that digital transformation and the application of science and technology play extremely important roles for enterprises. According to him, the company has prioritized digital transformation to build a sustainable production chain, improve efficiency and product quality, and develop a modern and sustainable manufacturing model toward net-zero targets.

Trans Machine Technologies Vietnam Co., Ltd., in Nhon Trach 3 IP - Phase 2, Nhon Trach ward, Dong Nai city, specializes in precision mechanical processing and produces more than 300 types of components for industries such as railways, electricity, engines, and semiconductors. The application of technology has brought dual benefits to the company: optimizing production operations while improving workers’ well-being.

Tran Cong Dua, Project Manager of Trans Machine Technologies Vietnam, said the company focuses on digital transformation to improve cost management efficiency, optimize operational processes, and shorten delivery times.

“The application of technology in production helps reduce manufacturing costs and increase revenue for enterprises, while also improving workers’ incomes and living conditions,” he noted.

Dong Nai is home to a large number of industrial parks and enterprises with a sizeable workforce, providing an important foundation for training digital technology human resources and promoting science and technology development, technology transfer, innovation, and digital transformation associated with green growth.

Speaking at the 2026 conference reviewing tasks of Dong Nai’s industry and trade sector, Vu Ngoc Long, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade, emphasized that the sector would prioritize industrial and trade-service development this year.

Accordingly, Dong Nai will promote pilot projects and the replication of eco-industrial cluster models that support environmental protection, efficient resource use, and compliance with green standards in global supply chains.

Tran Ngoc Thuong, Director of Eco Polymers Co., Ltd. in Ho Nai IP, Ho Nai ward, shared that the company’s key products include elastic materials for the sports footwear and mattress industries, as well as environmentally friendly materials.

The company has focused on applying new technologies and implementing ESG practices to improve materials and meet increasingly demanding customer requirements. Its factory currently applies global recycling standards, with traceability systems covering imported raw materials through to finished products, and all waste is recycled.

Promoting productive forces in the new era

The development of science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation is no longer solely the story of individual enterprises but has become a national strategy. Consensus among businesses, workers, and authorities will serve as a strong driving force, helping Dong Nai not only maintain its role as a major economic driver but also contribute to the country’s broader breakthroughs in a new era.

Production activities applying advanced technological production lines at a food processing enterprise in Binh Loc ward, Dong Nai City. Photo: Hai Quan

Nguyen Tran Quoc Anh, Vice Chairman of the Dong Nai Import-Export Association, said digital and green transformation are placing extremely high demands on enterprises. Therefore, local authorities need to strengthen support for businesses during the digital and green transformation, particularly as more than 95% of enterprises in the province are small and medium-sized businesses with limited capital, human resources, and governance capacity.

According to him, suitable support programs should be implemented to help enterprises apply digital technologies to production management, logistics, and import-export activities, while gaining access to energy-saving and emission-reduction solutions to meet environmental standards in international markets.

One of the nine major science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation challenges proposed by Dong Nai City is the application of technology and innovation to convert traditional industrial parks into smart and eco-industrial parks integrated with technology services, innovation, and green logistics.

In September 2025, the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and the Dong Nai Political School jointly organized a ministerial-level scientific conference on digital transformation and the development of productive forces in the Southeast region in the new era.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Phuc Lam, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, emphasized that comprehensive research and discussion on digital transformation linked to productive force development in the Southeast region, in general, and in Dong Nai in particular, are of great significance.

He noted that this is both an objective requirement stemming from the development law of productive forces and an urgent demand arising from Vietnam’s current development reality.

Important issues requiring clarification include the theoretical and practical foundations of digital transformation and its relationship with productive force development in the new context; comprehensive and scientific assessments of the current state of digital transformation in the Southeast region; and the role of stakeholders such as the State, enterprises, training institutions, research institutes, social organizations, and workers in the transformation process.

In addition, policy recommendations and practical solutions are needed to accelerate digital transformation and promote the development of productive forces in a modern, sustainable, and highly adaptive direction amid global fluctuations.

Vo Hoang Khai, Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Dong Nai City, said digital transformation is opening up enormous opportunities for Dong Nai and the Southeast region to make breakthroughs in developing productive forces and improving productivity, quality, and competitiveness. However, making full use of these opportunities requires close cooperation among localities in the region, strong support from the central government, and determined action from enterprises and society. Digital transformation in Dong Nai City, in particular, and the Southern region in general, must go beyond mere technology application. It must become a core driving force for restructuring productive forces and promoting innovation. Through this, digital transformation will help enterprises improve productivity, establish smart supply chains, and develop the digital economy, knowledge economy, and green economy.

By staff writers – Translated by M.Nguyet, Minho