After more than 10 years of implementing the Law on Economical and Efficient Use of Energy, activities related to energy saving have had many positive changes. The awareness of people and businesses has been improved, leading to the production orientation and the demand for energy-efficient technology products and equipment also gradually changing towards sustainability. Products and equipment are becoming more and more efficient, integrated with more technologies. Those factors contribute to saving electricity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and are environmentally friendly. Through a survey of the Vietnam Energy Conservation and Energy Efficiency Association (VECEA) with several foreign-invested and domestic enterprises that are manufacturing, trading and exporting energy efficient technological products, equipment shows that they have been under different competitive pressures to access and dominate the market. Each business has its own way of doing things, but with the common goal of achieving the sustainable development of the business as well as contributing to the sustainable development of the Vietnamese economy.

Here are some experiences as well as recommendations with state management agencies shared by business managers. We are pleased to introduce to the readers!

Mrs. Ly Thi Phuong Trang - General Director of Daikin Vietnam Joint Stock Company:

"Standardized training for air conditioning technicians to best serve customers"

As a member of the world's leading air conditioner manufacturer Daikin (Japan), Daikin Vietnam is currently a favorite brand in Vietnam with a diverse product chain from residential, commercial, industrial air conditioners and air purifiers. The power consumption of the air conditioning system always accounts for 50~60% of the electricity consumed in a building. To relieve the worry of power consumption of air conditioning equipment, Daikin Vietnam has applied many effective power-saving technologies to products, such as inverter technology with reluctance DC motor and swing compressor; using the new generation refrigerant R32 which increases product efficiency and is good for the environment; using Micro Channel heatsink with new aluminum alloy material, higher heat exchange efficiency.

In addition, Daikin is always a pioneer in applying AI and IoT technologies to air conditioning solutions such as human sensor in the room with Smart Eye, Econo power saving operation mode, on/off time setting, operating temperature limit etc. From these outstanding advantages, we are always confident to meet the energy saving needs of diverse customer types from civil to office buildings, hotels/resorts or manufacturing plants.

It can be said that Vietnam is a young market with a fast growth rate, however, it has a high level of competition when more and more air-conditioning firms appear. Therefore, in order for Daikin brand to be truly a brand that accompanies Vietnamese consumers, we pay special attention to after-sales service, with the best quality based on three criteria: Promptness, Kindness, Trust. Currently, we have expanded a nationwide service network with 7 service centers, 10 service stations and more than 100 authorized service agents to promptly support customers.

Especially, from 2019 Daikin Vietnam also cooperated with the General Directorate of Vocational Education and Training to develop a training program to standardize the skills of air-conditioning technicians, coordinated by dozens of vocational colleges in 2020 and 2021. This program will contribute to further improving the skills of technicians (installers and repairmen), ensuring product quality when reaching users.

In order to promote the market of energy efficient products and equipment in Vietnam, we would like to contribute our voice in consultation conferences, seminars to share difficulties and problems or be disseminated policies related to energy efficient products, technologies and equipment. At the same time, it is expected that inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral agencies have large, long-term and nationwide programs to promote the quality products for domestic manufacturing enterprises that have transformed technology towards improving high energy efficiency, setting advanced examples as well as affirming the value of Vietnamese goods. Specifically, our enterprise proposes that the state management agency could join with the enterprises in the role of consultation - orientation - evaluation for technical pilot projects of new technology solutions in economical and efficient use of energy, contributing to national benefit and being replicable.

Mr. Phung Hoai Duong - General Director of Signify Vietnam Co., Ltd.:

“Ready to build pilot models to apply advanced lighting solutions for everyone to experience and gradually put them into practice”

In Vietnam, Signify Vietnam focuses on providing energy-saving lighting products, systems and solutions. Our flagship products are LED lights for homes, including new smart lighting solutions such as WiZ, Philips Hue; high-performance LED lighting systems for offices, factories, shops, hotels, sports facilities, outdoor lighting, including facade lighting and solar street lights.

Saving electricity is the first condition for Philips lighting products. In addition to that Signify also constantly improves lighting products, systems and services to help businesses to save energy and improve operational efficiency; at the same time brings new experiences, supports to improve health and quality of life for residents and community. For example, smart LED lighting solutions (including interaction) not only help businesses saving up to 80% on lighting electricity costs, but also provide space for efficient lighting to improve production, protect the health of workers. This is one of the more open and scalable lighting platforms and suitable for office, factory, retail, hotel, resort and landscape lighting applications.

Other examples are Philips Hue lights for smart homes, which not only help consumers to manage their home lighting system effectively, but also create highly personalized entertainment and relaxation spaces or UV-C disinfection lamps and some lighting solutions for plants and animals. Our innovative UV-C sterilization solutions are developed to help businesses to create healthy living and working environments for employees and customers.

