HCM City (VNA) - A wide range of intelligentmachinery, equipment and solutions for the manufacturing value chain are ondisplay at the International Precision Engineering, Machine Tools andMetalworking Exhibition which opened on July 3 in HCM City.

The latest edition of MTA Vietnam, and the largest so far,has attracted nearly 400 exhibitors from 16 countries and territories,including 13 international group pavilions from Germany, Japan, the Republic ofKorea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and the UK, said BT Tee, General Manager ofUBM VES, the exhibition organiser.

He said 74 percent of the exhibitors are foreign, and thenumber of Vietnamese exhibitors has also increased compared to previous expos.

Koji Takimoto, chief representative of the Japan External TradeOrganisation’s HCM City office, said 24 Japanese companies are participatingthis year, 11 of them for the first time.

They have brought labour-saving components and equipment;equipment and materials which can protect workers like press load monitoringdevice, safety valves and rust removers that are safe for humans; and devicesand inspection tools that can help increase local content, he said.

“Vietnam is a very attractive market for Japanese firmsthanks to its steady economic growth and large population,” he said.

“Besides, Japanese firms are confident of their technologies.

“Japanese machinery cost rather more than Chinese machinery,and this is their disadvantage. But their strategy is to create adifference in terms of technologies and accuracy rather than competing onprice.”

Vietnam’s low labour cost used to be a key factor inattracting foreign investors, but no longer, he said.

Therefore, firms need to have machinery and equipment thatoffer high productivity and efficiency but require less labour, he said.

They also need to improve their working environment to ensureworkers’ safety, and this would provide a competitive edge to Vietnamese firmswhen entering fastidious markets, he said.

Osamu Hata, sales department manager at NMC Co Ltd, whichsupplies rust removal and prevention solutions, said: “We are present inThailand and Malaysia, but not many businesses in Vietnam know us. Therefore,by participating in the show, we want to expand our market here.

“Many businesses were interested in our products, and askedfor samples to see how their work.”

Seiji Ushiyama of the overseas sales division at ShinkoDenshi Co., Ltd, which provides solutions to industries requiring high-accuracyweighing and measurement, said his company wants to find new customers and anagent in the north.

Tee said the exhibition has again attracted market leaderssuch as Amada, Bystronic, Blum, Carl Zeiss, Conic, DMG Mori, Dine, Doosan,Sodick, Mazak, Makino, Knuth, Kuka Robotics, Mitutoyo, and Nikon, he said.

On the sidelines of the expo, seminars and conferences wouldbe organised by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, theMulti Engineering Solutions Laboratory, Lean Six Sigma Network, and otherorganisations, he said.

The expo, at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre inDistrict 7, will run until July 6.-VNA