For any new technology when introduced to the market, it takes time to adapt and build trust with customers. Signify Vietnam has also experienced challenges from customers' questions in terms of product quality, benefits brought by smart lighting and how to apply new technology in the Vietnamese market. With the quality and prestige of famous global lighting brands, Signify Vietnam has gradually convinced and built a reputation among Vietnamese consumers.

Especially, the company is currently investing in the development of hi-tech agriculture. Applying artificial lighting technology helps agricultural production save expenses, increase productivity, reduce costs and improve the quality of agricultural products, protect the environment. Signify globally has been applying Philips LED light sources for lighting in crops and livestock to improve efficiency, reduce investment costs in feed and farming time.

Signify Vietnam hopes in fourth quarter of 2021 will launch a product line applied in shrimp and fish farming, so that it can work with Vietnamese fishermen to boost shrimp and fish farming productivity, ensure quality and strict standard regulations in exporting seafood in the coming time.

As a pioneer in advanced lighting technologies, Signify Vietnam will always join hands with state management agencies to implement regulations on energy efficiency. We recommend that Vietnam soon apply advanced solutions such as application of UV-C sterilization solution, smart lighting platforms, application of high-tech lighting in agriculture and home lighting with smart lighting solutions.

We are also ready to join hands with state management agencies to build pilot models at workplaces, factories, agricultural production, etc. to apply advanced lighting solutions for everyone to experience and gradually put it into practice.

Mr. Kubo Yuya – Sales Director of Maruse Engineering Vietnam Co., Ltd.:

“When a customer has a problem, we will be there within 24 hours to help them fix it as quickly as possible”

The Vietnamese market has been attracting the attention of many foreign investors as well as the development of Vietnamese companies. Therefore, the number of companies that need to use industrial boilers will increase and I think this is a very interesting market. The industrial boiler market in Vietnam has been developing and is a good market, but the thinking of boiler operators and equipment investors is not in the right direction. When buying a boiler, they often don't learn about the characteristics of the boiler, the advanced technologies used for the boiler, but mainly evaluate the equipment as expensive or cheap through the price.

That's why, I very much hope that Vietnamese consumers will pay more and more attention to technical characteristics, compare boilers between brands through many different angles such as: environmental friendliness, fuel saving, operating safety, operating costs, etc.

Our Maruse Engineering Vietnam Co., Ltd. only supply MIURA brand boiler products in Vietnam market. This is one of the leading manufacturers in Japan, holding 60-70% market share in the boiler industry in Japan. MIURA boilers have the characteristics: safety, high efficiency, good maintenance technical support service.

Up to the present time, more than 200,000 MIURA boilers are operating worldwide and there have not been any boiler explosions that cause human and material damage. The superior features of MIURA boilers have helped the Company operate quite smoothly in the Vietnamese market. We also always try to make more and more Vietnamese customers trust MIURA products by paying great attention to after-sales service. After the product is handed over, we always support customers to use the device in the most effective way. When a customer has a problem, the technician will immediately guide the customer to fix it by phone. In case the customer still cannot fix it, we will be at the factory within 24 hours to support the customer to repair as quickly as possible.

In addition to selling products, our company also provides maintenance, repair, and supply of boiler spare parts to help customers use the boiler effectively and prolong the life of the equipment.

However, the biggest difficulty of the Company is that MIURA does not have a factory in Vietnam, so when customers have demand, they cannot buy it right away, but have to order and wait for goods from abroad. On average, it takes about 3-4 months. As a result, we lost a significant amount of customers because they couldn't wait.

In Vietnam, there are still many companies that are using certain types of fuels (such as coal, firewood, rice husks, etc.) to cause environmental impacts in comparison with using diesel, LPG and CNG fuels. In the future, if the Government continues to allow the use of bad fuels, Vietnam's environment will be greatly affected. As far as I know, the Government has regulations on the quality of emissions and wastewater, forcing everyone to comply. However, understanding the law and obeying the law is still not uniform and each person understands it in a different way.

Therefore, I very much hope that Vietnam can build a system of legal documents so that everyone can understand what is good and what is not good for the development and improvement of the environment as well as jointly implement it. The Government needs to improve legal documents, clearly stipulating good standards for the environment (emission standards), high efficiency boilers (efficiency 85% or more) and energy saving.

In addition, if there is a support from the State management agency, such as subsidies for fuel conversion for businesses that are using burning fuels and causing environmental impacts to change to use diesel oil, LPG or CNG, I think people will easily accept that change and Vietnam's environment will be improved and become more and more fresh.

Mr. Le Xuan Nghiem - Director of Science and Technology Division, Dien Quang Lamp Joint Stock Company:

"Continuously improving the quality of products and services to get better and better"

Vietnam currently does not have tariff protection policies for the domestic lighting industry. This is one of the factors contributing to increased price competition, especially in the segment of popular products manufactured and imported from abroad in both commercial and non-commercial forms.

On the other hand, the inspection, examination and supervision of the production, import and circulation of goods on the market mainly focuses on large reputable enterprises. Meanwhile, it possibly omits the control of products that do not meet standards and regulations on operation, safety, and energy efficiency (or products of unknown origin, origin but cheap) being produced, imported and circulated on the Vietnamese market. This leads to unequal competition, causing damage to large enterprises that have invested a lot of resources in investment, research to develop products that meet quality requirements as prescribed.

In addition, consumers' awareness of the benefits of the products, lighting solutions, electrical equipment and smart controls that meet safety and energy efficiency criteria is still limited, so it has not been accepted and converted to use by common households. These are really difficulties for lighting manufacturers like Dien Quang. Therefore, in order to build and develop the brand, create the trust of consumers, all activities of Dien Quang are always directed towards the mission for the benefit of the people and the social community. That is to create smart, safe and aesthetic products, services and solutions; contribute to improving the quality of life of people and society. That is also to be a strategic partner for comprehensive intelligent solutions for organizations and businesses, a reliable supporting industry partner, OEM, ODM in the fields of electrical, electronic and engineering plastics.

In order for the market for technology products and energy-efficient equipment to develop stronger and more efficiently, we have the following recommendations: There should be tariff protection policies for the domestic lighting industry; Issue regulations on energy efficiency levels for LED luminaire products (besides LED Bulb and LED Tube); Strictly control the products for reaching the level of energy conservation when circulating on the market; Protect products that meet standards; Remove products that do not meet energy efficiency requirements and do not allow their circulation in the market.

In addition, further promote communication, raise awareness, responsibility and change behavior and habits of all agencies, organizations, communities and individuals in economical and efficient use of energy for the sustainable development of Vietnam in the future; Establish a mechanism to encourage and support enterprises to select and apply energy-saving technologies and technical solutions. At the same time, further promote programs to connect supply and demand, support the application and commercialization of groups of EE products, lighting solutions, electrical equipment and smart control that meet criteria on safety and energy saving etc. such as the "Technology cooperation" support program organized by the Center for Science and Technology Information and Statistics (CESTI). This is one of two models of the "Technology Coffee" chain of activities to promote the commercialization of research results, new technological solutions, etc., which are very useful for businesses.

Mr. Marukawa Yoichi – General Director of Panasonic Vietnam Co., Ltd.:

“Competing by products with the highest energy efficiency, different from the market”

In addition to cleaning efficiency, Panasonic's new washing machines are also integrated with innovative features to make washing pleasant and comfortable. The most typical is the TD Inverter technology and the superior ECONAVI smart sensor.

Specifically, Panasonic's generation of TD Inverter washing machines is controlled by a new generation motor and transmission. TD Inverter technology can create powerful whirlpools to remove all stains on clothes. At the same time, it also minimizes the level of vibration during the washing process, allowing the machine to operate quietly while still saving up to 30% of electricity.

ECONAVI technology combines 3 types of smart sensors including Laundry Quantity Sensor, Water Temperature Sensor and Laundry Material Sensor. By those sensors, it helps to recognize the water temperature, analyze the weight and material of the laundry, and automatically adjust the appropriate amount of water, control the rotation speed of the compressor and calculate the time needed for each separate wash which saves energy while ensuring washing performance. This technology can reduce electricity consumption by up to 25% and water consumption by 23%.

With outstanding energy efficiency, Panasonic washing machine products have been awarded the "Highest Energy Efficiency 2020" by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. With the highest energy efficiency of 5 stars, models of Panasonic vertical and horizontal drum washing machines including NA-FD95X1, NA-FD85X1, NA-FD11AR1 and NA-S106G1 are officially labeled with “Highest Energy Efficiency Product”, marking the difference from conventional energy-saving products on the market, increasing the competitiveness of Panasonic branded products.

In addition, we pay great attention to customer care. Panasonic's authorized warranty system is available nationwide, we are trained and only use genuine Panasonic components in all repair activities.

Regarding the market, Vietnam has many advantages. It is considered as one of the most potential markets in the ASEAN region and this is a factor affecting investment decisions. We believe that challenges always exist, but opportunities are also being opened for domestic suppliers to mature and catch up with the needs of the market. The estimated localization rate of Panasonic for the whole Corporation in Vietnam is about 30%. The Company will do its best to coordinate with suppliers to enhance the capacity of Vietnam's supporting industry.

The plan to relocate the factory to Vietnam is being implemented by Panasonic. This is one of the restructuring plans in our production line. Producing and supplying products from Vietnam to markets will be more favorable than continuing to produce in Thailand. By this way, we can bring more competitive products to consumers.

Ho Nga, Industry and Trade Journal

& Vietnam Energy Conservation and Energy Efficiency Association